Man Admitted to Hospital Discovers He’s a She

Man Admitted to Hospital Discovers He's a She

A man from Colorado who was admitted to the hospital for a kidney stone received shocking news when the nurse came back with test results that revealed he was actually a woman.

Steve Crecelius, a Denver photographer, said he's felt a little confused with his sexuality all his life.

"When I was about 6 years old, I started having these feminine feelings, but that was in the '60s. Wearing my mom's makeup, I thought I looked pretty," Crecelius told ABC News.

So, five years ago, when he went to the emergency room, he wasn't too shocked when the nurse told him she found traits of both genders in his ultrasound results.  The tests revealed he was intersex, meaning he had both male genitalia and internal female sex organs.

"The nurse is reading the ultrasound and says, 'Huh, this says you're a female,' Crecelius said. "It was very liberating. I had spent so much energy after the age of 13 constantly evaluating how people looked at me and acted towards me."

Steve, who now goes by "Stevie," said his wife and their six children accepted his new identity right away.  "We told them individually. Some were in person and some weren't," Crecelius said. "Every one of them said, 'We don't care one way or the other. We love you for who you are and you're still my dad.'"

Crecelius and his wife, Debbie, have been together for 25 years and she's supported him every step of the way, including taking him to buy his first bra.

According to the Intersex Society of North America, more than 1,500 children a year are born intersex.  Intersex is a term used to describe people who bear both external genitals and internal organs, such as testes and ovaries.  A person with the condition may have male genitals along with fallopian tubes and ovaries.

For Crecelius, he hopes he can be an advocate for those born intersex and same-sex couples.  "I think of bullying, because I haven't heard anyone talk about this. It's important to talk about," Crecelius said. "People need to be accepting and understand. I was born this way, and loving each other and supporting each other will always be the main factor in our household."

Posted by James Fried on Sunday May 27 2012, 3:04 AM EST. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0