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The Baptist Medical Center sex reassignment surgery controversy occurred in 1977 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. Surgeons at the Baptist Medical Center, a hospital owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, were prohibited from performing sex reassignment surgery.
In 1973, David William Foerster and Charles Reynolds founded the Gender Identity Foundation at the Baptist Medical Center for the purpose of providing care to transgender patients. [1] It was composed of six doctors, [2] including Foerster, Reynolds, Fenton Sanger, and endocrinologist Jonathan Drake.
By 1977, Oklahoma City was one of the major American centers for sex reassignment surgery (SRS) for transsexual people. [3] The number of surgeries rivaled those of Stanley Biber of Trinidad, Colorado.[ citation needed ] Most of the patients were trans women.[ citation needed ] The hospital was one of about seven U.S. hospitals offering sex reassignment surgery. [1] [3]
The surgical procedures offered by Foerster and Reynolds were penile inversion procedures. [4] The famous transsexual actress and activist Christine Jorgensen came to Oklahoma in the late seventies to have some minor corrective surgery on her surgically created genitals.[ citation needed ] The Oklahoma team handled Jorgensen's care at this time.[ citation needed ] The surgical team required patients to pay in full prior to any genital surgeries.[ citation needed ] Each patient was required to sign a waiver that they would never sue for malpractice if anything went wrong with the SRS procedures.[ citation needed ]
In July 1977, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (a state convention of the Southern Baptist Convention) learned that the Gender Identity Foundation had performed more than fifty SRS procedures. [5] Joe L. Ingram, then the state convention's executive director, issued a moratorium on SRS at Baptist Medical Center, until a final decision could be made. [5]
Gene Garrison, an Oklahoma City pastor who was on the hospital's Board of Directors, [6] supported sex reassignment surgery, calling it "a Christian procedure".[ citation needed ] He seemed confused about the details, however, believing that post-op trans women could menstruate and get pregnant.[ citation needed ] Foerster and Reynolds released a statement saying "If Jesus Christ were alive today, undoubtedly he would render help and comfort to the transsexual as he did the leper, the blind and the lame". [2] The hospital's medical staff and lay advisory board voted overwhelmingly to continue allowing SRS. [2] Foerster told the press that "We won't even touch the patients until they have lived as a woman for two years. Our work ranks up there with that of Johns Hopkins."[ citation needed ] Foerster mentioned that a few transsexual patients treated by the team had committed suicide.[ citation needed ] In one case, a trans man who had cancer committed suicide; Foerster blamed his suicide on the cancer.[ citation needed ]
Reynolds had his 25-year-old son appear with some post-op trans women at the meeting to decide the fate of the procedures at Baptist Medical Center.[ citation needed ] Many of Foerster's post-op patients were male to female transsexuals who were in the sex trade.[ citation needed ] Reynold's son told The Daily Oklahoman newspaper that 'these women are genetically female'.[ citation needed ] The wife of Foerster told The Daily Oklahoman, "my husband won't abandon these people. One of his latest patients is a psychotherapist from a neighboring state".[ citation needed ]
On 14 October 1977, the Board of Directors of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma voted 54–2 to ban SRS at Baptist Medical Center. [1] [3] Curtis Nigh, a pastor from Midwest City, Oklahoma, opposed the decision. [5] Foerster warned that the vote would cause Baptists to be "viewed as bigoted buffoons". [5] At the time of the decision, Baptist Medical Center had been offering SRS for four years, 50 transsexual people had had SRS there, and another 50 were in the process of transitioning. [1] [2] [3]
Foerster told the press that "this is a disease probably beginning in early embryonic life best treated by surgical methods".[ citation needed ] Pastor Curtis Nigh stated to The Daily Oklahoman newspaper that "this is about healing for women who feel trapped in men's bodies".[ citation needed ] A post-op transsexual patient of Foerster stated to the Oklahoma news media that "I think they do better work here. I know a gal who had surgery in Colorado (performed by Biber) and she ended up having a colostomy. I have everything that a woman has including the sensitivity".[ citation needed ] The patient then ended with a sexually explicit description of her post op sex life and the functioning of her spongiform clitoris structure.[ citation needed ]
Foerster and the Gender Identity Foundation appealed, but without success.[ citation needed ] They then transferred their operation to University Hospital, which had been allowing a small number of SRS procedures.[ citation needed ] University Hospital ended its SRS program in 1981, leaving no hospital in Oklahoma that provided sex reassignment surgery. [7]
Sex reassignment surgery still occurs in Oklahoma, but the state is not a major center for SRS. Foerster continues to provide SRS for trans women and top and bottom surgery for trans men. [8] A few other doctors, including the Oklahoma Memorial Hospital Gender Reassignment Program, provide FTM top and bottom surgery. [8] [9] Most transsexual Oklahomans have their surgery in Colorado or Thailand.[ citation needed ] In the decades since the controversy, Charles Reynolds has died.[ citation needed ] Fenton Sanger no longer takes part in SRS procedures.[ citation needed ]
Both Pastors Gene Garrison [10] [11] and Curtis Nigh [12] [13] in time left the Southern Baptist convention.[ citation needed ] Garrison later moved to North Carolina and he died in 2017 at age 85. [14] Nigh continued his counseling practice [15] but also served on the ministerial staff of the United Methodist congregation 'Church of the Servant' in Oklahoma City until his retirement. He died in 2022. [16]
Before retirement, plastic surgeon Foerster was responsible for creating and patenting the foerster clamp used in body piercing.[ citation needed ] He is now retired from his medical practice and is 81 years of age as of March 2015. [17]
The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transgender individuals face discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and other areas of life.
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender. The phrase is most often associated with transgender health care and intersex medical interventions, though many such treatments are also pursued by cisgender and non-intersex persons. It is also known as sex reassignment surgery (SRS), gender confirmation surgery (GCS), and several other names.
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The Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People (SOC) is an international clinical protocol by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) outlining the recommended assessment and treatment for transgender and gender-diverse individuals across the lifespan including social, hormonal, or surgical transition. It often influences clinicians' decisions regarding patients' treatment. While other standards, protocols, and guidelines exist – especially outside the United States – the WPATH SOC is the most widespread protocol used by professionals working with transgender or gender-variant people.
Christine Jorgensen, born George William Jorgensen Jr., was an American actress, singer, recording artist, and transgender activist. A trans woman, she was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery.
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Feminizing Gender-affirming surgery for transgender women or transfeminine non-binary people describes a variety of surgical procedures that alter the body to provide physical traits more comfortable and affirming to an individual's gender identity and overall functioning.
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Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg was a rabbi, posek, and dayan in Jerusalem. He is known as a leading authority on medicine and Jewish law and referred to as the Tzitz Eliezer after his 21-volume halachic treatise covering a wide breadth of halacha, including Jewish medical ethics, and daily ritual issues from Shabbat to kashrut.
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Stanley H. Biber was an American physician who was a pioneer in sex reassignment surgery, performing thousands of procedures during his long career.
Toby R. Meltzer is an American plastic and reconstructive surgeon. Meltzer specializes in sex reassignment surgery male-to-female, sex reassignment surgery female-to-male, and facial feminization surgery. In the 1990s, Meltzer pioneered the neovaginal construction technique that increased the ability of the neoclitoris to feel sensations. According to his website, Meltzer performs 2-4 vaginoplasties a week, and that he has performed over 3000 male and female sexual reassignment (SRS) surgeries. Joan Roughgarden called Meltzer one of the leading surgeons in this specialized field. He practices in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Georges Burou was a French gynecologist who managed a clinic in Casablanca, Morocco, and is widely credited with innovating modern sex reassignment surgery for trans women.
Marci Lee Bowers is an American gynecologist and surgeon who specializes in gender-affirming surgeries. Bowers is viewed as an innovator in gender confirmation/affirmation surgery, and is the first transgender woman to perform such surgeries.
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The real-life experience (RLE), sometimes called the real-life test (RLT), is a period of time or process in which transgender individuals live full-time in their identified gender role in order to be eligible to receive gender-affirming treatment. The purpose of the RLE has been to confirm that a given transgender person could function successfully as a member of said gender in society, as well as to confirm that they are sure they want to live as said gender for the rest of their life. A documented RLE was previously a requirement of many physicians before prescribing gender-affirming hormone therapy, and a requirement of most surgeons before performing gender-affirming surgery.
Baptist Medical Center may refer to:
The legal status of gender-affirming surgery and gender-affirming hormone therapy varies by jurisdiction, often interacting with other facets of the legal status of transgender people. Key considerations include whether people are allowed to get such surgeries, at what ages they are allowed to if so, and whether surgeries are required in order for a gender transition to be legally recognized. As of 2007, the countries that perform the greatest number of gender-affirming surgeries are Thailand and Iran.