Fraternity raises money for transgender brother's sex change surgery

BOSTON A transgender student at Boston's Emerson College has found overwhelming support in his new fraternity, CBS Boston reports. 20-year-old Donnie Collins came out as transgender before arriving on campus and now wants to undergo a procedure to remove his breasts.

"The operation is a double incision which is removing my breast tissue so my chest will be flat. I don't think of it as a sex change but making my body congruent of how I see myself," Collins says.

But the surgery is costly and the school insurance policy will not cover the $8,000 price tag.

Members of Collins's new fraternity, Phi Alpha Tau, decided to help. The group has reached out to the larger college community and has already exceeded their goal, raising more than $11,000 for Collins. They plan to donate the excess money to a charity.

"I'm overwhelmed and surprised. I can't thank everyone enough," Collins said.

Some Emerson students have mixed emotions. "I think something personal like a sex change should be private. I don't feel other people's money should change my gender," one student told CBS Boston.

But Collins's fraternity brothers are fully supportive. "We see Donnie as a brother and we want to support him in this endeavor," Phi Alpha Tau president John Allen said.

[pprmonkey]

I am very encouraged to read that "mainstream" people, as well as the courageous "Hypno", above, are simply refusing to judge others regarding their very personal choices. This approach most closely resembles what Jesus Christ wishes for us to do in our time here. So, by the metric of some here, if I am born with an appendix and mine becomes unsatisfactory-inflammed, perhaps-then I should stick with dogmatic tenets and hang onto it, as God does not make mistakes? The other thing I noted, laughing like a hyena, was that J-E-S-U-S jumped right back with the explanation that 8 grand will buy sex reassignment in Thailand. Really? Why did you ever check on such a thing, especially in a country known for it's....colorful...approaches to sex. You guys who have bullied all of us forever sound increasingly shrill and desperate. You do not have a monopoly on Our Savior and we all know it. You will have to repackage your hate some other way. God wants us to love and help one another, and most of all, refrain from judging one another.

[coldsunhotcold]

They better not be using financial aid money.

[coldsunhotcold]

He has a mental problem should be in psych hospital. People who have sex change always want to have the surgery undone, but can't.

[Pixielation]

Always? Where is your facts for such a claim. Though I am sure some do, a lot don't. I know many who have been that way for 10+ years and couldn't be happier. You're talking out of your own fears and uncomfortableness you feel...

[ricchaz]

I love it how most people didn't read the article and went strait to comments. He did not get a sex change, he got his boobs removed. Does anyone actually believe it cost only 8000 dollars to get a sex change?

[J-e-s-u-s]

that's how much it costs in Thailand.

[danielle_mom]

It is nice that she could do this without taxing the already overwhelmed insurance system. I hope that she does not have regrets about it later. I know a few trangenders who committed suicide from regret.

[hypnotoad72]

There are reasons why such surgeries are held off until the last possible moment.

It's not out of discrediting the person who wants such a change, but because - once this surgery is done - it is risky and it's not exactly easy to undo. It's invasive, fairly permanent, and the more doctors tinker only increases the chances of problems that render a sexual union with another person less enjoyable, if enjoyable at all.

I know both physical genders have thought patterns that can be masculine or feminine in origin and these do not mean a person is living inside the wrong gender's body.

But there are people who feel so strongly and sincerely that they think they live in the wrong body... these issues must be fully confirmed before doing anything invasive or permanent.

Best wishes to those involved.

I've read far stranger things in life that are blindly accepted more readily so by those who blindly bash anyone who isn't as hetero as they are...

[ricchaz]

He's just getting his boobs taken out. If he doesn't like it he can add in fake ones.

[democracy8]

Lot of people here really seem to be uncomfortable with what other people do to be helpful to someone that they care about. I wonder why?

[gurucarcar]

Brothers supporting self mutilation.

[ricchaz]

He's getting his boob's taken out. That is what women do all of the time in order to avoid breast cancer. Is that what you say to them too?

[taxed01]

If he changes his mind, does he get his old one back or somebody else's?

[ricchaz]

because he is getting his boobs taken out, if he wants them back he can get some fake ones.