The Gender Choice

Lincoln Scott May was a boy like any other, or so he thought. He was in ROTC in high school and later in the military service. He began to notice that there were some things different about him in junior high. He finally figured out what was different at around the age of fifty and as a result no longer legally exists. He is now Mrs. Linda May.

Linda May is one of many transgender people in the U.S. She was born as a hermaphrodite and was not given the chance to choose her sex. The doctors simply did what society at the time said was the right thing. While still a baby they performed a surgery, making her a male. She went through her childhood thinking that she was like everyone else but, knowing that somehow it wasn't true. Finally, in high school she began having recurring stomach aches that other men her age didn't seem to share. Unable to find a cause, the doctors dismissed them and so did she.

Later in life May realized, with the help of her counselor, that those stomach aches were well timed and came about every twenty-eight days, which as most college students know is also the average length of the female menstrual cycle. She looked into it and found out she had been born a hermaphrodite. At that point she knew the wrong sex had been picked for her. She was truly a woman stuck in a man's body.

Soon after this realization at fifty years old, she got a divorce and became her true self. She decided to shed Lincoln May and become Linda May through mental and hormonal therapy. She has a great net of support for her choice. Her children and one of her two brothers have stood by her side. While in her early stages she went to a conference of transgender people from around the country called the Southern Comfort Conference. This provided her the assurance and support she needed. To this day she gets teary talking about how much everyone at the conference helped her.  She also mentioned that the North West Gay Alliance has been very helpful as well.

Although she has support and people who love her, including her current legal wife Diane, she has suffered greatly. She has been excluded from family events as well as stricken from her church. She also gets harassed in public by people who know little about her. She has had to fight for her rights in many cases including her right to use the women's restroom.

She came to ISU to talk about her life and struggle. She came with the intent of informing people that she is not the only transgender person in the U.S. or even in Pocatello. When asked how she wanted people to deal with this, considering most people know little about it and find it quite strange, and her response was that she was open for discussion. She wants people to ask the questions that are on their minds and to allow her to clear up any misunderstandings. She also said that it was okay with her if people didn't want to talk with her. 

Linda was brought here by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Student Alliance also known as the LGBTSA, and the Janet C. Anderson Resource Center. I spoke with LGBTSA co-president Diana Painter who organized Linda's visit.

"I know some transgender people who are very afraid and I feel bad for them because it hurts their school work and personal life when they have to hide because they are afraid they may be killed," Painter said.

Painter also wants people to know that it is not something you read about in class or in the paper, it is a local issue. It is something that happens right here and that these people should be allowed to live free and happy just like everyone else. The LGBTSA has meetings on Tuesdays in the Canoe room. Also watch for the LGBTSA event on April 22 in the Student Union Ballroom.