![]() She arrived at the nondescript, monochrome clinic at 6 a.m. That December morning, she forewent her usual silky blond wig. “That first surgery was the first step on the yellow brick road. “I already knew I wasn’t going back,” Lukcia said. Christine McGinn, one of the world’s top surgeons who specializes in transgender health care and who is also a transgender woman. There, she would receive a vaginoplasty from Dr. She would undergo another facial feminization surgery with Spiegel two months later, then fly to Pennsylvania in May. She adopted a uniform of elegant blouses, skirts and dresses, opting almost exclusively for soft pinks.īut it was while sitting in the surgical suite with Spiegel that it registered for Lukcia that her journey toward presenting as her true self had reached a critical point. 8, 2021, days before her first of two facial feminization surgeries Lukcia reads alone at the dining room table while drinking her morning coffee Lukcia sits on the bathroom counter to be closer to the mirror while putting on makeup Lukcia looks through the clothes hanging in her closet that reflect the girl she had known herself to be since the age of 4 Lukcia applies makeup most mornings, for which she is still learning techniques. “I didn’t want people to whisper, ‘Is there something going on with him?’”Ĭlockwise from top left: Lukcia Sullivan walks up her driveway to get the newspaper to read with her morning coffee on Dec. “I wanted to come out loud and proud,” she said. What’s more, sharing her story publicly would help her erase her previous life and any doubt people might have that Lukcia is a woman. “There are other young men who don’t need to live the lifestyle I did,” she said. She wanted to send a message to younger people that they do not have to live their lives as someone they’re not. Lukcia wanted to show the world the realities and challenges of transitioning at an advanced age, even in a state like Maine that has some of the strongest available legal protections for LGBTQ residents. The Bangor Daily News followed Lukcia for a year as she underwent a series of surgeries to align her body with her gender identity after she began presenting as a woman in October 2020. Lukcia Sullivan takes a moment to reflect before being taken into the operating room to undergo her first facial feminization surgery at the Spiegel Center in Newton, Massachusetts, on Dec. Another step has involved reintroducing herself to her family and her community. Her surgery last December represented part of her transformation. She wanted to finally look like the woman she knew she was. When she retired in 2018, she took stock of her life. So she suppressed the mannerisms that others deemed too feminine and muted her true self to adapt to her gendered environs. Her sensitive nature made her a target of ridicule, however, first as a boy growing up in a rigidly traditional Irish-Catholic family, and later as a service member in the Coast Guard and U.S. Lukcia was assigned male at birth and presented as a man for the first 67 years of her life. ![]() ![]() ![]() The procedure would involve narrowing her jaw, brow bone and chin augmenting her lips and reconstructing her nose. There, Spiegel and his team would spend the next six hours resculpting Lukcia’s skull and facial tissues so she would appear more feminine. In a few moments, she would be wheeled into the operating room of a clinic in Newton, Massachusetts. But it was momentous for Lukcia, 69, who had been waiting for this day for decades, ever since she knew she was a girl. It was a routine morning for the surgeon. Jeffrey Spiegel checked the IV line in her other arm and asked her about any allergies. Lukcia Sullivan ran her hand across her scalp as Dr. ![]()
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