Transsexual wins state-paid sex change op
Spain's Supreme Court has forced the government of Galicia to pay for a sex change operation in a landmark ruling.
Charlotte Goiar has been embroiled in a six-year long struggle with Galicia's government in the hope of obtaining the necessary funds for a vaginoplasty.
"I've not managed to be happy a single day of my life," Goiar told Spanish daily El País, speaking about the psychological problems that stem from her being trapped in a man's body.
Aware of her condition from a very early age, she's found it hard to find work and fit in due to the anxiety and depression disorders she suffers from.
Goiar may now have set a precedent for other Spanish people trapped in a body they feel is not theirs, having obtained the go-ahead for a state-paid €15,000 to €25,000 sex change operation.
"I can't imagine a greater defect for a woman than having a penis," Goiar told El País as she spoke of her repulsion at seeing herself naked in the mirror.
Until 1981, doctors who carried out sex change operations in Spain faced a prison sentence.
Private clinics were the first to undertake these complex medical procedures although public health centres did carry out operations on babies born with both sex organs.
The current situation varies from region to region, with Andalusia having pioneered public sex change operations in 1999.
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Charlotte Goiar has been embroiled in a six-year long struggle with Galicia's government in the hope of obtaining the necessary funds for a vaginoplasty.
"I've not managed to be happy a single day of my life," Goiar told Spanish daily El País, speaking about the psychological problems that stem from her being trapped in a man's body.
Aware of her condition from a very early age, she's found it hard to find work and fit in due to the anxiety and depression disorders she suffers from.
Goiar may now have set a precedent for other Spanish people trapped in a body they feel is not theirs, having obtained the go-ahead for a state-paid €15,000 to €25,000 sex change operation.
"I can't imagine a greater defect for a woman than having a penis," Goiar told El País as she spoke of her repulsion at seeing herself naked in the mirror.
Until 1981, doctors who carried out sex change operations in Spain faced a prison sentence.
Private clinics were the first to undertake these complex medical procedures although public health centres did carry out operations on babies born with both sex organs.
The current situation varies from region to region, with Andalusia having pioneered public sex change operations in 1999.
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