New sex change regulations from Nov 29

By Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

Published on September 12, 2009

From November 29, the Medical Council of Thailand will strictly enforce new regulations allowing only those transgendered people aged over 18 to undergo a sexchange operation, secretarygeneral Dr Samphan Komrit said yesterday.

Transgendered people aged 18 20 must have parental consent, while those over 20 can decide for themselves.

Transgendered people must also consult a psychiatrist, live as a woman for a year and receive hormone therapy before being allowed to undergo a sexchange operation.

Surgeons who provide such operations must be registered with the Medical Council and treat any complications that may occur following surgery.

Samphan said these regulations would raise the standard of sexchange operations.

He said surgeons violating the regulations would face warnings and even revocation of their medical licence.

Transgender Women of Thailand chairperson Yollada Suanyot expressed satisfaction with the new regulations but said relevant agencies, such as the Interior, Foreign and Justice ministries, should revise laws to allow transgendered people to change their gender title from Mr to Miss.

Yollada said changing their gender title after undergoing a sex change would help transgendered people live with dignity.

"It would be good if we could change from being a Mr to a Miss, because then we could proudly assert we're a women. We'd no longer have to explain we're a 'ladyboy' when anyone looks at our ID or passport," she said. "We want to live with dignity, the same as anyone else."

Office of the AttorneyGeneral investigator Sermkiat Woradit suggested transgendered people band together to request the independent National Human Rights Commission to help revise all laws involving them, be it civil, criminal or family law.

Samphan said he backed this idea and that relevant agencies should issue special laws for "third sex" citizens.

-- The Nation 2009/09/12

Wise decisions and I also fully agree with Khun Yollada Suanyot who is pushing the mentioned ministries to change the laws.

All logical decisions.

If a person is no longer a man, by definition, functioning male sexual organ,

has a functioning female sexual organ, regardless of ability to have babies,

this person should be regarded as a female on paperwork.

Many 'born females' can not have babies, from infertility or uterus's removed.

By that logic, a vagina and no baby making abilities they are on the same

par as a transgender former man. Not a man, but still having female identity.

It is interesting to watch the current sports bruhaha about the possible inter-gender runner

and the sports authorities struggle with how to deal with her/him.

The basic point is some people from birth are wired differently,

and no amount of public aprobrium or preassure will stop them assuming

the gender role they feel IS theirs, regardless of the specific organ they were attached to.

Those that are so strongly motivated to remove the false identity symbol attached to them,

through surgeries... are most certainly mentally with out a doubt a person in the wrong physical body,

screaming to get out.

And so should be then recognized as the individual they believe they are.

Not the one they have been saddled with by a genetic development aberration or quirk.

Please note that this is intended for "elective" surgery. Those born with indeterminate sex e.g. hemaphrodites, will still be able to access sex reinforcement corrections. The people that require the surgery in their early years (after assessment) will not be blocked. Such cases must be treated at an early age anyway and it cannot be delayed without harming the child.

Unfortunately, too many teenagers and young adults undergo these sex changes without obtaining the necessary counseling first and without having access to proper support subsequent to the surgery. These are the people that end up killing themselves or turning to drugs because the surgery didn't really solve their inner turmoil. The responsible sex reassignment surgeons require a prospective patient to have been assessed first to ensure that the the surgery is appropriate.

It's long overdue and hopefully will prevent some poor decisions undertaken by mixed up kids.

"It would be good if we could change from being a Mr to a Miss, because then we could proudly assert we're a women. We'd no longer have to explain we're a 'ladyboy' when anyone looks at our ID or passport," she said. "We want to live with dignity, the same as anyone else."

That'd be yet another bullet for single men to dodge. Glad I have my Mrs. already.

I can picture a future where dating involves snatching a lock of hair from a person and sending it off to see if they have a Y chromosome. Perhaps soon they'll have a 2-minute DNA test that checks for the Y chromosome while you wait.

Only Mr to Miss???

Does anyone go the other way???

I do realise that the surgery would be much more difficult, and not be fully operational.

From the wikipedia entry on Intersexuality, under Prevalence:

The prevalence of intersex depends on which definition is used.

According to the ISNA definition above, 1 percent of live births exhibit some degree of sexual ambiguity.[67] Between 0.1% and 0.2% of live births are ambiguous enough to become the subject of specialist medical attention, including surgery to disguise their sexual ambiguity.

According to Fausto-Sterling's definition of intersex,[68] on the other hand, 1.7 percent of human births are intersex.[68]

Edited September 12, 200916 yr by cdnvic
deleted quote removed

Yes, there are women who do go for the full monty and there is some functionality

just not necessarily in the same ways. I met a His/Her couple outside of Lincon Center NYC,

with my date one evening, and we had a 5 minute conversation.

My date commented about 20 minutes later,

that Lenny's conversion from Linda was a big success....

Say what.. Even after several years in NYC I had no clue he was a she before.

Yes. I suspect they have noticed the birthrate falling as more men adopt a stiletto dick-less lifestyle. Agree they should do there duty to impregnate prior the cruelest cut to keep the population growth steady.

The 5% of trans-genders or less, of the 5% of alternate sexuality people estimated in most societies,

certainly will have no effect on population growth.

Birth control, later marriage and economic hardships will have a much greater affect.

Edited September 12, 200916 yr by animatic

Well, time for a change.

That'd be yet another bullet for single men to dodge. Glad I have my Mrs. already.

I can picture a future where dating involves snatching a lock of hair from a person and sending it off to see if they have a Y chromosome. Perhaps soon they'll have a 2-minute DNA test that checks for the Y chromosome while you wait.

Pretty obvious really if you have seen the post operative scars, they never go away, no matter how good the surgeon.

^not to mention most LB(s) will tell you what they are.

Only Mr to Miss???

Does anyone go the other way???

I do realise that the surgery would be much more difficult, and not be fully operational.

I think its good enough for government work.

There's a doc at Yanhee Bangkok that is very famous for doing this. I think they create the organ on the arm first before moving it on down ...

My support to all the persons that have to endure this problem and my wish that they reach the stability and happiness they deserve.

Fortunately in Thailand there is more understanding in society than in many western countries.

Only Mr to Miss???

Does anyone go the other way???

I do realise that the surgery would be much more difficult, and not be fully operational.

Yes. The procedure is called a strapadicktomy.

Only Mr to Miss???

Does anyone go the other way???

I do realise that the surgery would be much more difficult, and not be fully operational.

Yes. The procedure is called a strapadicktomy.

Quote from The Nation.

"Office of the AttorneyGeneral investigator Sermkiat Woradit suggested transgendered people band together to request the independent National Human Rights Commission to help revise all laws involving them, be it civil, criminal or family law.

Samphan said he backed this idea and that relevant agencies should issue special laws for "third sex" citizens".

Surely, this sort of comment is exactly what these people are fighting against.

From what I read, these people want to be either male or female, not labeled as the "third sex".