Aveirah, the Tzitz Eliezer actually starts off the teshuvah by saying he is addressing when someone had surgery to change their gender. He uses the cases of the androgynous person as the basis to determine what the halachah is for someone who had the surgery.
It must be stressed that his teshuvah does NOT address whether it is halachically permissible to have the surgery – he may hold it is assur. He only addresses the b’dieved of someone who already had it, and what the person’s status is.
I have not bought into this couple’s marriage. Personally I am repulsed by it. However, as I noted, the Tzitz Eliezer was a huge gadol, and may be relied upon. So it is possible that the marriage isn’t halachically wrong – only the surgery was. The status of this person is a machlokes.
As for a debate team, there actually is value to arguing without religious points. If a lawmaker wanted to pass laws allowing things which are against our values, we can’t really argue against it using religious reasons. We’d need arguments that are valid under the US Constitution and laws. This type of debate encourages these arguments, and shows how these things are bad for EVERYONE, even those who don’t believe in the Torah – how else would you convince these people?
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