Dr Alan Hart 1890 -1962

Dr. Alan L. Hart was born Oct. 4, 1890 in Hall’s Summit, Kansas, USA and moved to Oregon two years later, where he was raised, unhappily, as a female child. Upon reaching mature, educated adult-hood, he took steps, including psychiatric counselling and surgery – as transsexuals do today – to live his life as a man.

Dr. Joshua Gilbert, who assisted Hart with his transition, published Hart’s case in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders in 1920, but kept his patient’s identity a secret.

Deeply unhappy, and having considered suicide, Hart sought counselling in 1917 while attending the University of Oregon Medical College. At first he said his reason for seeking help was to cure a fear of loud noises. However, it soon became clear to Gilbert that Hart’s troubles were “connected in some way with sex.”

Hart described identifying as a boy from earliest memory and, according to Gilbert, often spoke of himself in male terms, saying “the other fellows and I” or “what could a fellow do?” He also visualized himself as male in sexual fantasies.

In a physical examination, Hart claimed that his “breasts are undergoing atrophy” and that his menstrual periods were painful and becoming shorter in duration. Since there was little evidence of abnormality, these statements could signal a wish to be rid of female sexual characteristics, one of the hallmarks of transsexualism.

Hart loved women and seemed to have little difficulty attracting or being physically intimate with them. He claimed that some of his lovers saw him as male. One woman told him that being with him was “exactly like going with a man.” But although he easily attracted women, he had difficulty maintaining long-term relationships with them, due in part to his situation. This was a source of pain to him.

Gilbert reported that “after long consideration, [Hart] came to the office with her mind made up to adopt male attire in conformity with her true nature… “ Gilbert, though clearly a product of his time, was open-minded enough to believe Hart’s self-reporting and help him achieve what he wanted so badly. Together with Dr. Gilbert, Hart charted the course of his own treatment, surgery, and entry into society as a man.

Hart proposed hysterectomy to eliminate menstruation and the possibility of ever becoming pregnant. This was in 1917 or early 1918, decades before male hormones became available. Dr. Gilbert was at first reluctant to comply with Hart’s request, but finally concede that his prejudice was all that objected, not his medical knowledge. This marks a milestone in transsexual history: the first time a psychiatrist recommended the removal of a healthy organ based solely on an individual’s gender identification.

Gilbert considered Hart extremely intelligent and not mentally ill but afflicted with a mysterious disorder for which he had no explanation. He had never seen such in his practice before, in spite of having counselled gay and lesbian patients. It is to Gilbert’s credit that he recognized the true nature of Hart’s problem and what his patient really needed, decades before Gender Dysphoria was described by Dr. Harry Benjamin.

Although Dr. Gilbert continued to refer to Hart as “she” (because of earlier acquaintance), he wrote, “ . . .from a sociological and psychological standpoint she is a man” and that living as one was Hart’s only chance for a happy existence, “the best that can be done.”

He adds, “Let him who finds in himself a tendency to criticize offer some constructive method of dealing with the problem on hand. He will not want for difficulties. The patient and I have done our best with it.”

Hart had his surgery in 1918 and made arrangements to change his name. Soon after, he married Inez Stark (who was fully aware that he had been born female) and started a medical practice in Gardiner, Oregon. But only months after his arrival in Gardiner, he was outed by a former medical school classmate and forced to move.

His early career was marked by such discoveries and transphobic treatment. No doubt because of this, Inez divorced him in 1923. In spite of this he never wavered from his identity as a man.

Despite Hart’s early difficulties, this earliest known attempt at modern sex reassignment was successful when judged by the remainder of Hart’s life. His second marriage to Edna Ruddick in 1925 lasted until the end of his life – over 37 years.

Hart published five books, including four novels and a text on his medical specialty (roentgenology). He had successful medical practices in Tacoma, Washington and Hartford, Connecticut, where he died on July 1, 1962, of heart failure. As with transsexuals today, living in his gender of self-identity had profound psychological benefits for Dr. Alan L. Hart.

Some people dispute applying the term “transsexual” to Hart since he himself did not use the term. But why should he? The term was not coined until 1949 and not widely used until the 1960s, around the time of Hart’s death. Although, according to Dr. Gilbert, Hart “accepted [his] condition as one of abnormal inversion,” it must be recognized that in the early 1900’s the concept of sexual inversion blended aspects of what today are considered entirely separate issues of gender identity and sexual orientation.

After his transition, Hart had no desire to identify himself as anything other than what everyone accepted him to be: a man. Thus he was a transsexual – a true pioneer – one that is seen as a hero by today’s transsexual community.

SOURCE: www.transexnews.com/articles/issue6/the_alan_hart_story.html

Torque (2002). Dr Alan Hart. 2(2), 22-23

page updated 30 January 2011