Doctor Steve Dain | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1939-07-09)July 9, 1939 |
| Died | October 13, 2007(2007-10-13) (aged 68) |
| Education |
|
| Occupations | Teacher, professor, activist |
| Known for | Transgender activism |
| Spouses | |
Steve Dain (July 9, 1939 – October 10, 2007)[2] was an American educator and activist who fought to keep his job as a schoolteacher after receiving gender-affirming surgery.[3] Following his legal battle with the school district and his resignation in 1978, which was covered in the national press,[4] he became an advocate for transgender rights and a mentor to other trans men.
Early life
Dain was born on July 9, 1939. He grew up in Oakland, CA, and attended high school at Oakland Tech, graduating in 1957. Dain attended UC Berkeley, receiving his B.A. in 1961 and his Master's degree in Physical Education and Child Development in 1963.[2]
Dain taught at Arroyo, Mission, and Kennedy High Schools before joining the faculty of Emery High School as a Physical Education teacher in 1966.[2]
Transition and firing
Dain was a successful teacher at Emery High School, earning a 'teacher of the year' award and achieving tenure, but he struggled with the distress of living as someone he was not, noting later, "I wanted to be who I was. I wanted to also fit. And to be who I was "and" fit would not go together."[5]
In 1976, Dain took six months' sick leave to seek gender-affirming hormone therapy and surgery at Stanford with Dr. Donald Laub,[6] legally changed his name, and grew a beard and mustache. When he returned to Emery High that summer, community reactions were mixed, with students showing curiosity about what had happened while parents and the school superintendent raised concerns.[5]
Termination and lawsuit
In October 1976, the school district suspended Dain on grounds of "unfitness, immoral conduct and dishonest use of sick leave".[7] Dain sued for wrongful termination and was successfully reinstated, but the board moved to fire him for wrongful use of medical leave.[5]
In 1978, after a two year legal battle that drove him nearly to bankruptcy, he resigned in order to collect his pension. Two weeks later, an Oakland Superior Court judge ruled that he must be given a choice between the suspension or accepting an outright dismissal, which would entitle him to back pay retroactive to the day he was suspended.[4] Dain was ultimately awarded $19,000.[8]
Later career and death
Unable to return to his teaching career, Dain worked as a tile-setter and in construction, then pursued and attained a Chiropractic Degree from Life Chiropractic College West in 1988, after which he opened a practice in Union City.[5][2]
Dain then became a biology professor at Ohlone College in Fremont. He completed a Doctor of Naturopathy degree in 2006.[5]
Dain was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001 and died on October 10, 2007.[2]
Activism and mentorship
Dain became a reluctant but outspoken advocate for transsexual rights after appearing in news media. In 1977, he was interviewed with Christine Jorgensen by Geraldo Rivera.[6] Dain was also featured in the 1985 HBO documentary "What Sex Am I?" directed by Lee Grant.[5]
He gained recognition in 1978 and 1979 for attending Christmas parties hosted by Pat Montandan. The first party he is mentioned to have attended was in 1978. He was in attendance with other notable activists and public figures including Phyllis Lyon, Charlie Gain, Eldridge Cleaver, Daniel Ellsberg, Sacheen Littlefeather, and Dianne Feinstein.[9] He attended a second Christmas party in 1979 with then-wife Patty Costello; other attendees included the activist and folksinger Joan Baez, Merla Zellerbach, Rollo May, Janet Gray Hayes, and defense attorney George T. Davis.[1]
He was sought out as a mentor by other members of the trans community who read of his firing in the news, several recalling that his photo was the first photo of a trans man they had ever seen.[7][10][11]
In his diaries, activist Lou Sullivan describes reading about Dain in the Los Angeles Times and writes that when the two met in 1979, Dain encouraged Sullivan to proceed with transitioning. The two stayed in contact until Sullivan's death in 1991.[10]
Poet Jamison Green met Dain at a gathering hosted by Sullivan, and wrote about him in his book Becoming a Visible Man: "He did not [transition] because being a man was somehow better than being a woman, but because it was the only thing he could do to be himself."[12]
Writer Max Wolf Valerio met Dain after Green, and notes, "In those days, most trans men in the Bay area went off on a pilgrimage to meet him as we entered medical transition. [...] It was nearly a ritual, a rite of passage to meet with Steve."[6]
Apologies and honors
Dain received an official posthumous apology from the Emery School Board in 2021, stating: "We regret the harmful actions taken by the district at that time. Mr. Dain was right to expect to return to his job."[3]
The Emeryville City Council renamed the street that the gym faces in Dain's honor.[3]
References
- ^ a b Montandon, Pat (18 December 1979). "My Christmas Party". California: San Francisco Examiner.
- ^ a b c d e "Steve Dain". ANG Newspapers. October 13, 2007. Retrieved September 10, 2025.
- ^ a b c Arias, Rob (March 24, 2021). "District Issues Official Apology to Trans-Rights Pioneer Steve Dain, Emeryville Street Renamed in his Honor". The E'ville Eye. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
- ^ a b Stumbo, Bella (July 31, 1978). "Transsexual Teacher, Broke and Disillusioned, Tires of Fighting". LA Times.
- ^ a b c d e f Arias, Rob (June 25, 2019). "Pride Month Special: Former Emery High Teacher & Trans Rights Pioneer Steve Dain". The E'ville Eye. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
- ^ a b c "Dr. Steven Dain MA DC ND– 20th Century Bay Area FTM Health Care Professor". FTM International (67). June 2008.
- ^ a b Stumbo, Bella (November 22, 1976). ""Teacher Sparks Battle Over Sexual Identity: Woman-To-Man Transformation Divides Town"". LA Times.
- ^ Ferrannini, John (January 20, 2021). "Emeryville OKs last step for Dain street renaming". The Bay Area Reporter.
- ^ Orr, Robin (12 December 1978). "They all came to Pat's party". California: Oakland Tribune.
- ^ a b Sullivan, Lou (September 17, 2019). We Both Laughed In Pleasure. United States: Nighboat Books.
- ^ Stryker, Susan. "The Difficult Decades." In Transgender History. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press, 2008.
- ^ Doyle, Jude Ellison S. (February 28, 2024). "How Jamison Green's visibility paved the way for a generation of trans men". Xtra Magazine.
