The Minister for Women and Equalities Nicky Morgan has praised Lloyds Banking Group for offering its employees ‘sex change’ surgery as part of its new healthcare scheme.
In an interview with pro-LGBT website Pink News, Mrs Morgan ‘congratulated’ Lloyds for “leading the way” on transsexualism.
In the UK, the number of people who have obtained a gender recognition certificate to change their legal birth sex is under 4,000 – around 0.006 per cent of the population.
Surgery
‘Sex change’ surgery is sold as a treatment for people who are biologically normal but who believe they are a member of the opposite sex. However, evidence shows that it compounds, rather than alleviates, their suffering.
Earlier this month, Lloyds said it will offer ‘sex change’ surgery as part of its healthcare provision, citing the ‘wellbeing’ of staff.
The banking group, which includes Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, is thought to be the first UK-owned employer to do so.
Obligation
Mrs Morgan said: “It’s important that big companies and organisations like Lloyds are leading the way, and I congratulate them on doing so.”
She added “there has been a massive explosion of coverage of trans issues, and that’s to be welcomed.
“One of the things that strikes me every time I meet someone who has an interest in this is they want to be who they are.”
“We have an obligation as a society to help that”.
Greater harm
In an exclusive interview with The Christian Institute earlier this year Walt Heyer, an author and former transsexual spoke strongly against administering ‘medical treatments’ for a ‘psychological issue’.
He told the Institute that after undergoing a ‘sex change’ and living as a woman for eight years, he discovered that his condition was psychological and changed back.
“The idea of helping people with hormones and surgery”, he said “does far more harm to the individual long-term and is not appropriate treatment”.
Underlying conflicts
Simon Calvert, The Christian Institute’s Deputy Director for Public Affairs, has stressed that: “‘Sex change’ surgery doesn’t resolve the underlying conflicts felt by people with gender dysphoria.”
“It is cruel to make them believe that surgery, or ‘non-gendering’ of official records, will solve all their problems. It won’t. This is borne out by the tragically high suicide rate for people who have had a ‘sex change’ operation.”
Mr Calvert said: “Transsexual people need patient help to come to terms with reality.”