Dr. Stanley Biber's pioneering work in gender confirmation surgery brought thousands to this small town. Why does he remain such an unknown figure?
When he started the gender-confirmation surgeries in Trinidad, Colo., Dr. Stanley Biber had some explaining to do — to the nuns who worked as patient advocates.
His visitor explained that she was a “transsexual woman.” Biber pondered her words before finally asking: “What’s that?” During his peak years, Biber was doing up to four gender confirmation surgeries a week, for both male-to-female and female-to-male patients. They continued to do so until Biber’s age and inability to get liability insurance caught up with him in 2003. He died three years later after training Bowers, a transgender surgeon from Seattle he hoped would carry on his practice in Trinidad.
Trinidad transformed itself after the coal industry began to fade in the 1920s, achieving a strange sort of prosperity, or at least notoriety, during Prohibition when Chicago mobster Al Capone and his family hid out in Trinidad and nearby Aguilar by blending in with the Italian immigrant families who continued to call the city home.
City leaders already are looking beyond the current green rush. They envision a community as a center for arts and recreation. The city and two conservation groups just announced a $25-million plan to buy Fisher’s Peak, the iconic stair-stepped mesa that overlooks the city, as well as the 30-plus square miles of wilderness around it. They plan to build a hiking trail from the center of town up to the peak, and the state announced plans this week to turn it into a state park.
“It certainly would not surprise me if Biber’s name came up as a champion in this town,” Cimino says. “It should.”You may have concluded that Biber’s obscurity suggests a certain discomfort among locals with his chosen area of specialty, or a continuing marginalization of that important history for transgender Americans. Most locals will tell you that you’re wrong, including one you might expect to take Biber’s exclusion as a personal slight.
Like so much of the West, Miles says, her adopted hometown is “driven by people looking for an opportunity to re-identify themselves, and reinvent themselves.” Even today, she adds, identity politics don’t matter much in Trinidad. “I don’t run on trans issues when I run for City Council. I just live my life. People casually know that I’m trans, and it’s OK, and that’s just the way it is.”
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Dr. Pimple Popper Just Pulled 'Buried Treasure' Out Of A Blackhead'They always are bigger than they look.'
Read more »
Dr. Pimple Popper Just Squeezed A Huge Dilated Pore Of Winer With Her FingersIt was begging for it.
Read more »
5 Ways to Close the VC Gender Gap, with Dr. Roshawnna Novellus and Tyler Gallagher - Thrive GlobalMake sure that every VC firm has women on the decision-making side of the table. Studies show that everyone has a bias towards people that remind them of themselves. As such, for those who support inclusion, they should adopt a mandate for inclusion at the partner level of investment platforms. This is why EnrichHER is […]
Read more »
A crazy last 12 hours has put the market inches away from a record: Here's what happenedHere's what investors need to know about what's happening in this rapidly changing U.S. market environment.
Read more »
UAW leader charged with embezzling union funds amid contract talks with Detroit automakersHere's what investors need to know about what's happening in this rapidly changing U.S. market environment.
Read more »