IF YOU GO
• Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Arsht Center's Studio Theater, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; $25, half-price for seniors, students and military day of show at the Arsht Center box office. Co-presented by Tigertail Productions.• A Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce-sponsored reception follows Friday's performance.• Tickets and information: 305-949-6722.• A free panel discussion, Bending Gender in the New Millennium, is 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Peacock Education Center inside the Arsht Center. Moderator: Miami Herald reporter Lydia Martin.Performance artist Scott Turner Schofield came out twice, first at 16 as a lesbian when he was named Katie.
''I thought I was a girl and I liked girls, so I must be a lesbian,'' Schofield recalled.
Three years later, Schofield came across a man whooping it up in a lesbian bar.
'He was dancing with the women. Dancing and kissing. I thought, `what is going on?' ''
Then came the ''huge light-bulb moment'' when Schofield realized the man was transgender -- and that so is he.
''His history was my history,'' said Schofield, 27, of Atlanta, who this week performs and speaks to Miami-Dade County teens. ``Suddenly, I had this whole new community to be part of. It was very powerful.''
Until then, Schofield said he ``didn't understand that gender identity and sexual orientation are two different things.''
Schofield, originally Katie Lauren Kilborn of San Antonio, says he wasn't ``born in the wrong body.''
''I don't disrespect people who feel that way about themselves,'' he said, 'but I am one of those people who says, `God doesn't make mistakes.' ''
Since 2001, Schofield has written and performed in solo productions of Underground Transit and Debutante Balls. Last year, he won a Princess Grace Foundation fellowship in acting. Also, the National Performance Network commissioned him to write Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps, which he'll perform this weekend at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.
Acceptance of transgender people has come a long way since the 1950s when an ex-soldier named George Jorgenson had surgery in Denmark and returned to the United States as Christine.
''She was the first. And it was a scandal,'' said Michael Vita, secretary-treasurer of the Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
During the performance, Schofield briefly appears nude.
''The comfort I have in my body now is . . . probably more than most of my audience members,'' Schofield said. ``Getting up on stage and taking off my clothes -- having people accept my body as it is -- is a powerful experience.''
He takes testosterone, but hasn't had surgery as some transgender people do. ``I don't have the desire or need to. And I don't have the money. I'm thankful that I'm OK with myself.''
Schofield's stepfather had a lot to do with that, he said. 'He accepted me even when my mother had a hard time. He [told her], `Listen, he's a really good person. He's everything we raised him to be. We didn't raise him as a daughter, but as a person.' ''
This week, Schofield will tell his story to students at three public high schools and at Miami's gay-oriented Pridelines Youth Services.
Shemeka McCall and Travae Brown will be there.
McCall, 19, of Miami-Central High School, came out as transgender five years ago.
''I would go to school as a boy and come home and dress up,'' she says.
Gradually, McCall began dressing in public as a female.
''Going to the movies, to the beach, I got confidence in myself,'' she said. ``I don't wear makeup because I have a natural girl face.''
McCall's parents are dead. Her brothers and sisters are emotionally supportive.
Like Schofield, McCall says she is comfortable with her body and doesn't plan surgery.
Nor will Brown, 18, who was born female and lives as a man.
''I always identified as a boy,'' Brown said. ``I have two older brothers. I did everything like them.''
As a youngster at St. Francis Xavier school in Overtown, Brown wanted to dress as a male. 'The boys had the shorts and the girls had the skirts and knee highs. I asked my mom and she said I had to wear the girls' uniform.''
At Northwestern High, Brown began using the boys' restroom. 'Security said I couldn't go there. The principal said if I go to the boys' bathroom, I could be suspended.''
Just before graduation last year, Brown was told that to attend the senior prom he would have to wear a gown.
''I went because it was my last year as a senior,'' he said. ``I threw on a dress, but had long jeans under them.''
Brown said that even without hormones, few people would guess he was born female.
''When you first look at me, you know I'm a boy. It's not about dressing,'' he said. ``It's how I see myself. When I look in the mirror, I do not see a pretty girl. I'm a fine-ass boy.''
