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Sex Change Laws Stricter Now in Thailand
Punlop Tongchai is awake and chatting during the entire two hours it takes to be turned into a woman on the operating table of a Bangkok sex change clinic, realising a childhood dream.
The 27-year-old Thai cabaret dancer chats to nurses throughout the ordeal under the surgeon's knife, numbed only by local anaesthetic.
Growing up in Thailand, a country with one of the largest transgender populations in the world and surgeons who have pioneered ever cheaper and quicker sex change techniques, Punlop's ambition was always within reach.
For as little as 2,000 dollars, he became a woman.
But the government is making it tougher for patients like Punlop to undergo the procedure, forcing them to prove they are psychologically fit to change sex.
From Wednesday, anyone wanting to swap gender in Thailand must live as a woman for at least a year, take a course of female hormones, and obtain the approval of two psychiatrists.
Punlop says it is too much to ask.
"It is not necessary. I really didn't want to go through that process, so I decided to have the operation... before the law is enforced," he told AFP before undergoing surgery earlier this month.
Sex changes are outlawed completely in Thailand before the age of 18, and for men aged 18-20 parental consent must be obtained.
Thai gay rights campaigner Nathee Teerarojanapong said the greater legal protections are necessary to guard against gender swaps that too often backfire on those who make an irreversible choice.
The 27-year-old Thai cabaret dancer chats to nurses throughout the ordeal under the surgeon's knife, numbed only by local anaesthetic.
Growing up in Thailand, a country with one of the largest transgender populations in the world and surgeons who have pioneered ever cheaper and quicker sex change techniques, Punlop's ambition was always within reach.
For as little as 2,000 dollars, he became a woman.
But the government is making it tougher for patients like Punlop to undergo the procedure, forcing them to prove they are psychologically fit to change sex.
From Wednesday, anyone wanting to swap gender in Thailand must live as a woman for at least a year, take a course of female hormones, and obtain the approval of two psychiatrists.
Punlop says it is too much to ask.
"It is not necessary. I really didn't want to go through that process, so I decided to have the operation... before the law is enforced," he told AFP before undergoing surgery earlier this month.
Sex changes are outlawed completely in Thailand before the age of 18, and for men aged 18-20 parental consent must be obtained.
Thai gay rights campaigner Nathee Teerarojanapong said the greater legal protections are necessary to guard against gender swaps that too often backfire on those who make an irreversible choice.
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