SFGate.com – Stephanie Brill, Herbert Schreier
A call for more clinics and treatment for children at an early stage in their growth
After agonizing for most of his 48 years over who he really was, Steven Stanton began the process of becoming a woman two years ago. Six thousand miles away in Germany, a 12-year-old boy named Kim has started hormonal therapy in preparation for surgery to make him a girl. He may be the youngest person to begin this treatment.
Stanton and Kim represent the small proportion of gender-variant individuals who wish to change the body in which they were born to conform to the person they believe themselves to be. In the nomenclature of the American Psychiatric Association, both individuals would be said to be suffering from Gender Identity Disorder.
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