The Good Doctor

The speaker at the Unity Banquet will be Dr. Mike Ross, who co-wrote the classic textbook Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment and is a professor at the UT School of Public Health in Houston. Originally from New Zealand, Ross was director of a gender-reassignment clinic in Australia, and has studied the levels of prevalence of transsexualism in different countries.

"That research demonstrated that the level of transsexualism was, to some extent, a function of how rigid the male/female sex roles were in the country. In the countries that were more liberal, there was actually a lower level of transsexualism. I would explain it like this: If the perception–and I was particularly looking at MTF–is that you can only be a man within certain narrow roles, then people who fall outside of that think the only alternative is to be a female. Whereas if sex roles are much less rigid, then there’s more gray area for people to be what they want to be, instead of having to make the switch from one extreme to the other."

When asked to compare the transgender communities Down Under and in the States, he doesn’t hesitate.

"Here, unless one is really lucky, one has to pay for it all oneself, whereas in Australia it was all on the government. So if one went through an appropriate diagnostic and counseling program, one had the operation at no cost.

"In South Australia, the government, when I was there, passed a law to make it legal to change the birth certificate and for transsexuals to marry. Australia was quite some distance ahead of the United States. I think it will be much slower here because of the greater influence of the fundamentalists and religious right.

"Unfortunately, the nature of transsexualism is that the public doesn’t see the transsexuals who fit in well, they only see those who stand out. And that is a real problem in terms of acceptance."

In his speech at the Unity Banquet, Ross will speak about what first got him interested in gender reassignment. I will not give it away, but let’s say it has something to do with a certain young gay student and a coffee shop in Wellington run by some very famous, enormous Maori drag queens. –David Groover

The 10th Annual Houston Transgender Unity Banquet is April 20, at the Hilton Southwest, Regency Ballroom, 6780 Southwest Freeway. Cocktails and reception begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35, but they are sold out. For further info, contact Brenda Thomas at Brenda@brendat.com.

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