Out and about A look at Reno’s GLBT community: what’s here and what’s not

[Shana A]

Out and about
A look at Reno's GLBT community: what's here and what's not

By Kat Kerlin
This article was published on 11.25.10.

http://www.newsreview.com/reno/content?oid=1880351

[...]

"If you know a transgender person and the hell they go through, you realize how sex and gender are not cut and dry," says Scott. Of her sex she says, "I'm not a man, but I might not be a woman." She was born a male but transitioned to become female in 1999 when she was 35. She believes she was exposed to dioxin, an endocrine (hormone) disruptor, in Michigan, where she was born. With the prevalence of endocrine disruptors turning up in everything from water to breast milk, Scott thinks the world is about to see a lot more transgender and intersex people.

"I have very strong tendencies," she says. "I walk like a girl, I cry a lot. I just couldn't be manly. I went through 35 years of [overcompensating] as a male. I still like women. Men are fine. I just don't want to have sex with them." Before going through transition ("sex change" is not the preferred term), she joined the Air Force as a firefighter, where she encountered first-hand the effects of Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT).