GCN Radio - August 12, 2005
Transcribed by Vombatus

To listen to this episode, visit http://www.gaychristian.net/gcnradio

[GCN Radio Intro]

BRIAN: And here we are with Season Three of GCN Radio. Glad to have you along today.

JUSTIN: Season Three! That was a short Season Two, Brian.

BRIAN: Yeah, a short season two. Basically things on my end got kind of busy and crazy. But we've reorganized ourselves and we're committed to doing a consistent weekly show...

JUSTIN: A weekly show!

BRIAN: It might be a little bit shorter on some weeks, but at least we'll have something consistently up on the site for everybody to enjoy. Of course, then, we're starting podcasting, too!

JUSTIN: We are! We are going to be podcasting this season.

BRIAN: We're on the cutting edge of society!

JUSTIN: [laughter] Yes, once it becomes trendy, we're right there to jump on the bandwagon.

BRIAN: We are.

JUSTIN: No, because really what we've been doing is essentially a podcast from the first season, but we never set it up as a podcast with something that you could actually subscribe to with your podcasting software. So now you can!

BRIAN: Hey, on your favorite MP3 player.

JUSTIN: Absolutely. Or, just on your computer. It's all good.

BRIAN: It is.

JUSTIN: Now, if possible I'd like to start off with a question... can I start out with a question?

BRIAN: You may.

JUSTIN: What this is, we're going to be asking questions periodically, and you have a chance to send us your own thoughts. This week's question is: "How effective is the modern gay rights movement?" You know, there's a lot of stuff going on and has been for a number of years with the push, here in America, for gay marriage, for laws protecting gays from discrimination in employment, and housing, and so on and so forth. So I won't even qualify that question anymore than just to say that our question to you is, "How effective is this? Do you think we're doing a good job, do you think we need to be doing a better job, and why?" Please keep your responses short so that we can discuss them here on this show on a future episode. And you can answer the question either by going to the website... go to http://www.gaychristian.net/gcnradio/ and there's information there on how you can participate, or call us, toll-free, at 1-888-GAY-4-GOD. That's G-A-Y, the number 4, G-O-D. If you can't spell that, well... well maybe you shouldn't be calling. [laughter]

BRIAN: Easy to do, 1-888-GAY-4-GOD. That'll be great, we look forward to discussing that. Today, Justin, we're awfully excited to welcome our first transgender member... (easy for me to say. 'transgender member', say that three times!) of our cast of GCN Radio guests. Today we welcome Gregory Ch... how do you... [stumbles over Gregory's name] I'm sorry.

JUSTIN: Welcome to the show, Mr. Mxyztplk. [laughter]

GREGORY: Thank you.

JUSTIN: We're having a fun time here today.

BRIAN: Awfully glad to have you. Now, I have to confess myself, that you're the first transgendered person that I've known. Tell us a little about your story, take us back to the beginning of when you decided to go from female to male.

JUSTIN: Well, and also, Greg, if you don't mind while you're saying that, for anybody in the audience who may be unfamiliar with terms like 'transgendered' and 'transsexual', can you help explain what that means, a little bit?

GREGORY: Certainly. 'Transgender' actual encompasses all of the wide forms of transgenderism including transsexuality, which is just the basic going from one gender to the other. And there's also cross-gender, which are people that are in between, preferring not to identify with either and appearing more androgynous in nature. Those are the main ones in addition to those that are actually intersexed, who have genders of both. So it's actually a wide spectrum; it's not just going from one gender to the other, like I am.

I pretty much had an idea my entire life, but I didn't know the word for it, and I pretty much thought it was horrible and wrong and I didn't really learn about it until I was 16. And I didn't actually start taking steps towards it till I was 18, so it really took me a long time to get into that mindframe. I had always disassociated myself completely from females--to make it clear, I am biologically female, but I identify as and am transitioning to male.

BRIAN: The process... what is that all about, what does that entail?

GREGORY: Well, it takes a lot actually. A lot of people think you just walk into a clinic, get a surgery, and you come out the other gender. That is not at all true. You have to start out by finding, actually, a therapist--a psychologist, psychotherapist, or psychiatrist--and you have to have sessions with them for... Well, I did it for four months. And then you have to take a psychological screening, which can run from $1500 to $3000 where they have to make sure that you're sane. I passed, obviously, which is good! I am mostly sane. And then after that you go over the results with your psychologist and then you have to have a complete physical and blood work. Then they set up an appointment for you with a specialist in the field of hormones and transgenderism. Mine is in San Jose which is about four hours away from where I live. So you go down there and meet with them and they discuss it with you and make sure that this is definitely right for you and they prescribe hormones. After that, there's also changing your name--it took me a long time to do that, you have to advertise in the paper for four weeks before your hearing with the judge, you have do paperwork to say why you want to change it, you have to meet with the judge and explain yourself, and you've got to get a new social security card and new license and change all your records with your utilities and work, so... That's where I am at this point. I've been on hormones for five months now and all my forms of identity have been changed, so it makes life a lot easier.

BRIAN: Wow.

GREGORY: After that, there's also the surgeries to consider... there are several surgeries, actually, whether you are male-to-female or female-to-male. It takes a lot more than people think.

JUSTIN: Do you get a lot of folks that just don't get it, have stupid questions, or say stupid things to you? Or is it not that much of an issue?

GREGORY: Oh yeah, all the time. As soon as someone finds out I get a lot of the same questions, some of which I don't think I can repeat on radio, to be honest. They--I'll kind of make some cleaner-cut versions--they ask what bathroom I use. They ask what equipment I have. Is that okay to say? They ask...an important thing to know is that I'm actually gay as a male, so they think I'm absolutely insane and wonder why I wouldn't just be a straight female. People fail to see that gender identity and orientation are very different.

BRIAN: Well, to be fair, and certainly, no disrespect meant here... how do you answer those questions?

GREGORY: The answers are simply: I use the men's restroom as I live as a man. I pretty much still have a female body as far as organs go because I cannot currently afford the surgeries. As far as sex goes, I haven't done it yet, so I really can't give any clear answers on that one. It's pretty much the timing. If I'm in a situation where I'm going to be asked questions and I'm prepared for it, it's perfectly fine and I'm willing to answer just about anything. But sometimes the problem occurs when you just meet a person--I'm sure a lot of just gay people realize this--and when they find out they start asking all of these personal questions that you would never really ask anyone within five minutes of meeting them. I'd like to get to the point where it doesn't just happen in common conversation over coffee, where it's kind of uncomfortable to ask those questions on a casual basis, versus on a radio show or a panel, that's perfectly different, I'm prepared to.

JUSTIN: We really appreciate your being able to talk to us, Greg, but I know that not everybody is so eager to discuss the most personal details of their sexuality with the world.

GREGORY: I wasn't wanting to for quite a while, but I just finally realized that this is where God is leading me and there are very few people that are willing to come out there and say this. Someone has to come out and start to make it easier.

BRIAN: What do you think is the biggest misconception?

GREGORY: Well, they pretty much will automatically assume that there's just this one surgery that they go in and do. And they'll think that...a lot of times, for female-to-male they think it's for all the wrong reasons, like you want all of the rights. A lot of people just think that we're 'fake' people. I know honestly in the straight and gay community there is much problem with the transgendered community. We're greatly misunderstood in a lot of ways and not accepted.

JUSTIN: I notice when I talk to folks that I know about trans issues, a lot of them really stumble over pronouns. They don't know how to refer to somebody, it's sort of, they avoid... and they don't want to say 'he' or 'she', so they just kind of, they don't...

GREGORY: I can tell you how to deal with that right now. It's really simple. Well, it's more difficult for cross-gendered people; a lot of them don't want to be identified as either, so the best and safest route is that if you're unsure, you just ask a person. It might be uncomfortable for you, but it's better to ask and get that out of the way than to constantly refer to them as the wrong gender. Because that's very hurtful and upsetting for the person, I know it is for me. But if you see someone that definitely looks masculine in features but is wearing a dress and make-up, you can pretty much assume that they are in fact identifying as female. It's more difficult for people in my situation because some people will just take female-to-male as lesbian. So if you're unsure, the best thing to do is ask.

BRIAN: What about your spirituality and relationship with God? How has that been for you through this process?

GREGORY: Well, actually, I did not convert to Christianity until about a month after I accepted that I was transgender. So I found God in my darkest time, and because of that, it makes my walk with Him a lot easier because I don't expect life to be perfect and happy; I expect that there will be horrible times and He'll be there for me. A lot of times I have struggled though with what He thinks about this and biblical references and such. I have finally come to terms with the fact that this is the way that I'm supposed to be. I don't particularly know why exactly He made me this way, but I know that because I am, I am able to help people in a way that I wouldn't have been if I was just your run of the mill gay guy, because this wouldn't be an issue to me. And probably also if I wouldn't have gone through this, then I wouldn't have found Him as quickly. I think I might be this way in order to help other people, but it's like any other physical handicap I would say. I know that might offend some people, but that's the way I see it.

BRIAN: Do you view it as a handicap though? Or do you view it as a gift? I mean, we've talked to people on GCN Radio who believe that being gay is a gift from God.

GREGORY: Yeah, some people think that being transgendered, it's like gender-gifted people. I respect their opinion to feel that way, but I strongly disagree. It's a very difficult thing and I don't view myself as having the 'spirit of the woman in man', I view myself as male. I just happened to live the first 18 years of my life as a female. And it's been a source of much pain for me. So, I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a gift from God. I'd say it's a challenge, and it's a trial, and it makes me a better and stronger person for going through it. But I don't personally--I don't know if I'll be there at one point--I don't personally the view of 'trans-pride', though I understand completely why other people would and it's a way to get through it, but I don't generally identify as transgendered in public, I identify as male. When I do things like this, when I talk to people or help them learn, I will... I am transgendered but identify as male, I don't identify as trans-male, if that makes any sense.

BRIAN: No, that makes sense.

GREGORY: I view it as, I believe as a Christian in the resurrection, and when we all come back and we are given our perfect bodies, then I will just have a male body. That this is just something that I went through in this life to become stronger and to help people, that it's just like people that can't walk or that have other problems such as that during their life: it helps them be a better, stronger person. It's difficult, but it's that earthly struggle. That's how I view it.

JUSTIN: So, in a sense, you would see your position as like any guy who was just born with a birth defect of sorts that your body grew the wrong way.

GREGORY: Yes. That's how I would view it. And that I make the best of it and that there are a lot of us out there, which is becoming more and more apparent. I know that there is the strongest presence of male-to-female transsexuals and that the female-to-male spectrum is a great deal smaller, but we're all out there. And I do honestly view it this way. You probably will get some different answers from different people, but most of the ones that I have talked to share this viewpoint.

JUSTIN: Well, thanks so much, Greg, for being willing to take this time with us and share some of what you've been through. We really appreciate it.

BRIAN: We're awfully glad to have you on GCN, too.

GREGORY: And if you'd like I can give my e-mail address. I'd be happy to hear from anyone or answer any questions. It is TheImportalOne at yahoo.com. Make sure to identify yourself in the subject, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

BRIAN: Well, Gregory, thank you again for being on GCN Radio, we certainly appreciate it.

GREGORY: I'm very proud to be here.

BRIAN: Well, Justin, I think we got the season off to a good start today, and certainly we have more intriguing and interesting shows yet to come this season, so we're excited about that.

JUSTIN: Absolutely! I'm really excited. And don't forget our question this week: "How effective is the modern gay rights movement?" Give us a call at 1-888-GAY-4-GOD or log on to http://www.gaychristian.net/gcnradio/ and tell us what you think and we'll have some of those responses on a future show.

BRIAN: Excellent. So for today, that does it for GCN Radio, a 2005 copyrighted production of GayChristian.Net, all rights reserved. So for this week, I'm Brian...

JUSTIN: ...and I'm Justin. Have a fantastic week, and we'll see you next time.