1996: Transgender SRJC math professor tired of 'living a lie'

This story was originally published Aug. 24, 1996

Dick Giles has 10 children and a marriage that has lasted 33 years, holds a respected position on the mathematics faculty at Santa Rosa Junior College and has had a secret life that is a secret no longer.

This week, Giles returned to the classroom as Diane Giles, dressed as the woman that he says emotionally he is.

"I accept what I am," said Giles, 58. "I just decided I needed to quit living a lie."

Giles said Friday that he is transgender, a woman trapped in a man's body. He has the height, weight, size, hair, hormones and sexual preferences of a man, but the sensitivity and nurturing inclinations of a woman.

"I have identified with the opposite gender ever since I could remember," Giles said. "As the youngest child in a family of all boys, I always thought I should have been a girl. But I learned quickly that was not acceptable. So I played with boys, I did boy things, I learned the masculine role."

This summer, with the support of his wife, Anne, Dick Giles said he decided he needed to come out of the closet and be what he is, dressing full-time in women's clothes, even to visit his family in Quincy, Ill., and attend his 40th high school reunion.

"I didn't choose this," Giles said. "This is something I was born with. It's been with me all my life. In that sense it's like homosexuality, coming from I don't know where."

"I've known about it all the time we have been together," Anne Giles said. "I'm glad the hiding, the worrying and the concern for the mental health of Diane is over. This is the person she is."

On Monday, Dick Giles dressed as a woman and taught his first class as Diane Giles, after notifying his colleagues in the mathematics department a month ago of what was coming. He even addressed the subject for his students, assuring them the class was about mathematics, not about himself.

The reaction by students, faculty and administrators was shock and surprise -- particularly from those who have known him over the years -- and few complaints. Some called him courageous, while others were puzzled why he would make the change this year, his last before retirement.

"I have known Dick for seven years," said math instructor Daniel Munton. "It is kind of surprising. It's not something you see every day. It hasn't been a problem for me and I haven't heard any students complain. But it is hard getting the pronouns right."

"Dick-Diane has been fairly open with us, especially this past year,"' said John Martin, instructor and former math department chairman. "But I don't think anyone suspected that he would actually go to this extent for the school year."

Administrators said Giles is an excellent instructor and unless it interfered with the educational process, it isn't something that would cost him his job.

"It's obviously a point of discussion, but I wouldn't title it an issue,"' said SRJC President Robert Agrella. "He has the right to do this. We spoke with our legal counsel to protect Dick as well as to protect ourselves."

Ed Buckley, vice president of academic affairs, said there have been no complaints and only a few problems, specifically what bathroom Giles was to use. That problem was solved by putting an interior sliding bolt on the faculty men's bathroom.

Students said it isn't a concern for them.

"I think she's a good teacher and I think she's a really courageous person," said Brook Gardner of Petaluma. "It's not a distraction at all."

"I have poor math skills and I understood the person to take was Giles," said Sheila McBride of Santa Rosa. "It doesn't phase me one iota, as long as I am taught math."

Giles said he is not homosexual- as a transgender his sexual preference is still women, specifically his wife. He also said that he wasn't a transvestite, which is a man who derives sexual pleasure from dressing in women's clothes.

The Giles have 10 children -two natural and eight adopted -and are remaining together.

Anne Giles also said that reaction in public to Dick, who because of his size and masculinity is not mistaken for a woman, is better than they expected. There may be a few second looks and nudges, but people have been accepting.

"The people who are the closest, it takes them the longest," Anne Giles said.

"My biggest fear all my life was I wouldn't be able to stand the ridicule," Diane Giles said.

Giles said the new role felt so good, he may even put off retirement.