http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regional/ser..._reimer20040507

May 07 2004 04:11 PM CDT

Man raised as girl dies

WINNIPEG - A Winnipeg man who was the subject of a ground-breaking sex-change experiment died this week.

David Reimer's parents were advised to raise their baby boy as a girl after a failed circumcision in 1966. Reimer was clinically castrated and was subject to mental, social and hormonal conditioning to help him live his early life as a girl named Brenda.

Medical experts from around the world quietly monitored the experiment, which was thought to be of particular interest because Reimer had a twin brother.

Reimer was a social outcast as a child and suffered extreme depression. He discovered the truth about himself when he was a teenager and decided to life as a male. He underwent testosterone injections, a painful double mastectomy and a phalloplasty and started a new life as a man.

Reimer eventually married and raised three stepchildren in Winnipeg.

The flawed experiment later received worldwide publicity, and Reimer stepped out of anonymity in 2000 to reveal his story in the book As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl.

Reimer was 38 years old.

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© CBC 2004

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Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell

DAVID REIMER
May 07, 2004

DAVID PETER REIMER On Tuesday, May 4, 2004 at the St. Boniface Hospital, David Reimer died at the age of 38 years. David is survived by his parents, Ron and Janet of Winnipeg; his wife Jane Anne; and children, Sherri, Carla, Anthony; and granddaughter Marina. Memorial service will be held on Monday, May 10, 2004 at 2:00 p.m. at Klassen Funeral Chapel, 1897 Henderson Hwy. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Children's Wish Foundation, 350 St. Mary Ave., R3C 3J2. KLASSEN Funeral Chapel 1897 Henderson - North of McIvor - 338-0331

__________________
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell

God hebbe zijn ziel. He wasn't intersex but he was more important to us than many medics were or ever will be.

Miriam

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The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth.

I'm so grateful to David for finally coming out of hiding. It must have been ever so hard for him to go public. All he wanted was to be a normal man and drive a garbage truck. Nobody listened to him until he became a teenager and his family had become a dysfunctional wreck in the meantime.

He deserves more than an obscure obituary, even if he sought an obscure life.

Thankyouthankyouthankyou, David! I've followed your story for over twenty years. All the best and the shiniest garbage truck ever and all the best garbage. Yup, there is great treasure in trash.

And you were a bright multifaceted gem!

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keep in mind always the present you are
constructing. It should be the future you
want. ~ Ola
(Alice Walker, The Temple of My Familiar)

He was so young! what happened?

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Cheers,
Meresa

There will be no second-class citizens in this society.
-- Chuck Panozzo

I wonder if anybody has noted Dr. Money's reaction to this terribly sad news - if he's still alive? I do share Meresa's curiosity about how this came to be. It's particularly curious that he had been in the hospital at the time of his death, although it may be perfectly innocent.

I had not seen the TV documentary on him, although I had seen a few excerpts and was very familiar with his case through print.

A landmark case, if there ever was one, on the erroneous assumptions that these so-called experts make regarding human sexual and social development. I can only hope that all the other 'experiments' out there don't end in such tragically short stories.

I feel only sadness and 'loss' to his passing. Truly, "there, but for the grace of god, go I".

__________________
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.

Money is still alive, albeit I'm told he's quite decrepit in his old age. Someone I know recently saw him at a conference. I have enquired with Mickey Diamond if he knows the reason for David's untimely death but I have not heard back from him, nor do I know if it will be shared. I'm quite amazed that the US media has not picked up on yet.

Betsy

__________________
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell

David Reimer gave me insight into my condition.

He lived a life for himself. He rejected what society was trying to place on him, and in that he became the "true person" he wanted to be. I owe him, albeit my sister for giving me the book about his life. I owe him my identity and faith. Without my knowledge of his life I would be lost now. It just seems so strange for him to pass away at such a young age. I will give him a moment of remembrance.

Thank you David for giving me the motivation to understand my condition, and now the courage to be who I was born to be.


Monica

More:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...?hub=TopStories

__________________
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell