A man who underwent gender re-assignment surgery who subsequently became a Bible-believing Christian, called for more caution from medical and mental health services in gender clinics.
Peter Benjamin, 60, who served in the British Army, underwent surgery to remove his genitalia in 2015 at a private London hospital. For many years Benjamin had suffered from addiction to cross-dressing and alcohol, leading to depression and suicidal thoughts. Married three times, his first wife mistook his addiction for homosexuality, while his second wife encouraged him to cross dress – even going clothes shopping with him. In 2005 he married his third wife, whom he credits with bringing his life back on track. However in the wake of losing her to cancer in 2011 and overwhelmed by grief, he decided that he wanted to become a woman ‘full-time’ and begin identifying as ‘Victoria.’
No time to reflect
Desperate to speed up the process of changing gender, he became addicted to purchasing unregulated online hormones and began attending a transgender support group. In 2012, Mr Benjamin approached his GP declaring that he wanted to become a woman. Told to ‘live as a woman for a month’, he was then referred to a consultant psychiatrist. Despite the evidence of suicidal thoughts and mental health issues on his medical records, after just a one-hour appointment with a psychiatrist, Benjamin was told, that he had ‘no underlying medical condition’. He was automatically put on a private waiting list for a clinic in London. Subsequently, an endocrinologist at the clinic prescribed him with medication, which began the physically painful process of shrinking his testicles and lowering his testosterone levels. This led to muscle reduction across his body.
