It?s hard to imagine a more tawdry coda to the chest-beating legend of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway?s son Gregory, author of ?Papa: A Personal Memoir,? had a sex change and became Gloria Hemingway in the 1990s. Gloria blamed her father?s ?super-masculine? image for her need to transform. Then, in 2001, Gloria stripped naked on the street and got arrested. Soon after, she died of a heart attack in jail. Now, Gloria?s ex-wife Ida is claiming that Gloria and Ida remarried in 1997 (after divorcing in 1995) and Gloria left Ida all her money in a new will.

The whole controversy predictably raises questions about the legal status of transgender people, much like the famous lawsuit over whether transsexual J?Noel Gardiner could inherit part of her husband Marshall?s $2.5 million estate. Gloria?s kids are claiming that because Gloria was a woman in 1997, the second marriage to Ida was a same-sex union and therefore invalid. The judge in the case sounded gleeful to be tackling such ?cutting edge? topics.

Leaving aside the considerable Jerry Springer-meets-Moveable Feast titillation factor, it seems really sad that one of the main ways that society tries to grapple with serious issues of gender and social status is through a prism of greed. Ernest?s grandkids wouldn?t be affirming Gloria?s femaleness if they didn?t stand to inherit all her dough as a result.

Update Oct. 3, 2003: According to press accounts, the grandkids and Ida have settled out of court.