Harry Benjamin MD – The Forefather of Transgender Care?
August 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Harry Benjamin MD. His is not a name that immediately springs to mind in terms of either fame or notoriety. However he has his place in history and a remarkable one at that.
This humble and self-effacing man was born in 1885 in Berlin and was the son of a banker. He studied medicine in the university of Berlin before moving to the US in 1913 where he married Greta in 1925.
He similarly had great affinity for the gay community and of them stated,
‘If adjustment is necessary, it should be made primarily with regard to the position the homosexual occupies in present day society, and society should more often be treated than the homosexual’.
He formed the ‘Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association’ which later changed its name to WPATH (World professional Association for Transgender Health) which now sets the standard for transgender care worldwide. His publication ‘The transsexual phenomenon’ first published in 1966 brought the plight of the transgender community to the attention of the world.
He is famously quoted as saying,
‘I ask myself, in mercy, or in common sense, if we cannot alter the conviction to fit the body, should we not, in certain circumstances, alter the body to fit the conviction?’
He was one of the first to understand the beneficial effects of cross sex hormones and sex reassignment surgery on gender dysphoria and in an interview in 1975 said,
‘When I began my work, there wasn’t a reputable hospital in this country that would have dreamed of permitting transsexual surgery. Now there are at least thirty.’
The transgender community owes this humble doctor a lot, and thirty years after his death the modern medical profession should inwardly reflect on its continued backward and prejudicial attitude towards treating this very vulnerable group of human beings.
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Photo by Clemens van Lay on Unsplash