Goodbye, Mr. Gordon: Teacher changes gender

Associated Press

EASTCHESTER, N.Y. — When last seen by students at Eastchester High School, art teacher Randey Gordon was a man. When they return to class in September, that will no longer be the case.

"Mr. Gordon isn’t Mr. Gordon anymore," said the 52-year-old teacher, who underwent a sex-change operation last month. "But it’s still me. The parents and the kids who knew me as a man, they’ll accept me. The person hasn’t changed. I’m the same crazy, humorous person I was before."

Many people who undergo sex changes — an estimated 1,000 annually in the United States — decide to start a new life with a new identity.

But Gordon, who has taught in the New York City suburb for 10 years, is one of a small number of transsexual teachers across the country who are returning to the classroom.

"I love my job," Gordon said. "I shouldn’t have to give that up. The fact is that diversity is something the world needs to understand and respect, and I’m doing this for others."

A similar case is unfolding in Northbrook, Ill., where a female high school science teacher will return to classes this fall as a man. In Lake Forest, Ill., an English teacher became a woman in the summer of 1998 and "the transition was very smooth," assistant principal Jay Hoffmann said.

It doesn’t always work that way. Dana Rivers, a teacher in Sacramento, Calif., was fired in 1999 after becoming a woman. The school board said parents complained Rivers had talked to students about the decision. Rivers denied that and sued; she received a $150,000 settlement and resigned.

Gordon has the support of local and state teachers unions. Darryl Figueroa, spokeswoman for the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, said, "Our position would be that (a sex change) doesn’t affect classroom performance — and as long as it doesn’t we would tend to support the teacher."

To prepare for Gordon’s return to the 600-student high school, the district invited students and parents to what turned out to be a lively meeting that covered everything from privacy rights to bathroom use. (She said she plans to use the unisex faculty bathroom in the school’s art wing.)

Ellie Giotas, who has a daughter at the high school, has doubts.

"They’re trying to justify something in the name of freedom, in the name of the law," Giotas said. "I would tell this guy, ‘Why don’t you get the hell out and start your new life somewhere else? Why do you have to impose this on us, on our children?’ "

Still, some students seem untroubled.

"He’s not a killer, he’s not a child molester," senior Zack Sciarabba told The Journal News of White Plains. "He’s a person who wants to live his life. He was a great guy and there’s no doubt he’ll be a great woman."

Gordon, divorced and the father of a 21-year-old son, told the superintendent last August about plans for the sex-change surgery. They eventually agreed on a year’s leave, with pay, "so everybody could get used to the situation," Siebert said.

The 5-foot-9 Gordon began living as a woman, dieted from 230 pounds down to 170, and on June 6 underwent the $50,000 sex-change operation. Unlike many transsexuals, she kept her first name, since it could be either male or female.