Castration turf wars (part 2, final)

Yollada with her transmale boyfriend Ronnakrit

Former kathoey beauty queen Yollada, who was at pains to emphasise that gays and kathoey (boys who want to be girls) are not alike, claimed she had never come across under-age boys who had been castrated.

However, she said the sooner young kathoey get the hormone treatment they need - resulting from sex change, or castration - the better.

Gays were infringing on kathoey rights when they called for age curbs on castration and sex change surgery. Kathoey had the right to seek treatment for their mental illness, no matter what their age.

She wants the Medical Council to talk to kathoey activists such as herself before deciding on any new curbs on sex change and castration.

Kathoey activists, of course, have campaigned for years against the Thai military branding them as 'mentally ill' when they are excused on health grounds from compulsory military service. This labelling on their draft document affects their job prospects for life.

It seems they are in fact happy to be regarded as mentally ill - but only when it suits.

Yollada said the Medical Council should tell the public about the pluses and minuses of castration. If castration could do harm to the body as it develops, the taxpayer might have to step in to help. Some countries were prepared to publicly fund treatment for mental illness.

Rainbow Sky Association president Kittinan Toramathat said fellow activist Natee did not speak for all gays, and had not consulted his group before seeing the Medical Council.

Contacted by Khao Sod newspaper, Natee says his group, Gay Politics, does include kathoey, and met other gay activists before deciding on their stance. Not everyone was present, and some may object, but he is not worried, as it all adds to the public debate.

The Medical Council sub-committee working on new curbs for sex change and castration surgery meets for the first time on April 5, and will include someone from his group.

Postscript: So, do kathoey get the services they deserve? In Australia, the government has issued travel warnings to its citizens contemplating undergoing cheap cosmetic and plastic surgery in Thailand.

In a report on the perils of Thailand's 'scalpel tourism', the Sydney Morning Herald says Australians who travel to offshore spots such as Thailand for cheap surgery have reported horrendous side-effects, such as infections, hair loss, scarring, paralysis and failed implants.

They require thousands of dollars of taxpayer-funded corrective surgery. Read the story here.