Going to Trinidad: A Doctor, a Colorado Town, and Stories from an Unlikely Gender Crossroads

Not long ago, the subject of sex and gender, in the context of gender reassignment, was not discussed openly in a verbal, oral, or visual setting. Concealment, along with the jokes and sniggers, has been replaced increasingly by compassion and sympathy. Nowhere is this more evident than in Martin J. Smith’s captivating book, Going to Trinidad, the small Colorado city is known irreverently, perhaps accurately, as the sex-change capital of the world.

Two personal stories are pursued in-depth, men who recognized radical change was imperative. The chapters explore the immediate and long-term emotional, psychological, and social effects of the surgery and life thereafter; for both, the operating table spelled the start of major lifestyle adjustments.

Radical genital transformation is explained unsparingly, answering questions many hesitate to ask; describing a graphic but never prurient procedure. Dr. Stanley Biber performed thousands of operations, an extraordinary man who married five times and transitioned from career prospects as a musician, rabbi, and psychiatrist before recognizing his gift as a surgeon, subsequently in a highly specialized area.

In revealing a long-hidden story, the book is not only impressive but humbling.