Wondering whether any of my fellow LPSGers have encountered something like this; I'm a very open-minded guy, but it took me years to get my head around this.
Several years ago I had a friend in Vancouver. We were introduced by friends at a party and then met a couple more times at parties. He was a very cool guy, married, about 5 years younger than me. Tall (over 6 feet); somewhat slender; with fine, almost delicate features. He wore his chestnut hair a little long. He always had a ready smile and a beer in his hand and got along well with everyone at parties.
This friend had a very happy marriage and a young son about 1 year old when we met. It was obvious that he was very into girls, and women naturally gravitated toward him. As I said, very cool, into music and bands.
The last time I saw him, he mentioned he was going to Quebec. It seems he had decided to have a sex change, and the required psychological examination was easier to obtain back East. I didn't want to pry about his reasons, but I must have looked confused. And I wasn't prepared for what he was about to tell me.
It seems that he had always been very, very straight and dated a lot of girls. He was passionate about the female body, but not only as a guy. He had known for many years, he said, that he was living like a lesbian trapped in a male body. He still loved women, but desperately wanted to relate to them only as a woman and felt he was missing out on a vital part of that experience. So, he had made up his mind to get a sex change. (I never got to see him naked, but I could tell he had a great body and I heard he was hung pretty nice, too.) He had lots of gay male friends but had no (zero) interest in the male body sexually -- including his own. Straight as an arrow.
Well, he completed the psychological testing, had the operation, and returned to his wife as ...a new woman. His wife had been apprehensive, but gave it a go for about a year, then decided she was not really a lesbian herself, so they divorced on good terms. Last I heard, my friend had settled down with another woman and was really happy.
For about 5 years I just thought this all seemed so wrong. But now that I'm a little older and I've experienced life a lot more, I guess I can see where he was coming from and respect it. I hear that cases like his are not rare at all, but I've never met anyone else that went from straight male-->gay female or straight female-->gay male. I think the latter is a little more common, at least in San Francisco.
Do any of you have friends who have undergone a similar change? What was your reaction then and now?
Several years ago I had a friend in Vancouver. We were introduced by friends at a party and then met a couple more times at parties. He was a very cool guy, married, about 5 years younger than me. Tall (over 6 feet); somewhat slender; with fine, almost delicate features. He wore his chestnut hair a little long. He always had a ready smile and a beer in his hand and got along well with everyone at parties.
This friend had a very happy marriage and a young son about 1 year old when we met. It was obvious that he was very into girls, and women naturally gravitated toward him. As I said, very cool, into music and bands.
The last time I saw him, he mentioned he was going to Quebec. It seems he had decided to have a sex change, and the required psychological examination was easier to obtain back East. I didn't want to pry about his reasons, but I must have looked confused. And I wasn't prepared for what he was about to tell me.
It seems that he had always been very, very straight and dated a lot of girls. He was passionate about the female body, but not only as a guy. He had known for many years, he said, that he was living like a lesbian trapped in a male body. He still loved women, but desperately wanted to relate to them only as a woman and felt he was missing out on a vital part of that experience. So, he had made up his mind to get a sex change. (I never got to see him naked, but I could tell he had a great body and I heard he was hung pretty nice, too.) He had lots of gay male friends but had no (zero) interest in the male body sexually -- including his own. Straight as an arrow.
Well, he completed the psychological testing, had the operation, and returned to his wife as ...a new woman. His wife had been apprehensive, but gave it a go for about a year, then decided she was not really a lesbian herself, so they divorced on good terms. Last I heard, my friend had settled down with another woman and was really happy.
For about 5 years I just thought this all seemed so wrong. But now that I'm a little older and I've experienced life a lot more, I guess I can see where he was coming from and respect it. I hear that cases like his are not rare at all, but I've never met anyone else that went from straight male-->gay female or straight female-->gay male. I think the latter is a little more common, at least in San Francisco.
Do any of you have friends who have undergone a similar change? What was your reaction then and now?