Parents Ask Court To Stop Their 48-Year-Old Transgender Daughter From Having Reassignment Surgery

A 48-year-old transgender woman, Christine Kitzler, has been told by a Pennsylvania judge that she can go ahead with her gender reassignment surgery despite her parents pleads to halt the surgery due to their daughter’s “mental illness.” The woman’s parents claim that their daughter is unfit to make the decision to go through with gender reassignment surgery as she suffers from depression and had a childhood learning disability. However, the judge ruled that Kitzler was competent enough to make the decision and says the parents have no grounds to block the surgery.

The Daily Mail reports that 48-year-old Christine Kitzler, born Christopher Kitzler, was scheduled to undergo gender reassignment surgery. However, the surgery was halted when Kitzler’s parents, Klaus and Ingrid Kitzler, filed a court order to have the surgery stopped and a temporary guardian to be assigned as they claimed Christine was unfit to make such a life-changing decision. The Kitzler parents noted that Christine suffered from depression and had a childhood learning disability that made her incompetent to make this type of decision.

The parents noted that Christine didn’t understand the risks associated with the procedure and that a temporary guardian should be put into place to make medical decisions such as the gender reassignment surgery. The legal challenge caused the procedure to be halted until a judge made an official ruling. However, after hearing the evidence, the Pennsylvania judge ruled in favor of Christine Kitzler noting that she seemed fully aware of the risks and that she could go through with the surgery.

ABC 6 reports that Christine told reporters it would be “barbaric” to keep her as a physical male. She says she would likely go back to drinking and continue to suffer from depression.

“It’s barbaric to keep me this way, not to take this risk. Then I suffer and I go back to drinking, and that’s barbaric. I can’t maintain being a sober man, being happy, because it hasn’t happened. It can’t happen. I don’t have a choice.”

With the judge on her side, Christine says she will go through with the surgery. Meanwhile, Christine’s parents say that they simply want their “son” back.

“I accept it, but I want to stop it. I would love to have a son back who goes to church with us on Sunday mornings.”

Christine says her parents never had a son but rather a daughter and that she spent many days locking herself in the bathroom trying on her mother’s makeup as a child. She would wear women’s clothing to college and feels like she is trapped in the wrong body.

“They have a daughter. They don’t have a son. I’ll have the parts. I am a woman.”

Do you think the judge made the right decision in the case of Christine Kitzler’s gender reassignment surgery?

[Image Credit: Getty Images/ Joe Raedle]