surgeon Dr. Stanley Biber passes away

[gendercrash.livejournal.com]

NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE
Press Release

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Roberta Sklar, Communications Director
(Office) 646.358.1465
(Cell) 917.704.6358
rsklar@thetaskforce.org

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National Gay and Lesbian Task Force mourns loss of pioneering
surgeon Dr. Stanley Biber

'This is certainly a profound change-moment in our modern
transgender history, a moment separating the great struggles of
the past and the possibilities of a future - a moment Dr. Biber
helped make a reality.' - Marsha Botzer, Task Force board
co-chair

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
mourns the death of Dr. Stanley Biber, a small-town family
doctor from mining and cattle country who became a pioneer in
the area of gender-reassignment surgery, performing an estimated
5,000 of the life-changing operations over three decades. Dr.
Biber died earlier this week at the age of 82.

Dr. Biber lived on his ranch in Trinidad, a small southern
Colorado city along the Santa Fe Trail. In 1969, a female
acquaintance of Dr. Biber's asked him if he would perform her
gender-reassignment surgery. It was an era when very few
surgeons in North America were performing such operations. Biber
agreed, marking the beginning of a legacy.

Statement by Marsha Botzer, Board Co-Chair
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

"The news of Dr. Biber's death is heartbreaking - I spent many
months visiting and learning from Dr. Biber in the early 1980s,
and have worked with and respected him ever since. He was a man
who brought courage, intelligence and outstanding surgical skill
together in a combination that allowed him to perform the most
delicate surgery in the morning, face any and all questions in
the afternoon, and smile joyfully over a convivial dinner party
in the evening - a Renaissance man in the south of Colorado.

"This is certainly a profound change-moment in our modern
transgender history, a moment separating the great struggles of
the past and the possibilities of a future - a moment Dr. Biber
helped make a reality.

"The Task Force is very proud to be part of both the powerful
history and this exciting future, with our many years of support
for the transgender community and our current Transgender Civil
Rights Project.

"The Task Force honors Dr. Stanley H. Biber. He would certainly
tell us to persevere, to mourn the dead and fight with all our
strength for the living."