Thailand seeking limits on sex change surgery

Published 12:01 am Friday, November 27, 2009

BANGKOK — Thailand has issued rules making sex change surgery more difficult — including a requirement that potential candidates cross-dress for a year — over fears that some patients are rushing into the operation, a medical association said Thursday.

Transsexuals and transgender men are a common sight in Thailand, appearing on soap operas and working at all levels of Bangkok society, from department store cosmetics counters and popular restaurants to corporate offices and red-light districts. A national transgender beauty pageant draws thousands to the beachside town of Pattaya every year.

But over the past two years, a rash of castrations, especially among young men, has alarmed the medical establishment and prompted the new rules.

Dr. Sampandh Komrit of the Medical Council of Thailand said the new rules went into effect Wednesday and require a person to wait a year after deciding on the surgery. The applicants must be over 18 and are required to dress in women’s clothing for the year before surgery. It also requires a mental evaluation before the surgery and continued follow-up visits with a psychiatrist after getting the sex change.

“This is a very important decision in their life,” Sampandh said. “After the operation, there is no way to fix it.”

Patients with a long history as cross-dressers would be exempt from the one-year waiting period, he said.