Parents go to court to try and stop their transgender daughter having reassignment surgery

• Christine Kitzler, 48, has been preparing to undergo the operation in Pennsylvania to remove her male genitalia 
• Kitzler's parents claim she is not competent to make an informed decision on surgery because of depression and a childhood learning disorder 
• Kitzler, who is HIV and Hepatitis C positive, says she would rather die on the operating table than go on living with male anatomy  

By Associated Press

Published: 11:59 EST, 2 September 2015 | Updated: 17:45 EST, 2 September 2015

A transgender woman whose parents went to court Wednesday to block her gender-reassignment surgery said she would rather die on the operating table than continue living with male anatomy.

Christine Kitzler, 48, said during a break in the emergency hearing that the risk factors her father raised - including complications from her HIV and Hepatitis C diagnoses - were worth enduring to have her body match the gender she's identified with since growing up in suburban Cleveland, Ohio.

'They have a daughter. They don't have a son,' Kitzler said. 'I'll have the parts. I am a woman.' 

The proposed surgery in Pennsylvania - which was temporarily halted earlier this week by a suburban Philadelphia judge as he considered a longer stay - would also save her from backsliding into alcohol and drug addiction, Kitzler said. 

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Fighting for her identity: Christine Kitzler from South Carolina has been temporarily blocked by a judge from undergoing a gender-reassignment surgery after her parents requested she be declared incompetent

Her parents, Klaus and Ingrid Kitzler, contend she is not competent to make an informed decision to have the surgery because of depression and a childhood learning disorder, and they want a temporary guardian named.

Their daughter said: 'I might die from this. But it's worth dying. I would rather die than live the way I was and return to my bad addictions, like alcohol, because I can't do it and I won't do it.'

Kitzler's surgery had been scheduled for Tuesday, but Bucks County Judge C. Theodore Fritsch Jr. stopped it after her parents' lawyers filed for an injunction and asked for time for reflection before she goes through with what they call an irreversible surgery.

Testifying at the hearing, Klaus Kitzler underscored his concern for his daughter's health and said he would accept her surgery if an independent psychiatrist deemed her fit to make the decision.

'I accept it, but I want to stop it,' Kitzler told the judge. 'I would love to have a son back who goes to church with us on Sunday mornings.'

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Kitzler's surgeon, Dr. Christine McGinn, talks to reporters in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Wednesday 

Christine Kitzler, who lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has already been through 16 months of pre-operative preparation, including a 24-hour fast before Tuesday's scheduled surgery. 

She has received clearances from mental health professionals that she is knowingly and willingly undergoing gender reassignment, her doctor said.

Her lawyer, Angela Giampolo, said she had never seen competency invoked to block a gender-reassignment surgery.

'This isn't a competency hearing. This isn't a guardianship hearing. It's a difference of opinion,' said Giampolo, who is a prominent gay-and-transgender-rights lawyer.

She added that Kitzler's parents are trying to prevent her from living an authentic life. 

She fears Klaus and Ingrid Kitzler want to bring their daughter back to Ohio, win a court action there and permanently block the surgery. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3219990/Parents-seek-halt-48-year-olds-gender-reassignment.html#ixzz3kcrPgDK1
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