Matt Kailey

I read an article the other day featuring Dr. Marci Bowers, an internationally recognized surgeon in Trinidad, Colorado, who works with transsexual people. This is probably one of the few things FOXNews has put out there that actually reflects their slogan — fair and balanced.

But one thing Dr. Bowers is quoted as saying caught my eye: “Sometimes what people get hung up on is that it’s all about the surgery. And the fact is it’s really all about their gender role and how society perceives them. In fact, it’s estimated that 80 percent of transgender persons never undergo surgery.”

It’s true. People do get way too hung up on surgery — including the people who make the laws. And that fact puts a lot of trans people at a disadvantage — 80 percent of us, if this figure it right. Now I’m not really sure what Bowers means when she says “transgender persons,” because there are so many variations in the language, but I’m thinking that she is referring to those people with a gender identity that does not match their physical body and who take some steps to transition.

And my guess is that some transsexual people got upset about what she said — not because she said “transgender” instead of “transsexual,” which I’m sure caused a stir in some camps, but because some people, including myself, have been criticized for publicly saying that most transsexual people don’t have surgery.

There are at least two schools of thought on this, and I subscribe to one of them, but I understand both.

There are those people who believe that, if we don’t talk about our surgery (or lack thereof), that most non-trans people will just assume that we’ve had it, and there won’t be so much brouhaha over bathroom use, wondering about weenies, and guessing about genitalia. If the world believes that we all have genital surgery as part of our transition, then the world won’t spend its time worrying about what’s underneath our clothes, and our right to public access won’t be questioned, nor will our right to claim our rightful place as men and women if we so choose.

I completely understand this. But my position is that, if the world knows that most of us don’t have genital surgery, then we are in a better position to argue for it and actually get it if we want it and need it. Some people don’t have surgery because they don’t want it or their health prohibits it, but a lot of people don’t have it because they can’t afford it.

So I say to the world, in my argumentative way, “If you’re so worried about a woman with a penis or a man with a vagina in your bathroom or locker room, then maybe you ought to consider supporting health care coverage for necessary transition surgeries instead of blabbing about the ‘mandatory sex changes’ that you’re afraid you will be forced to get under Obama’s health care plan.”

And since, at the present time, most insurance carriers don’t pay for surgeries related to transition, I say to the world, “Maybe those of you who make the laws should consider changing them so that trans people are not forced into impossible situations when they can’t get driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and passports changed without proof of surgery. Maybe you’ll stop setting us up for arrest, travel restrictions, and public humiliation.”

And since many cultures still treasure the illusion of a binary gender and sex system, I say to the world, “Maybe if you understood that the ideal female body and the ideal male body exist in your fantasies only, and that there are so many differences out there that you can’t even count them all, you would accept broader definitions of what makes a man and what makes a woman, making things easier for just about everyone, trans or not.”

That’s what I say to the world. So far, the world hasn’t listened — but it’s a pretty big place and I’m sitting in a pretty small living room somewhere in it.

What do you think, and what haven’t I thought of?

(Photo: Dr. Marci Bowers)