As a 5-year-old girl, Cory Frederick - then named Michelle Mays - dreamt of being a biological boy. In the dream, Frederick felt happier with a male body.
I always had the sense that something wasn't right
said Frederick, who graduated from Ohio University last year with a degree in plant biology and geology. I always felt like I was in the wrong body.
Frederick is a transgender person, which is someone who challenges traditional definitions of male and female gender orientation, according to the OU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender website.
Frederick, specifically, is a transsexual, someone who identifies with a gender different than his or her biological sex. There are approximately 767,500 people in America who identify as transsexual and are often victims of hate crimes, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
If you are transgender you are inherently in danger in public said Kris Grey/Justin Credible, a transgender person who prefers to identify as neither male nor female. It's totally legal in most states to discriminate based on gender orientation.
Becoming a Man
Transitioning from one gender to the other varies from person to person, but Frederick began hormone treatment - testosterone shots - in 2004. Later that year, he legally changed his first, middle and last names. In 2007, he underwent top surgery to remove his breasts.
The surgery cost $5,500, and his hormones cost $38 every two and a half months. Health insurance has not covered any of his treatments.
If people saw that trans people clearly need some medical intervention to live a happy and productive life ... it would more likely be covered by health insurance
he said.
For Grey, a second-year graduate student studying ceramics at OU, it took 10 years out of college to decide on his transition. He chose to take hormones and, this past winter, underwent top surgery to further 'queer' his body.
'Queer' is a word I align with more than any other because it's open
Grey said.
While Grey's top surgery cost about $6,000, he said it could total up to $10,000.
I have this new feeling of embodiment
which is so amazing
Grey said. That physical change matched my mental state with my physical state. It's like magic.
In order to undergo any type of top or bottom surgery, a person must live for a year as the gender of their choice during a mandatory waiting period titled A Real Life Experience
according to a pamphlet put out by Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
The Silent 'T'
As the only letter in the acronym LGBT that deals with gender as opposed to sexual orientation, transgender people have a specific set of problems.
When I underwent surgery
I lost my visibility as a queer person
Frederick said. Others can easily identify you when you look like them. ... But now they see me as just a man.
Transgender, as a term, includes crossdressers, intersexuals and transsexuals, so each transgender person is in a unique situation.
It's important to be visible
Grey said. What media has represented a trans person in a positive light? Zero.
To increase visibility, Grey created the performance art piece Ask A Tranny
