Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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University of South , Columbia, S. C. 29208 Monday, March 5, 1973 Transexual F Medical Coll, BY AARON MEDLOCK Gamecock Staff Writer Note: This is the last installment of the story concerning Julie, a former USC student who is undergoing a sex change. An orphan, she lives in Columbia and shares an apartment with two other girls. "When I was five-years-old, my brother (12) had his best friend over to the house. I got him into my room and we started playing around. We were wrestling on the bed and he was at that age, just entering puberty, when you're easily excited," Julie said. This became her first homosexual experience and she learned from it that "this is what I want out of life," she said moving around the double bed which she shares with her roommate. She got some papers out of a bureau drawer. (Bill will be used in place of her old masculine name.) "For $85 I had my name legally changed," she said holding a paper. The paper showed this to have taken place Oct. 9, 1972. "Here's my new driver's license," she said sitt ing on the floor. It was the temporary kind issued in South Carolina without a picture. "I got it in November, but they haven't sent me my permanent one yet. They're having some confusion. They don't want to print 'female' where it asks for sex," she explained. "This is all I have left of Bill's. Here are some early pictures,of him," she said opening up two old classroom pictures. "That's : me. I looked so lonely back then." She did. "This one's from grammar school." Julie looked at it for a moment and said, "I guess I don't need these anymore." She destroyed both pictures by ripping them and threw them in the trash can. "Here's my senior picture from high school." She held open a color portrait of a young man with blond hair a littler darker than hers is now. "My roommates said I'm crazy for going through with it because I was good looking as a boy. But they don't know what I went through," she said. "It was really bad in college with all the boys running around the dorm prac tically nude and then on campus in short pants and all. I was really in love with boys. I was a flaming queen. I started walking around cam pus holding hands with guys and I spent a for tune on fag magazines at the peep shows. I've. still got them. The male body is beautiful. I'd lans Surgery; ege Involved sit in my room crocheting and looking at my fag magazines. Then the maids would come in and not think a thing of it. They all got used to it and left me alone," she said. "No one's ever bothered me for anything." Julie removed Bill's picture from its holder, ripped it up and threw it away. "These are some of my legal papers," she said, throwing some documents on the floor. They were papers- signed by medical authorities and court officials allowing Julie to live aS a woman and undergo the sex change. "The Gender Association of Jacksonville and the Medical University of South Carolina are working on me. I was getting female hormones through a friend's prescription since July (1972), but I started legally in October through a doctor and then in December under the medi cal university's supervision." "I'll show you what they look like," she said jumping up and getting a large brown jar and returning. "I have to take two of these a day." She poured reddish brown ovoid pills on the floor. Thanks to her daily estrogen, she has a "nice fat ass," she said. She picked the pills up and put them back in the bottle. Her finger nails were exceptionally long, some more than an inch long. "Oh, yeah, Bill's diploma." She reached for a leather diploma case and removed the small plastic-covered miniature from inside. "I don't need this anymore. I've already sent for a replacement in my real name." She got a cylin drical cigarette lighter from her purse and set fire to the center of the small diploma, destroy ing the name on it. She took out the large engraved diploma, tore it up, closed the case and with her lighter, burned away the name embellished in gold lettering on the cover. She said she didn't want her roommates' boyfriends to see them and find out about her. Putting pills and papers back in their places, she came across two snapshots. "This is my boyfriend," she said. The pictures were of a young man in his early twenties with long dark hair and a beard. "Good looking, huh?" she said. "I must be gorgeous, look at him." Julie has still male genitals but she covers them with a panty girdle. "The estrogen kills your male sex drive and the potency of the sperm. So I'm really sterile," she said. "I don't (See 'I, Page 2) . Inside * It's that time of year again for the SGA elections, and the politicians are out in full force. For a profile of this year's f~ield see page 6 and 7. * The nine member National Socialist Forth World Order has deceided to go underg round. See Barbara Murray's report on Page 5. * Dr. Thomas F. Jones, (left), President of the University, explained the reasons why stu dent fees were raised last semester and why the Student Senate knew nothing about it. See Page 10. USC Law School Blacks Failing, Solution Sought By JERELYN EDDINGS tion Opportunity) was administer he mst isile robem hatby the law school last summer "to he most visible problem thatand enhance the oppor black students have faced at tunities for members of disadvan the USC Law School has result- taged minority groups to practice ed in a "sense of false security" for law." The program was directed by some, a ticket out for others and a a USC professor and all but one of little extra time for most. the instructors were from the Every black freshman at the law University Law School. Four other school has been placed on acadmeic schools in the nation conducted the probatiorf The situation has been institute. narrowed down to a problem for 15 "We frankly were disappointed in of these 17 students. These 15 our expectations of what the attended a preparatory program for summer program would do," Dean minority students last summer and Robert Foster, of the law school, were admitted to the school on a said. probationary basis. Now, the "Some black students tell me that faculty and dean of the school have they tend to verbalize themselves extended that probationary period. differently from the average mid At least one freshman sees the dle class white student," Dean Fos problem almost purely resulting ter said. "That is not one of the from a discriminatory faculty. " things we can make adjustments for don't think it was a planned conspi- Tmedately" racy. I think it was individual The racism." But he said the professors' p lawyer feelings aren't easily detected. is a lawyer and if he has to explain "They have been able to hide their a case or argue a point, whatever feelings," he said. "You have to take is the method or most effective way into consideration that these are of verbalizing is going to apply." lawyers with above average intel- He said that most people a lawyer ligence." would have to address, especially Another student thinks the prob- judges, would be white, so the lem is mainly one of communica- blacks would have to conform to the tion. "I think it's a lack of know- methods established by whites. If ledge on the instructors' part. The there were mostly black judges problem was not understanding wie ol ea iavnae how blacks interpret things differ- h ad ent from the status quo," he said. u Fotrepandhtte "It's just a matter of cultural suet eeaaeial interpretation. We didn't come up dsdatgdwe hywr to white expectations. It's a known amte."ems mhsz fact that blacks write differently w'edaigwt pca ru from whites." amte ne pca tnad, The first of the two, both of whom hesi."nwate'edngs asked to be anonymous, discardsexndgthtpoainboe the "communication problem" smse. theory. He said, "They (the law Aseilaedett h ed school faculty) have come to the msinrlsalw h LOsu conclusion that we have a writingdet,alowhm edlsshn problem. It's the same argumenta2.grdponrtifrthfl, they've been presenting all the t ene h a colec time--That we can't communicatese stralogshecivsa on the same level, we've been dep- 20 h uesiuae htuo rived." But he continued, "That was gauto h tdn uthv the purpose of CLEO--to correct ahee uuaieaeaeo some of our problems."2..Nralanstdtwhe CLE (Counilion LegaoEduca-ty) F s , agmse re