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Paul Kirk For more than 30 years the South African military and state medical systems have been performing sex change operations on the quiet. This revelation came out this week when the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality was approached by one of the oldest victims of the stateOs secret programme to change gay men into women and vice versa. The South African Defence Force had performed gender reassignment surgeries Osex changeO operations on a number of conscripts who were OincurableO homosexuals.
The victim who surfaced this week was born a female, but had gender reassignment surgery performed 27 years ago at Johannesburg General hospital as a state patient. At the time the victim was 20 years old. This operation, like a number of others, was not completed. Surgeons performed a hysterectomy and a double mastectomy, and had only to create a penis when they halted the operation for no apparent reason. National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality representative Carrie Shelver told the Mail & Guardian that a lawsuit was definitely planned. The coalition did not want to reveal too much detail so as not to damage its plans to take legal action in order to have the operation finished. The victim has for 27 years been attempting to have the surgery completed without success.
Said Shelver: OWhat is a real eye-opener is that the operation was started 27 years ago. The victim has told us that in JoOburg General there was a special ward set aside for state gender reassignment patients. At all times there were a minimum of four patients in the ward and all were having the same surgery. We are not sure whether the patients were from the military or not. The victim told us they were not encouraged to talk.O Shelver said that, after the surgery, all the victimOs documents, including his ID book, were altered to show he was born a man.
Said Shelver: OIt is odd that home affairs could change the documents back then to reflect the outcome of the surgery, but we often have to fight to have them perform the same procedure now.O