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12-Year
Old
Begins
Sex Change Therapy
by
365Gay.com from the Web, January 29, 2007
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Vienna -- A twelve year old
German is believed to be the youngest person in the world to start a sex-change
procedure.
Born biologically male and named Tim by her parents, the child from birth
rejected male identifiers, adopted the name Kim, and at the age of 12 was
diagnosed officially as transsexual.
Following physical and psychological examinations doctors determined it would be
in Kim's best interests to immediately begin gender reassignment.
Her birth records have been changed to reflect her correct sex and name and
doctors started administering hormone treatments.
That was two years ago, although media reports in Europe are just reporting her
story.
In an interview with the German news magazines Stern and Der Spiegel, Kim's
father, identified only as Lutz P said that while they were at first concerned,
they grew to see their child as a girl.
"We saw Kim as a girl, but not as a problem. Our life was surprisingly
normal," he said.
But he said that when Kim began to show the first signs of puberty she became
depressed.
"At that stage we realized that she was terrified of growing facial hair and her
voice breaking."
While some doctors wanted to wait until she was older before starting sex
reassignment others said it should commence immediately because growing up to be
a man could permanently damage her emotionally.
"Kim is a mentally well-developed child who appears happy and balanced," Dr Bern
Meyenburg who studies transsexuality in teens at Frankfurt University, wrote in
his diagnosis.
"There is no doubt of the determined wish, that was already detectable since
early childhood. It would have been very wrong to let Kim grow up to be a
man. It is rare to have such a clear-cut case."
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