Sex Shift Surgery In Use Since 1966
BALTIMORE, Md. (AP) — Surgeons at Johns Hopkins Medical Center’s “gender identity clinic’ have been performing sex-change operations since July 1966.
The program, first of its kind in the United States, was under taken to help transsexuals — persons of one sex who feel, behave and dress as a member of the opposite sex.
Both men and women have undergone operations at the clinic.
Dr. John E. Hoopes, a plastic surgeon who helped launch the program at Johns Hopkins said soon after the program began:
“After exhaustively reviewing the available literature and discussing the problem with people knowledgeable in this area, I arrived at the unavoidable conclusion that these people need and deserve help.”
The doctors at Johns Hopkins say they have encountered no opposition to their program from religious, groups.
It is not known how many persons have undergone sex-change surgery at the clinic.
However, it was reported at one point that the clinic exained only two patients a month and that it had a long waiting list.
Applicants receive a thorough physical and mental examination and only those who show no signs of psychosis and appear to have a degree of insight into their condition are accepted, the doctors say.
To reduce the chance of poor adjustment to the new sex after surgery, the committee considers only subjects who already are living as members of the opposite sex and receiving hormones.
Trans Terminology Used: Sex Shift, Sex-Change, Transsexual, Gender Identity Clinic