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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38295
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

If you go back a bit further you will find the controversial story of the tennis player and doctor Renee Richards. One aspect that made her attempt to play in the Women’s Open controversial was the belief that she would be stronger than the other contestants. It was not considered fair to the rest that she wanted to compete with women.

One question you must decide for your character - does he want the surgery or will the hormone treatment suffice and he will live his life as a male without it?

In the ‘70s hormone injections and assignment surgery were available but extremely rare.

The barriers that are more likely are those that anyone who is different would encounter.

The personality of your character could well determine how accepted he is, particularly in a time when there are many who vividly remember the Civil Rights movement. If your character is kind, he will have friends. If your character is more interested in making a point, perhaps his life would be more difficult.

1990 is not 1890 and - while prejudice exists in every time - the medical procedures existed. It was part of a protocol to have years of psychiatric treatment to ensure that the person desiring this reassignment truly wanted it, so finding a psychiatrist willing to see your protagonist could be one barrier.

Your character might not wish to undergo the psychiatric assessment that was believed necessary.

Another barrier that family might encounter is enrolling their son in school while all documents show him as other. Legal name changes are not something your average teenager is allowed to do, so his parents would have to do that for him.

Original score: 3