If gender identity disorder is not concurrent with a physical intersex condition, it is a mental disorder.
IMO it should be treated as such.
ETA: IMO, mental disorders should be treated by a psychiatrist, not a surgeon.
The very issue here is that people who are transgendered experience drastic misalignment between the emotional and the physical self.
More simply put - the brain is wired as female, and their male body parts don't match their brain.
Or, as in Chaz's case, vice-versa
As to the
BBM above ...
SAYS WHO? (i.e. link please.)
Oh nevermind.
Since no link was provided, I googled & found plenty of medical articles with the
BBM phrase above in it discussing both psychotherapy and gender reassignment as treatment options.
Here one of the links - I'm not pulling out quotes - it's best read in entire context:
Clearly, (and as described in all transgendered person's experience), the process of working to resolve gender identity disorders involves medically appropriate psychotherapy. Even physical gender-reassignment, (including hormones and perhaps surgeries), when determined to be the best option, occurs with patients who have followed protocol, and who have already devoted significant time in psychiatric counseling.
Who's to say that altering body parts to match the way the brain is wired is not the better alternative to living a lie - in a body that betrays who you feel you really are?
I think the greater point here is that the resolution for this misalignment rightfully belongs to the individual - the transgender identified person, as counseled by his/her doctor and/or family. No one else needs to be involved in that choice, nor does anyone else's opinion, beliefs, or degree of discomfiture with the concept matter here.
Why should it? Perhaps we should be asking - what's the motivation for wanting to prevent these people from getting the treatment they and their doctors feel is the best solution for their situation? :dunno:
:cow:
