Gender Exploration Week wraps up

Local transgender community members tell their stories

Ana Ramos - ramosav@plu.edu

Mast News REPORTER

As part of Gender Exploration Week, the Residence Hall Association, along with Professor Brenda Ihssen, organized a Transgender Panel Tuesday night. Members of the local transgender community told stories of their transformations to a packed crowd in the UC conference room.
Eric Pfaff, the environment, justice and diversity director of RHA, said he was “really excited that there were this many people excited about the subject.” He said there were more than 100 people in attendance.

Transgendered is an “umbrella term that describes people whose gender identity (sense of themselves as male or female), or gender expression differs from that associated with their sex,” according to the American Psychological Association’s Web site. This includes transsexuals, people who live or desire to live and be recognized as full-time members of the gender opposite their birth sex.

“It’s about doing what makes you feel happy,” said Denvie Wright, a female-to-male transsexual.

Wright said that while he was a female who had everything—the job, the car, the house—he still felt that he was missing one thing: who he was on the inside.

“I would rather be a man than an extraordinary woman,” Wright said.

Wright used medical interventions, hormones and surgery, to become congruent with his preferred gender.

Not all are born with what is known as the “proper hormonal constitution” that matches the inside with outside appearances, said Dr. Patricia Fawver, the sexologist on the panel. Fawver specializes in transgendered clients.

Those who are matched internally and externally have what is known as congruence. They will dislike mistakenly being addressed as “ma’am” or “sir.” For transgendered individuals it is the opposite. To feel happier as themselves, congruence must occur, Fawver said.

For others like Wright, such a change is no easy decision. Aside from the hormone treatments, surgery can cost anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000. This does not include the costs following the surgery.

“If an insurance company knows a person are a transsexual, they won’t cover you, even for normal check-ups,” Wright said.

Wright and the other panelists agreed that the surgery took a lot of support, both before and after the transition.

Sabrina Grey, a male-to-female transsexual, recalls the support at her work place after her transition. The supervisor took everyone aside and told the fellow employees to treat Grey with respect. She was touched by this and has never felt unwelcomed at work.

Seth Kirby (female-to-male), a program specialist with the Washington State Human Rights Commission and a member of The Olympian’s Diversity Panel, remembers only one instance of commentary following his transition years ago. He had a customer look at him and ask, “Do you have a twin sister?” Outside of work, however, he initially had some problems with his family but said his mom is now one of his best friends.

Despite the costs of surgery and the potential acceptance problems following the procedure, the panelists said they would not take back the choices they made.

“[Being called] ‘ma’am’ is not just a small thing, it’s a huge thing,” Grey said.