Dillon, Michael

Dr. Laurence Michael Dillon (1915–1962) was an ordained Tibetan Buddhist monk (getsul), a [Page 192]surgeon in the British Merchant Navy, and the first man assigned female at birth to transition with hormones, top surgery, and a phalloplasty. Dillon, who was also known by his Theravadan and Tibetan names, Sramanera/Lobzang Jivaka, wrote the first text that advocated for clinicians to allow trans people to medically transition, Self: A Study in Ethics and Endocrinology (1946). Dillon’s life and work are significant to the field of trans studies not only for his historically significant medical and social transition and his writings on the subject but also for his standing as a transnational religious figure. Dillon published prolifically on Buddhist topics, and his memoir Out of the Ordinary: A ...