(Daily Mail) – Transgender people in China are driven to buy black market drugs and even attempt surgery on themselves due to widespread discrimination, according to a new report. In China, trans people are classified as having a mental illness and gender-affirming surgeries require the consent of families, creating a major barrier in accessing safe treatment, according to human rights group Amnesty International in a report published today. The prevalence of stigma, an ‘alarming’ lack of knowledge in
the public health system and other restrictive eligibility requirements have driven young transgender men and women to seek unregulated and unsafe alternatives, researchers found. ‘China is failing transgender people,’ said Doriane Lau, China Researcher at Amnesty International. ‘Discriminatory laws and policies have left many people feeling they have no choice but to risk their lives by performing extremely dangerous surgery on themselves and to seek unsafe hormone drugs on the black market,’ Lau said. READ MORE
