The Sex Change Capital of The U.S.

A Small Rocky Mountain Town Is Home To A Cottage Industry Helping Transgender People

(CBS)  When people decide to make one of the most drastic changes in their lives, they often head to the most unlikely town you could ever imagine. Our Cover Story is reported by Seth Doane:

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Trinidad looks pretty much like any small town. Home to about 10,000 people, it's tucked in the Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado.

It's the kind of place where the day's highlight might be a game of hoops, or perhaps a loaf of freshly baked bread.

Once a stop along the old Santa Fe Trail, Trinidad's always been on the frontier.

Mayor Joe Reorda says it's a "live and let live" kind of place.

"I'll tell you what - I could walk into any house in this town, if I needed a thousand dollars, if they didn't have it, they'd find it someplace to give it to me. That's the kind of town that we are - we take care of each other," Reorda said.

As a local doctor it's Marci Bowers' job to care, but she's not your typical small-town doc.

"She's a boon to this community," said Trish Keck.

Radio announcer David Phillips said of Bowers, "In town people know her, like her, see her interact with her. But really, they don't treat her any differently than any other doctor you'd see in town at the grocery store."

So what's so special about Doctor Bowers?

"It was just interesting," Bowers told Doane, "because everyone thought, 'Oh, how cute. We have a lady OB-GYN moving into town. How sweet.' You know? And little by little - you know, some of these media things happened - people began to find out about me. And it was like, 'Oh, well, that's interesting.'"

Interesting because before she was Doctor Marci Bowers she was Doctor Mark Bowers.

In 1998, Dr. Bowers underwent sexual reassignment surgery - a "sex change" operation.

"Gender is from the shoulders up," she said. "It's what you think of yourself inside. So the hard part and the discomfort and the reason why people pursue hormones and surgery is [when] those two things don't match."

And now today she performs that very same surgery on hundreds of patients every year, right here in Trinidad.

But this story doesn't begin with Marci Bowers. In 2003, she took over from Dr. Stanley Biber who started the nation's first private practice for gender reassignment surgery back in 1969.

"He would educate little by little," Bowers said. "And people would meet transgendered people one by one. And pretty soon the town came to realize that, you know, we were helping these people. And they were in turn providing an economic stimulus to the small community."

And so Trinidad, Colorado came to be known as the "sex-change capital of the United States."

Almost 40 years later, Mayor Reorda says to everyone here it's very old news indeed:

In fact, when folks like us come around, townspeople like Pastor Dick Valdez confess it's kind of "been there, done that."

"Well, let's put it this way: Valdez told Doane. "I heard that you were in town yesterday. And, you know, it immediately clicks, 'Well, they're gonna be doing the transgender reassignment whatever deal again.' And it's like, 'Okay, we've had Geraldo here, and we've had Oprah here, you know? I think we get a little tired of that being our claim to fame."

Still, for some, it's a very big deal. In fact, for about 300 Americans every year, Trinidad is a destination that's part of a life-long journey.

It is for this woman. We'll call her Lynn (see here with Dr. Bowers). When we met her on the eve of her sexual reassignment surgery, she viewed it as a turning point so emotional, so scary, she wouldn't let us show her face.

"It got time to the point where it was either suicide or surgery, suicide or transition, really. It got down to that point."

"That was the choice?" Doane asked.

"I could not ignore my feelings anymore."

For years, Lynn says she tried to numb the pain by abusing substances, even cutting herself.

She's come all the way from the East Coast believing that this surgery may offer some answers.

"I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm scared. I'm relieved," she said.

The next morning, Doctor Bowers prepares for the procedure. As you might expect, it's complicated, controversial, and incredibly costly.

Though estimates vary widely, it's estimated roughly 1,000 people undergo sexual reassignment surgery every year, despite the price tag of about $18,000 dollars.

For Lynn, like most Americans, it's not covered by insurance.

Dr. Bowers said there may be as many as 25 doctors in the U.S. who have ever done such surgery. "But in terms of one who [does] them on a regular basis, I would say, fewer than six."

After a few days of recovery, most patients will return home.

But a few others, like Michelle Miles, will remain.

"You know, Trinidad was a place that has a lot of lore for a transsexual," she said. "I mean, this is where modern transsexual surgery in the United States was born."

Once an investment banker in New York City, Michelle was Michael Miles. She traveled to Trinidad for the surgery, and says she stayed for the peace and quiet.

"I think there's some legacy of this rugged Western individualism here where people just have a lot of respect for your choice in how to lead your life," she said.

But most, like Lynn, return home, where we caught up with her 3-1/2 months after the surgery to see how things were going.

This time, she was willing to let us show her face, and reveal her name: meet Rebecca Lynn Jamison.

Why did she decide to come out and reveal her identity?

"I'm not sure, really," she said. "It's just I'm not concerned about hiding, you know? I don't want to feel like I'm coming out of one closet and going into another by hiding my past."

A past, she says, that was incredibly painful ...

"There were times when I held a loaded pistol to my head. And I thought all I had to do was pull the trigger."

Rebecca is 37. She works for a large financial institution in the Southeast. For a long time she says she tried to hide who she really was, even joining the military - all, she says, in vain.

"Maybe if I'm just man enough, I can deal with this," she said. "I can push it aside. I can bury it. I can overcome it. I tried to do that. And it never worked."

So two years ago, Rebecca began living as a woman. In the transgendered universe, it's just one of the steps in a process called "transition."

"We're not all like Jerry Springer, like the show," she told Doane. "We're regular people just like everyone else. We're just trying to deal with a serious issue that quite often leads to suicide. We run the risk of losing family, friends, our children and even our lives just for trying to be who we are."

"You've had complications from the surgery," Doane asked. "Some of the recovery has been quite tough. Is it worth it?"

"Yes, it is worth it. I would go through this again even knowing what I know now. I know that complications are a risk. And for me, it was totally worth it."

Still, Rebecca confesses she worries that by speaking up, by showing her face, she might become a target for those who disapprove of what she's done.

Back in Trinidad, we asked Dr. Bowers about what she says to those who say, "This is immoral. You shouldn't be doing this. This is wrong"?

"I'm happy to let God be the judge of that," she said. "I'm pretty self assured in knowing that we are helping people."

Pastor Dick Valdez (left) agrees … to a point. How does he reconcile his religious beliefs with Marci Bowers' practice?

"Well, I think she's trying to help people. I think that's what churches should be about. We're all looking for help and at the same time trying to help people. We would disagree on how she's trying to help people."

Still, for the most part the town of Trinidad seems proud of their doctor … and the cottage industry that's put it on the map.

It doesn't appear to faze locals a bit as we found out at a Tuesday night basketball game at Trinidad High.

"Yea, man, these people are great," Jerrod told Doane. "I love 'em."

"Do you ever hear about Marci Bowers and her practice?" she asked.

"I know her, I play golf with her sometimes. She's pretty good!"

In fact, a lot of folks in town seem to be telling the rest of us to, well, just get over it.

A woman serving coffee to Doane said, "You know, there are a lot of us in Trinidad working very hard to make the story of this town about more than sex changes."

"I think we all kind of in a way are fatigued by talking about it," Bowers said. "But obviously, there's a need. There continues to be a need because you know, until the world really understands, it's going to be an issue."

[maddsthatte1]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Apparently there is nothing better to talk about anymore. So he or she or whatever they are wanted to be a girl. Good for her/him. I wanna see a woman be a man now! I want to see how that surgery is done!

[ZoeBrain]

Here''s the American Medical Association on the issue:
"Whereas, The World Profession for Transgender Health, Inc. (WPATH) is the leading international, interdisciplinary professional organization devoted
to the understanding and treatment of gender identity disorders...

Whereas, Health experts in GID, including WPATH, have rejected the myth that such treatments are %u201Ccosmetic%u201D or %u201Cexperimental%u201D and have recognized that
these treatments can provide safe and effective treatment for a serious health condition...

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/16/a08_hod_resolutions.pdf

Who to believe libsluv2spit... your "outspoken" opinions vs those of the AMA and the international group of medical experts who specialise in the area?

Everyone''s entitled to their own opinion, but no-one''s entitled to their own facts.

[ZoeBrain]

libsluv2spit at 11:09 PM : Sep 09, 2008 -
"sexual reassignment is nothing more than a superficial shallow human desire just like plastic surgery.."

From the World Professional Association for Transgender Health -
"*** Reassignment is Effective and Medically Indicated in Severe GID. In persons diagnosed with transsexualism or profound GID, *** reassignment surgery, along with hormone therapy and real life experience, is a treatment that has proven to be effective. Such a therapeutic regimen, when prescribed or recommended by qualified practitioners, is medically indicated and medically necessary. *** reassignment is not "experimental," "investigational," "elective," "cosmetic," or optional in any meaningful sense. It constitutes very effective and appropriate treatment for transsexualism or profound GID."

http://www.symposion.com/ijt/soc_2001/soc_10.htm

[ZoeBrain]

For those who say "remain as God made you" - you do know that natural *** changes happen, don''t you?

See "Gender change in 46,XY persons with 5alpha-reductase-2 deficiency and 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-3 deficiency" by Cohen-Ketternis.

No, you probably don''t. It''s not exactly commonly discussed over breakfast. But read that article, or the many others on the subject in medical journals (and available online at PubMed) and you will know.

Male-to-Female natural changes are much rarer than these Female-to-Male ones. Perhaps a hundred, perhaps a thousand times rarer. There''s too few to estimate accurately. But they happen.

In 1985, I looked male. I was diagnosed at a fertility clinic as a case of "undervirilised fertile male syndrome", a mild form on Intersex.

In May 2005, my metabolism went haywire, and by July, I looked female. As the result of many, many ultrasounds, MRI scans, blood tests, gene tests etc the diagnosis was changed to "severe androgenisation of a non-pregnant woman".

As I said, it happens. Now if the Almighty has seen fit to change people''s apparent *** to match their brains, as happened to me, please don''t presume to tell doctors what to do to fix similar conditions that require medical intervention. You speak from (pardonable) ignorance and (not so pardonable) pride, not charity.

[tsvalerie]

gender Identity Disorder, Sexual reassignment Surgery, Is a major need, and for those saying we are sick? well we have alterations, that require corrections. GOD granted only one thing Our Souls. Which is the purist and why for us transsexuals we take the measure to be with the right body. Everyone Shell (Body) will never go unto the heavens, as it is far way far impure. incorrect, many flaws that require corrections.

trinidad, I can understand some locals concerns if majority coverages is over Dr. Marci Bowers. For mthe hetro sexuals out there be glad all the billions of cells was molded correctly to that point. As gay, Lesbian, bi-sexuals, and transgender as a whole are results of cells, and hormones incorrect. We transsexuals are correcting our defects and flaws from birth. to state a man is a man or a woman is a woman when both have percentages of both testosterhone and estrogen. well right balance of the two are needed to claim that statement.

but our issues are no diffent in medical necessary as with any other "non-visual" defect.

[janedoe123]

milesbrown49 - don''t most people base their life and lifestyle around s''ex? isn''t that what marriage is all about? having *** and what comes afterwards? food and s''ex are probably the two single things that people think about more than anything else... so, is being trans really any different in that regard? if there were a magical pill or process which could transform people to the other *** so that a person could have babies and not have to have surgery.... i can guarantee you that probably 99% of these people would opt for that magic pill, and then go on to get into marriages, and have families and babies. it''s the same focus on *** as any other person in the world, but faced with the problem of being stuck in the wrong gender, and not having a whole lot of really good options on what to do about it. happily, the options are getting better with time.

sassyk2 - ever heard of an ectopic pregnancy? look it up. it''s a pregnancy where the fetus develops outside the womb. also, you may want to look up uterus transplants, bone marrow stem cells developing into sperm cells, and stem cells developing into egg cells. Whether you agree with it or not (probably not), it''s only a matter of time before transmen can donate sperm for a child, and transwomen can donate the egg and carry the baby to term in-utero. nature loves diversity, after all.

scottyusa - you''re just filled with hate towards blacks, women, and anybody who isn''t just like you, aren''t you?

[babyglock9mm]

Waltheyer,
If you had issues with being abused, and found a way to worm your way through the standards of care in order to have GRS, then you made a mistake...not the doctors and therapists. The SOC works for those who are true to themselves and the caregivers they disclose to. The therapists and doctors are there to help you make the right choice and if you lie or fail to disclose issues such as abuse, etc., then you do yourself and everyone else an injustice.

I dealt with GID and trying to comform for many years. I finally had my surgery in January of this year with Dr. Bowers and I am so happy now and looking forward to the rest of my life. I am a good, hard working, tax-paying, law abiding, citizen. I am a forensic scientist by trade and a chemist by degree. My agency''s medical insurance carrier, Aetna, considers the surgery to be medically necessary and covers it UNLESS the employer''s policy specifically excludes it. Our insurance policy excludes it so I ended up cashing a 401K and charging the rest of it. Best investment I ever made.

[tamara_alexi]

Additionally - it seems like a far travisty of the Medical Insurance community that they could operate on me without full knowledge back in 1965 of who I really was as intersexed and change me to a desired *** so I could fit in with Society.
Yet when I am trying to be what I truly am or have felt which btw was not the choice they mad for me.
I AM the ONE WHO HAS TO COME UP WITH THE *** MONEY.
WHAT HIPOCROCY

[tamara_alexi]

OneWorldUSA wrote -- I believe in the right to medical privacy. Nonetheless, if the operation is available and not paid for by insurance because it isn''''t medically necessary.

I would have to disagree that it was not medically necessary. It is because of the beauracy, the insurance company, and the company purchasing the insurance would rather not pay for it.
BUT NOT MEDICALLY NECESSARY - I disagree with.
Did you kno the data they quote to disallow is based upon a disproven thery of John Mooney, and others.

IT IS for those people as Medecially nessary as a club foot, cleft pallette, or other birth defect.

[milesbrown49]

When you think about it, this is about basing your life and lifestyle on ***. I try not to jude but can''t imagine a "nut" leading me anywhere!!

[tootall10142]

AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT USING TAX PAYERS MONEY. I WISH THEM ALL THE LUCK IN THE WORLD.AS LONG AS THEY WORK PAY THIER WAY AND PULL THIER WEIGHT MORE POWER TO THEM.WE HAVE ENOUGH TRASH BREEDERS IN THIS COUNTRY AS IT IS IF THESE PEOPLE ARE CUTTING OFF NUTS AND NOT BREEDING , HELL BUY THEM A DRINK AND SHAKE THIER HAND THEY ARE DOING THE MASSES A FAVOR.

[sassyk2]

a man needs to build muscles and not decide to eat and starve himself over not being succesful as other men are. women need to tone after child birth. a man is not a woman and cannot with all the surgery ever make babies like real women. real attorney men should not get involved with this issue and doctors doing this type of surgery should not act like god and change the world and think this is normal behavior on their part.

[sassyk2]

i think it is a sick mentally ill type of endeavor to make money and fame on the part of a perverted doctor who probably cannot handle his gender. be happy you were born healthy in a way that a positive person knows and expects. a butchering of your *** organs is not the answer to any identity problems you may encounter.

[waltheyer]

I am so outraged about part of this story.

1. The gal Rebecca said she cut herself and was addicted to drugs and alcohol.

No surgeon should ever agree to do surgery on someone who is presenting cutting, which is associated with dissociative disorder. The person needs therapy to deal with the abuse that usually underlies such self-destructive behavior. *** surgery won%u2019t help, in fact, it may make recovery impossible.

2. The suicide, drug abuse, and wanting to be a woman was my story.

I myself had the surgery by Dr. Biber in Trinidad. Cosmetically, the surgery was a %u201Csuccess.%u201D But psychologically? No way. It was a disaster. I had suffered childhood abuse. My coping mechanism was to dissociate from being a male. I fantasized for over 20 years about becoming a woman and finally did it, following all the medical %u201Cstandards of care.%u201D

This segment was an infomercial for having the surgery. Psychologists should be outraged. Surgeons should take notice. This is not the way to %u201Chelp%u201D suffering people.

For more information, see ***regret.com.

[xrk9854]

Seth I''d also investigate your numbers. There are approximately 100,000 post-op folks in the US now. As a result your 1,000 people a year figure is too LOW. Probably 50% of MtF people who have surgery go overseas for surgery. Places like Thailand have become the leaders of such surgery, both in cost and expertise. The insurance industry in the US makes it very difficult for anyone to practice here. Did you ask Marci about how difficult it is for her to get malpractice insurance? It''s a dirty little secret that the industry forces docs like her to pay through the nose for insurance. Usually high premiums are indicative of risk, but not for *** reassignment surgery. I have NEVER heard of a case involving *** reassignment. The insurance industry is actively discriminating against surgeons who treat transsexual people. As I said in my other post insurance in the United States is NOT about helping people, it''s about making money. And being basically an unregulated industry they are free to extort money from surgeons like doctor Bowers.

[xrk9854]

Seth, why can''t people listen to the people of Trinidad:

Get over it!

People have been medically transitioning for more than 60 years. The American Medical Association agrees that it is appropriate medical treatment for transsexualism. When will more Americans realize that?

If someone was born with a cleft-lip or palate... we would fix it. If they had a club foot we would fix it. We know people are born straight, gay/lesbian, bi or asexual and we''re okay with that. But if someone is born transsexual we are not tolerant. Why? We as a society really need to ask ourselves how this affects us personally. If you do you''d have to admit it doesn''t. And further it is GOOD for society. Instead of losing people to suicide or depression, people who transition are happier and lead productive lives.

http://storiesforchange.net/user/jonichristian

Congressional Hearing on Discrimination
Against Transgender Americans in the Workplace
This historic hearing took place on Thursday, June 26, 2008.

Congressman Tim Ryan OH,

This could be an opportunity to pass gender identity inclusion.
Please consider passing this on to your contacts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LTzxGQyZOU
I hope this helps...33 years later

http://www.uaw.org/solidarity/02/0502/union05.cfm

I would like to offer myself as an example of success with my union.
Thank you.
Joni

http://godofloflovenotofhate.googlepages.com/godoflove

Joni Christian
330-472-3763
"Be careful who you hate,
it might just be someone you love."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghpeqotJxKA

[xrk9854]

OneWorldUSA you are wrong. For people born transsexual *** reassignment surgery is necessary. This is what the Benjamin Standards of Care say:

"*** Reassignment is Effective and Medically Indicated in Severe GID. In persons diagnosed
with transsexualism or profound GID, *** reassignment surgery, along with hormone therapy
and real-life experience, is a treatment that has proven to be effective. Such a therapeutic
regimen, when prescribed or recommended by qualified practitioners, is medically indicated and
medically necessary. *** reassignment is not "experimental," "investigational," "elective,"
"cosmetic," or optional in any meaningful sense. It constitutes very effective and appropriate
treatment for transsexualism or profound GID."


Can they make it any clearer than that? Also being a medical person myself I can tell you $18,000 is a bargain for surgery in the US. Once insurance companies get involved I imagine the cost will magically increase to $50,000. The insurance industry in the US isn''t about helping people, it''s about money.

[ZoeBrain]

OneWorldUSA - the AMA and APA have both stated that surgery most certainly *is* medically necessary. The AMA recently passed a resolution condemning in the strongest terms the exclusion of it from insurance policies, and called for it to be included forthwith.

The AMA resolution is available on their website at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/471/115.doc

[oneworldusa]

I believe in the right to medical privacy. Do I understand transgenderism? No. But I do believe it legitimately exists. Perhaps it begins as a medical anomaly, I can buy that. Nonetheless, if the operation is available and not paid for by insurance because it isn''t medically necessary, if these folks choose to change their gender it is their business and I would not want to deny them their right to optional medical procedures or their right to privacy in doing so.