Sex Change Operation Ignites Controversy

— -- When David Warfield, a Sacramento, Calif. teacher, told his boss about his summer plans, the school asked him not to come back in the fall.

The school's action was a response to David's announcement that he would return as a woman. David, now Dana Rivers, is a transsexual and from childhood she believed she was born a woman in a man's body — a condition known as gender identity dysphoria.

Dana had finally decided to take the steps to transform her body into the gender she feels she was born with. Like others who seek such surgery, she was required by her doctor to first live in the role of a woman for a year prior to the operation. She also had to take female hormones and obtain a psychological evaluation.

Mountain Man

Growing up, Dana hid her anguish of living in a male body by acting as manly as possible. Her macho, daredevil spirit earned her the nickname "Mountain Man." But beneath the façade, she was suffering. "I lived a lifetime full of depression," she says. "I was suicidal. My life had been a train wreck."

In spite of her personal turmoil, she had professional success as an acclaimed high-school teacher. But her plans to have a sex change operation ignited a national controversy. Some parents worried about the children being prematurely exposed to transgender issues.

20/20 first reported on Dana's story when she was suing the school district to get her job back. She had not had the surgery yet, but she had shed her identity as David and was living full-time as a woman. The controversy ended with a settlement, and Dana received $150,000 from the school district in exchange for her resignation. Ironically, the settlement ended up paying for the $50,000 surgery.

Though Dana was eager to have the operation, she says that it doesn't make her more of a woman. "I've always been a woman," she says. "I've always felt like a woman. A penis does not make a man. A vagina does not make a woman, at all."

Penile Inversion

Dana finally underwent the surgical procedure in June 2000.

Her doctor, Eugene Schrang, has helped transform more than 1,000 transsexuals. He is among the handful of plastic and reconstructive surgeons who specialize in sex change operations. His patients have been of all races and have included pilots, accountants and doctors.

"My goal as far as aesthetics are concerned is to make the genitalia so genuine that no casual observer can tell the difference. As far as I'm concerned it's the ultimate cosmetic operation," says Schrang.

Dana's surgery took about five hours. After a breast enlargement, Schrang performed a penile inversion. This involves removing the male genitals and creating a vaginal cavity, lined with the inverted skin from the penis.

Schrang says the procedure enables the patient to have "trouble free" and "effortless" intercourse. By preserving the genital nerves, the patient can climax during sex.

I Am Woman

After the operation, Dana was elated. "I was relieved that I finally made it," she says. Upon seeing her afterward, her partner Michelle said, "Welcome back."

The discussion of sexual preference is a touchy subject for Dana. She argues that her sexual preference it is not necessarily related to transsexuality.

"[Transsexuality] is a gender-related condition," she says. "Sexuality is who I am attracted to."

Though Dana is still technically married to her wife Tara, who is heterosexual, her partner at the time of her surgery was Michelle, who is also a transsexual. Recently, Michelle and Dana have parted ways and Dana is currently dating another woman.

Though she was supportive of Dana's decision to have the operation, Tara was sad to lose her husband — then named David Warfield. "Anybody who knew David Warfield would be crazy not to love him," she says.

Since she is currently with a woman, Dana accepts the title of lesbian. "It's easiest to define me if you need to," she says. "Two women that sleep together and enjoy life together are lesbians and that's where we are." However, she doesn't rule out the prospect of one day being with a man. "It's just about impossible to pigeonhole us," she says. "I know that just frustrates people."

In addition to speaking out against prejudice against transsexuals, this fall Dana will be returning to her work as a schoolteacher at a different California school.