When I was assessed at the adult gender identity clinic in Hammersmith, in London, I was asked extensive and intrusive questions about my childhood and family background, such as why my parents divorced and why I didn’t have contact with my father. None of this was relevant to an assessment of whether or not I had the mental capacity to consent to treatment and to understand the implications for my body, or whether I was physically suitable to start treatment. It seemed that my private history was being used to inform adjudication on whether my identity was real. Yet I felt obliged to answer
...more
