May 4: The Sex-Change Pioneer

Dr. Stanley Biber, who pioneered sex reassignment surgery in 1969 in Trinidad, Colorado, was born on this date in 1923. Over the course of 30 years, Dr. Biber performed more than 4,000 sex-change operations and trained dozens of other surgeons in his techniques, while also delivering babies, removing tonsils, and replacing knee and hip joints until his retirement in 2003. Marci Bowers, a surgeon who had been born as Marc Bowers, took over the practice and expanded Trinidad’s reputation as “sex-change capital of the world.” Biber, who was the father of ten children, died at age 82.

“He put the operation on the world map. He made it safe, reproducible and functional and he brought happiness to an awful lot of people.” —Dr. Marci Bowers