Transgender transition

July 12--Julian Pecenco, for all outward appearances, is what he describes as the typical "guy next door." He lives in Oneonta with his wife, works at The Home Depot, loves bicycling and in a few weeks will turn 43 years old. Not so typically, Pecenco has spent the majority of his life as a woman.

Pecenco, who was born female, is transgender, an umbrella term used to refer to anyone who defies the usual conceptions of gender, he said. It separates gender from biological sex.

"People assume you're either male or female based on your sex, but gender is perceived," Pecenco said. "Gender isn't an either/or proposition. There are lots of different ways of expressing oneself."

An executive order announced by President Barack Obama last week offering transgender workers formal protection from discrimination at work is long overdue, according to several area advocates.

The Rev. Craig Schwalenberg, pastor at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Oneonta, where Pecenco is a member, said Obama's order is "way past due."

"It's the next step toward justice," Schwalenberg said. "There's no reason someone should be discriminated against for being transgender. That would be like discriminating on the basis of how someone looks, dresses or talks."

The order, declared by Obama on June 30, covers all federal workers and is largely symbolic. However for many people the symbolism is huge: The announcement was the first time an American president has used the word "transgender" in a speech, according to the Associated Press.

In 2009, Obama signed a memorandum saying the government shouldn't discriminate against workers for reasons unrelated to their job performance. But this recent order specifically refers to transgender people. The effort is among a slew of recent moves to make life easier for transgender individuals, experts said Tuesday.

Obama's executive order is highly important, Pecenco said, and "sets a certain tone" that will create safer places of employment for transgender people.

According to a 2011 study by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 90 percent of the 6,450 transgender and gender non-conforming people who were surveyed reported experiencing harassment or mistreatment at work. More than 47 percent said their gender identification prevented them from getting a job or promotion and, in some cases, got them fired.

Pecenco said he knows many "trans" friends who have been discriminated against at work, but he has never experienced it.

The most common form of discomfort for Pecenco is when people forget he has transitioned to a man and slip up with pronouns, using "she" and "her" instead of "he" and "him" when referring to him, he said.

"I get frustrated but not insulted," Pecenco said. "I try to be very patient and understand that, for other people, it might be hard to understand. It took me 15 to 20 years to figure it out myself. I can't expect others to understand so quickly. But it's important to really make an effort to refer to someone the way they want to be referred to."

Growing up as "Julie" in Clarence, a suburb of Buffalo, Pecenco always wanted to be a boy, he said. As a young girl, Pecenco signed kindergarten papers "Mike" and insisted on wearing boy's clothes, never feeling comfortable with the sex designated on his birth certificate.

"In fourth grade, we were supposed to dress up as a famous person from history," Pecenco recalled. "All the girls dressed up as Betsy Ross, but I was a soldier."

After Pecenco reached puberty, he tried to fit in as a girl and pushed his confusion "underground," he said. In college, he embraced feminism and identified as a lesbian. But something still didn't feel right. When he looked in the mirror, he said he felt "disconnected."

After meeting several friends who had medically transitioned from one gender to the other by taking hormones and having gender-confirming surgery, Pecenco said he started to realize that he was transgender. But he had no interest in transitioning until he moved to Oneonta with his girlfriend, Leah, in 2005.

In September 2011, he started taking testosterone, which quickly lowered his voice, built up his muscles and made him more hairy, he said.

While Pecenco was transitioning, he was working at The Home Depot in Oneonta. Part of the reason he applied at the store was because he knew it is a progressive company that has good policies for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, he said.

According to The Home Depot's website, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank Blake and other members of management strive to cultivate a "diverse" and "inclusive" environment at the company.

"Our ability to understand, embrace and operate in a multicultural world, where we serve a diverse array of customers, is critical to our success," the website reads. "In order to remain competitive, our workforce must mirror the diversity of the world we operate in. At The Home Depot, our associates often take the lead on strengthening our diverse and inclusive workplace through our Associate Resource Groups ... Pride Network's mission and focus is to raise internal awareness and understanding of the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender customer segment and promote inclusion and respect for all associates."

Once Pecenco told management at Oneonta'sHome Depot about his transition and explained the situation to the other employees, things went smoothly, he said.

"For the most part, everyone was incredibly supportive," Pecenco said. "And that has continued to be the case. It's a supportive environment."

Pecenco said he was harassed more when he identified as a lesbian. Since he transitioned, he and his wife "look like a standard couple" and blend in.

"I'm basically, at this point, the guy next door if you don't know I'm trans," Pecenco said. "Since transitioning, suddenly I've become more mainstream. I just fit in. There are so many other people who have it so much worse. Trans women of color, impoverished transgender people and lesbian women are discriminated against the most. Because people expect their men to be manly and their women to be feminine, masculine women have it particularly tough."

When Pecenco first started taking testosterone, he went to Dr. Carolyn Wolf-Gould, a physician at FoxCare Center in Oneonta who is well-known in New York for her inclusion of transgender care in her primary practice.

Wolf-Gould said she has more than 120 transgender patients from across New York and parts of Massachusetts. She is passionate about providing a safe space for transgender individuals to be medically seen and is pleased with the recent surge of trans-friendly legislation, she said Wednesday.

In addition to workplace harassment, transgender people face many hurdles and discrimination when it comes to accessing health care, Wolf-Gould said. It's often difficult for them to find a physician because many medical schools don't train doctors in that skill set. And many times, transgender individuals who try to go to family practices face discrimination.

According to the study from the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 28 percent of respondents were subjected to harassment in medical settings and 50 percent reported having to teach their medical providers about transgender care.

There are many gender-confirming surgeries that a transgender person can have, said Wolf-Gould. However, many cannot afford these expensive operations because most insurance companies won't cover them. More than 48 percent of those surveyed by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said they have postponed medical care because they were unable to afford it.

Wolf-Gould applauded an announcement from Medicare last month that it will cover transgender services, such as gender reassignment surgeries.

"It's a huge thing," Wolf-Gould said. "I'm hopeful."

Another advancement Wolf-Gould said she is excited about is a law passed in New York that allows transgender people to change the gender on their birth certificates without requiring transformative surgery.

When Pecenco officially changed his name and gender on his driver's license and passport, he was unable to change his Social Security card or birth certificate, he said. But the new law will allow him to do so.

Elliot Ruggles, 30, is another transgender man living and working in Otsego County. Like Pecenco, Ruggles, who works as the director of SUNY Oneonta's Gender and Sexuality Resource Center, "passes really well" as a man, he said, so he is not usually harassed.

But the transgender community faces high rates of discrimination, harassment and bullying on the whole, especially in the workplace, Ruggles said. Many people don't think about it because it doesn't affect them, he said, but it's "a really big deal."

To help combat this, Ruggles is trained to go into schools and workplaces and talk about what it means to be transgender, to help ease the transition not only for the transgender person, but for everyone in his or her life, he said. There are likely some transgender people in the Oneonta community who are unsure of themselves and not comfortable enough to come out.

Ruggles said since there isn't a lot of formal support for transgender people in Oneonta, he is working on trying to build up the trans community and is dedicated to getting people together and reaching out to them. An LGBT community center would be a great resource, he said.

In a college town such as Oneonta, it's especially important for the community to make sure it is welcoming and, more importantly, validating to everyone, no matter what their gender identity, Ruggles said.

"If you're a parent raising a child, foster whatever the interests of your child are, even if they are against the usual gender norms," Ruggles said. "If you're a teacher, be open and validating and listen to children who are questioning their gender. If you're in a leadership position, educate yourself, pay attention to things like this in the news and listen to the community's needs."

And if you're just an Oneonta resident who wants to be supportive?

"Just treat people with basic dignity and respect," Ruggles said. "Just using whatever power you have in the moment. Of course, there's a natural curiosity around (transgenders). But if you notice someone rudely asking if someone is a man or a woman, try to cut things off at the bud. That's the power of being an ally."

Respect and validation are key, Pecenco said, and Obama's recognition of this is huge.

"We need to treat everyone with respect, and that means respecting people's gender presentations, no matter what it is or whether it's what you think it should be," Pecenco said, "because it's their identity."

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