First-Person Stories: A Secret Life

Written by Berdache Jordan

Real People

A Secret Life by Steven Hammond

My name is Steven Hammond. I was born with a genital sexual birth defect. Because it was undetected at birth by both the doctor and my parents, I was raised the wrong sex. Alot of things in this life are hard to understand, but I think I have endured one of the most difficult things I can imagine to endure.

Children are born every day with different types of congenital birth defects. Some are born with no arms and no legs, some are born blind or deaf, or mentally retarded. It is hard to understand why these things happen, but in my case there were two things that happened. The first was being born with a sexual birth defect, which I now accept as just that. The second was being raised the wrong sex and having to change my whole life.

Only the God of this universe knows what I have had to endure both mentally and physically. He is the one who created me to be who I am, and he alone can understand my circumstances.

I'm sure that all the other people who have lived with birth defects must feel the same way. I hope that my story will enlighten people about sexual birth defects. Sexual birth defects are in a category of their own and are not to be confused with homosexuality, transsexualism, cross-dressing, or any situation where a physically normal person makes it their own choice to be different.

Steve Hammond is an ordinary guy. I drive a Jeep Cherokee pickup. I built the house where me and my wife, Sara Jane, live. I get up every day and go to my job at a warehouse in Berea, Kentucky. I wants to adopt a child and provide stability for my family. Like most of us, I dream of getting a little extra out of life. An ordinary guy. But I have an extraordinary story to tell.

Looking Beyond the Mountains
A book written by Steven Hammond.

Here is the story of how Linda Jean Hammond became Steven Hammond after surgery to correct a genital birth defect. Labeled female at birth, Steven Hammond lived for 25 years as a female -- a boy imprisoned in the trappings of a girl. This is the story of the life of Linda Jean and the birth of Steven at age 25. Click here to order Looking Beyond the Mountains.

Surprise

In 1981, Linda Jean Hammond (I was known as "Linda Jean"), 25, stepped into the Richmond office of Dr. William P. Grise a few minutes after he had opened. "It was the first time I'd revealed myself to a doctor. I'd been to a doctor for an ear ache and an infected hand but had never had a complete physical. I was very embarrassed and scared. I knew my secret was going to be revealed, a secret I'd held in all my life. "I figured he would know without asking me so many questions. That first time, I had a hard time talking." Grise remembers single-word answers to nearly every question, chipping away at Linda's wall of protection. Then came the examination.

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Born Different

Linda Jean Hammond was born with a birth defect June 2, 1956, in Mary Rutan Hospital in Bellefontaine, Ohio. Dr. John B. Traul is listed as the physician. He has since died. If he or his nurses noticed anything unusual about the infant Hammond, they didn't press hard to do something about it. Linda went home untreated.

Six weeks later, my mother, Christine, and father, Floyd, moved our family of five children to Jackson County, Ky. Floyd's sister noticed "Linda used the bathroom funny" when she diapered the baby. She wanted to take Linda to a doctor. She told my father, but he wasn't around much. There wasn't money for the essentials then, much less medical help. A few years later, my parents divorced. My mother tried to raise the family the best she could, but there was barely enough to eat.