By: Katie Lawrence/ Staff Writer
Milo, a transsexual running for City of Miami Commissioner, was on campus on March 31 to discuss her transition from man to woman and aspirations for office.
Milo, 49, who last year ran for Congressional primaries in Miami-Dade and lost, detailed her struggles from a confused young man to a professional woman, and answered questions to an enthusiastic, albeit small, crowd.
“The most important point is openness to the world,” said Milo said of prejudice toward transsexuals. “It’s okay to acknowledge you have a label, but don’t let that label be your being.”
Milo grew up as Ed, a Cuban-Italian who married, fathered two children, and became a successful general contractor before the death of a friend made her realize that life was too important to live without being who she truly felt she was. During the talk she stopped for a brief period to ask some men hammer-drilling in an adjacent room if they could please keep it down for a short time, and offered to help them afterward.
“I don’t know what it’s like to be a genetic female, nor a woman trapped in a man’s body. I just had an abiding need to feel complete and whole,” Milo said, who shortly after decided to confide in her sister, tearing up briefly as she remembered her sister’s immediate acceptance.
Transsexuals like Milo are different from the transgendered in that the former not only identify with the opposite gender, but also wish to surgically become that gender. In a sign of growing acceptance of transsexualism, President Barack Obama appointed Amanda Simpson, a transsexual woman, to the Commerce Department.
But stigmas still exist, as well as personal conflict. Milo, who grew up Catholic, was surprised at the generally accepting attitudes of her family and close friends as she began to tell them her plans.
“My mother at first asked if there was some way to fix this, to make it go away,” Milo said. “Like maybe there was some pill I could take. But everyone I was close with before the transition, I remain close with to this day.”
It took about five years and $17,000 for Milo to underg several surgeries including penile modification and vaginoplasty, although she did not alter her voice.
She spoke often of the misconceptions she would face from strangers and people she would deal with on the phone for business, and then meet for the first time.
“I recognize I am different, but I don’t dwell on that,” Milo said. “I have a choice on how I respond to how you respond to that.”
As for politics, Milo says she was hopeful of Obama’s 2008 inauguration, but felt scorned when it was “more of the same.”
Inspired to make her own change, Milo ran as a Republican in the congressional primaries, which drew widespread criticism, especially after a Sirius radio interview used out-of-context quotes to peg her as anti-gay marriage.
Luther Campbell wrote a scathing opinion article in Miami New Times, and bloggers, even The New York Times, picked up the story without contacting her on the issue.
In his article published on June 10, 2010, Campbell said, “Milo is just one of these repressed conservative Republican dudes like George Rekers.”
But Milo is firm that she believes in rights for gay couples, and also says she has spent the last 11 years as a woman living with a woman. However, according to Milo, it’s the benefits that come with marriage she seeks rather than the word itself.
“I was brought up in a Catholic family, I believe marriage is exclusive to a man and woman, but I think there should be a separation, an ability to combine estates and gay couples. Let’s leave the semantics to the religious organizations and the issues to the government.”
Running as a conservative transsexual seemed difficult at first, but after various meetings with the public they began to realize she valued the same issues they did – financial, health, and economic woes. Out of three candidates, Milo received almost 24 percent of the votes.
Her current run for City of Miami Commissioner for District 2 focuses on budget issues and job creation.
Milo hopes her platform can help people look past her transsexuality. In the “Meet Donna” section of her website she does not even mention it, but she is also not shy about questions regarding it.
“I think it’s important people [struggling with gender dysphoria] know there are a lot more people that are caring and compassionate than are negative. I want them to know not to give up.”
Camille Perkins, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Initiative graduate assistant for the Multicultural Programs and Services department at BBC oversaw the talk, as well as other on-campus events for the LGBT community.
“There is definitely more we could do,” Perkins said. “We’re getting better. We’re lobbying now to get a full-time LGBT assistant director.”
Perkins did not have figures but estimated the LGBT community at the University to be about 10 to 15 percent.
The Milo event also helped kick off BBC’s first official Pride Week, which begins on April 11, and hosts a series of events on both BBC and the Modesto Madique Campus, including expos, special guests, and culminates in a drag ball on Friday night.
Ethan Larrea, a transitioning transsexual who attended Milo’s luncheon, was optimistic about the University and her community.
“I’m out to everybody. They’re cool with it. I’ve never seen trouble,” Larrea said.
Milo, who will continue campaigning in between contracting jobs, conforms to the idea that everyone is different, so normalcy can never be clarified.
“I don’t define myself as transsexual,” Milo said. “I’m just a butch bitch that builds houses and runs for office.”
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