Castration turf wars (part 1)

Gay activist Natee

Kathoey activists are protesting against Medical Council plans to impose tough new curbs on sex change operations and castration surgery.

They have also told gays to keep out of their business, after a delegation of gay activists called on the Medical Council to demand it stop clinics performing castration services as a cheaper alternative to gender re-assignment surgery.

Gay activist Natee Teerarojjanapong, who led a delegation of 10 activists to present their demands to the Medical Council, believes that as many as eight out of 10 kathoey may have had the procedure done.

He says the procedure can potentially destroy lives, as it is irreversible, and can lead to premature senility and even mental retardation. He came forward after worried parents in Chiang Mai contacted him.

In response, the Medical Services Support Department said hospitals and clinics had been warned not to perform castration unless a medical condition requires it.

Staff from that department this week raided the Pratunam Polyclinic, which offers castration services to Thais and foreigners alike. The raid turned up nothing irregular.

Owner Thep Vejvisit said his clinic had never provided such services to boys under 15 years.

The legal age for someone wanting surgery without his parents' consent is 18. Thep admits his clinic had performed the procedure on youngsters as young as 15, but only in special cases, and always with parental consent.

He said that in the last four years, the clinic had performed castration services for 500 people.

Kathoey activists including former beauty queen Yollada Krerkkong Suanyot, president of the Transgender Thailand Group, and the Rainbow Sky Association, say the furore over clinics offering castration services to under-age patients has hurt the public standing of kathoey.

Media reports portrayed them as sick and strange, they said.

They oppose the Medical Council's attempts to raise the age limit for people wanting a sex change. They agree that castration should be offered only to patients at the legal age. However, they defend castration as a legitimate treatment option.

The Medical Council, which has set up a sub-committee to work on new regulations, is likely to raise the age barrier for someone wanting gender re-assignment surgery to at least 20 years old.

It also wants patients assessed by at least one psychiatrist, and to try out being a woman, such as wearing women's clothes, for six months to a year.

The kathoey activists cited approvingly research by the World Health Organisation, which found kathoey were 'mentally ill', and required hormone therapy.

Castration, which must be followed by life-long hormone treatment, was another form of hormone therapy which WHO says kathoey need, they said. Kathoey and trans-gendered activists met the media yesterday.

now, see part 2