March 28, 2008
BANGKOK - Gay activists are joining with worried parents to urge doctors to stop castrating minors who want to take the first step toward a sex change.
Leading gay activist Nathee Teerarojanapong said he and a group of parents will submit a letter Thursday to the Medical Council urging stricter controls on private clinics that castrate teenagers, according to AFP.
Underage boys who hope eventually to have sex change operations are increasingly seeking castrations as a first step toward becoming women, he said.
Believing their bodies will not develop masculine features and their appearance will be more feminine, boys undergo castrations before saving enough money for the complete sex change surgery.
"I want the Medical Council to issue a warning to those clinics, because they are too young to know what they really want," Nathee said.
Many clinics require parental approval before performing castrations on minors.
However, some parents have to let their children go through the castration process as they threaten to commit suicide.
Somsak Lohlekha, chairman of the Medical Council, said a committee was being set up to establish guidelines for the process and to determine at what age boys should be allowed to have the surgery.
Castration costs as little as 4,000 baht (130 dollars), a tiny fraction of the total cost of gender reassignment surgery.
Thailand is famously tolerant of transsexuals, known locally as "kathoey", or the third gender.
While they have traditionally been allowed roles in festivals and cabarets, they have sought to make inroads into mainstream society in recent years.
