‘Born to Be’ is a deeply intimate and endearing documentary that chronicles the physical transition of transgender patients at the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York City.
After New York became the 9th state to require insurance to cover gender affirming surgeries, the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery become the first hospital in New York to provide gender reassignment surgery. Extraordinary plastic surgeon, Dr. Jess Ting and his small team at Mount Sinai are the pioneers leading this new frontier of innovative and groundbreaking new surgeries to help trans people exist in the bodies they feel most comfortable in. With very few doctors skilled in performing gender affirming surgery in New York, Dr. Ting and his team are often stretched very thin with a two year consultation waiting list of 400 patients.
Few plastic surgeons were willing to take on the task. “Essentially they just asked everyone and everyone else said ‘no,’ except for me.” Not many people could fathom why Dr. Ting, a cisgender man, would be interested in performing gender affirming surgery and he has been met with online hate for his commitment to aiding the trans community. But Dr. Ting has not wavered in what he believes in and understands the true importance of his work. Born to Be is a documentary that was inspired by an unfortunate tragedy when one one his patients took her life before she could be scheduled for surgery. After the death of his patient, Dr. Ting teamed up with executive producer Michelle Hayashi and director Tania Cypriano, to tell the story of his trans patients in hopes of inspiring empathy and understanding towards the trans community.
Suicide in the trans community is all too common, with a staggering 45% suicide attempt rate. In the documentary, one of Dr. Ting’s patients—a 22 year old woman (she/her) named Garnet— attempts suicide after a successful transition where she underwent vaginoplasty, breast augmentation, and facial feminization. Garnet knew ever since she was a small child that she was a woman and wanted a body that she felt reflected that. After Garnet’s surgeries were complete, she was finally happy in her own body and she also had the full undying love and support of her family. Despite all of this, Garnet attempted suicide because she was having a difficult time finding a partner that loved and accepted her as a trans woman.
Most people think that once a trans person completes their transition (whatever that transition may look like because everyone’s personal journey is different) that they will no longer endure the depression and anxiety that they felt when they had gender dysphoria. But often feelings of hopelessness will persist because of rejection from society. In addition to suicide, the trans community also faces high rates of homelessness after being rejected by their family. Homicide rates in the trans community is also an epidemic because they are often preyed on by violent transphobic men. Suicide, homicide, and homelessnes, are all serious issues in the trans community that results in many trans lives being lost and cut short far to early. Another one of Dr. Ting’s patients, Cashmere, is a much older Black trans woman who was friends with Black Trans activist, Marsha P. Johnson, who was brutally murdered by a group of men in 1992. “Believe me, there’s not too many older queens like me around to talk…they’re all dead.”
This important lesson in Born to Be is that transitioning is only one part of the journey to trans people loving themselves and existing comfortably in their own bodies. The next most important part of the journey is trans people being accepted into society. That part is on us. It’s not just about them changing. We have to change too.
Born to Be is set to premiere at the Hamptons Film Festival on October 11 and screened at the 57th Annual New York Film Festival.