I became a woman and it was a huge mistake, says ex-soldier
A FORMER soldier who became a woman before realising he had made a terrible mistake has urged caution over allowing vulnerable people to have gender reassignment.
Father-of-two Peter Benjamin had surgery to become ‘Victoria’ in 2015 but said living as a woman was ‘making me ill’.
The 60-year-old said specialists did little to evaluate his mental health after he had suffered for years from alcoholism, depression and addiction to cross-dressing.
His warning came days after it emerged a former psychotherapist at England’s first child gender clinic in London is calling for a ban on giving children hormone treatment unless the case is heard in court. The number of annual referrals to gender identity services nationally has soared from 678 in 2014/15 to 2,590 in 2018/19.
‘We’re going to have mental health hospitals full, dealing with these children who have decided they are not transgender as they grow older,’ said Mr Benjamin.
‘The NHS is going to have such a big burden on it over what’s happening. I am so worried.’
The market researcher had his male genitalia removed when the NHS paid a private London hospital £10,000 to operate within a target waiting time.
‘My anxiety levels were sky high,’ he said. ‘I was seeing doctors for all sorts of problems.’
But after the operation, he felt isolated and alone. ‘There was no follow-up psychiatry – nothing,’ Mr Benjamin, who lives in the Southampton area, told The Sunday Times. He struggled to make female friends and said his appearance made him feel vulnerable.
‘Travelling on the train, I’d be absolutely dripping when I came up to London because I was scared I would be attacked or assaulted,’ he said. ‘For a simple thing like leaving for the shops, I’d be having panic attacks.’
Mr Benjamin, who has been married three times, has removed all traces of Victoria but cannot reverse the surgical changes.
A mother is taking legal action against the London child gender clinic, run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, to stop it treating her autistic daughter, 15, without a court’s approval.