Media.www.YUObserver.com – Olivia Wiznitzer
If an Orthodox Jewish transsexual desires to transition, which will set him on a course of taking hormones and finally having SRS [Sex Reassignment Surgery], is this permitted per halakha? Are there any differences if this is MtF (male to female) or FtM (female to male) transitioning? What prohibitions, if any, does this course of action violate? Does pikuach nefesh [danger of life] play a role in determining the halakha? And assuming that someone goes forward with this surgery, rightly or wrongly, under halakha, is this person seen as being the sex which he was born, or the one he presents as and physically resembles? This is aside from the question of how Orthodox Jews ought to treat such a person on a whole. Is he to be included within the community, or summarily excluded?