If it were only that---if that were all-...

If it were only that---if that were all---I'm one of those damned creatures who are called degenerates and moral lepers for a thing they cannot help---a thing that has made me suffer---Oh, God!---Doctor, I can't explain. [...] I was born a male, but my mind has been that of a female. Why, as a child with dolls---I even cried when they cut off my curls. As I grew older the natural desires of a youth were unknown to me. I could not understand why women never interested me. I was attracted by my own sex. How was I to know it was wrong, when it seemed perfectly natural to me. [...] I soon realized that I was not like other men. I sought those of my own kind as companions. I realized that we were outcasts. I suffered. I rebelled. I fought with myself---but it was stronger than I. Then I gave in. Why not? I was what I was. There were others like me. Oh, we all fight in the beginning, but it was no use. [...] In time I met another like me. How can I tell you? (Pause.) We were attracted to each other. We loved each other. I worshipped him. We lived together. We were happy. The curse didn't seem to matter so much. We live our own life...lived it in our own way. No normally married couple were happier than we were. Then---he married.

• Article: The Guardian: Brutal! Vulgar! Dirty! Mae West and the gay comedy that shocked 1920s America