Casting fear aside, he told his story

-- Mark Cummings' personality hasn't changed in the last three years - even though his gender has.

The same people who saw him as a tough ''butch'' Latina lesbian when he was known as Maritza Perdomo now see him as a ''sensitive'' heterosexual Cuban man.

''Too tough as a woman, too gentle as a man - society is crazy,'' mused Cummings, 41, who underwent a painful sex change operation in 2003.

He went from female to male - having his breasts and internal reproductive organs removed - and was able to legally marry Violet, his long-time girlfriend.

Cummings also runs a thriving fitness gym/beauty salon in Hollywood, Fla., called, ironically, Bodies Under Construction.

But it was only recently that Cummings decided to come out as a transgendered person.

"I thought I would lose my business, my clients, my friends and expose myself and my wife to violence,'' said Cummings. "The opposite has happened. I have been embraced by everyone. No one has turned their back on me."

Cummings had three reasons for talking about his experiences: He was not ashamed. He refused to live in fear. And he wanted to serve as a role model for people who know they are men trapped in female bodies.

Unlike their newly-minted female counterparts, former women who have become men do not have pioneer role models. In 1952 Christine Jorgensen created a media sensation as the first former man to come out as a woman.

And in 1975 Dr. Renee Richards, made international headlines for successfully suing the United States Tennis Association when it barred the former man from competing in the U.S. Women's Open.

But women who become men are not as common - which is why Cummings feels compelled to take a lead role.

Now that he is the man he always knew he was, Cummings feels - for the first time in his life - happy and free. --