February 10, 2010 – On February 2, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that a man who had a so-called sex change operation could deduct the costs of the mutilating surgery from his taxes.

The man who had mutilating surgery calls himself Rhiannon O’Donnabhain and was defended by the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). (This is the same group that fought Massachusetts police and won the “right” for gays to have sex in public restrooms and parks.)

In its ruling, the tax court stated: “The evidence amply supports the conclusions that petitioner suffered from severe GID, that GID is a well-recognized and serious mental disorder, and that hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery are considered appropriate and effective treatments for GID by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals who are knowledgeable concerning the condition.”

The court is correct that O’Donnabhain has a mental disorder known as a Gender Identity Disorder, but is wrong to conclude that mutilating surgery is the solution to a mental problem. No one “needs” a so-called “sex change.”

TVC had challenged the Internal Revenue Service in 2004 for its original decision to permit O’Donnabhain to claim his so-called sex change operation as a tax deduction.

In a letter to the IRS Commissioner, we noted:

The decision to give tax deductions for “sex change” operations sends the wrong message to individuals who suffer from a Gender Identity Disorder. This is a mental condition, not one that needs surgery. In fact, by giving this tax deduction, your agency will be encouraging other mentally disturbed individuals to consider such surgery as an unneeded surgical procedure for what is a troubled mind—not a troubled body.

The fact is that activists in the homosexual and transgender movement consider such realities as male and female to be cultural inventions. This is a false belief and one that should not be supported by the IRS.

The homosexual/transgender movement is currently guided by a belief that concepts such as male and female are simply cultural inventions that can be altered at will by the individual. In 1993, a transgender legal group issued the “International Gender Bill of Rights,” that declares: “It is fundamental that individuals have the right to define, and to redefine as their lives unfold, their own gender identity, without regard to chromosome sex, genitalia, assigned birth sex, or initial gender role.” This is a sure recipe for sexual confusion and life-long despair.

For a history of TVC’s fight against this IRS decision, read the following articles:

• Homosexuals Win IRS Decision To Give Tax Deductions For ‘Sex Change’
• IRS Gives Tax Deduction For Sex Change Operations!
• TVC Calls Upon IRS Commissioner To Overturn Tax Deduction For ‘Sex Change’
• TVC Debates The IRS Sex Change Decision

Ethical surgeons don’t cut off body parts to deal with a person’s mental disturbance. Therapy is the correct course to take when a person is mentally ill.

Dr. Paul McHugh, former Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, describes the seriously disturbed individuals who came to the hospital to undergo so-called sex change operations. In his essay, “Surgical Sex,” McHugh challenged the belief that surgery was a solution to a mental problem.

In fact, he states:

I have witnessed a great deal of damage from sex-reassignment. The children transformed from their male constitution into female roles suffered prolonged distress and misery as they sensed their natural attitudes. Their parents usually lived with guilt over their decisions—second-guessing themselves and somewhat ashamed of the fabrication, both surgical and social, they had imposed on their sons. As for the adults who came to us claiming to have discovered their “true” sexual identity and to have heard about sex-change operations, we psychiatrists have been distracted from studying the causes and natures of their mental misdirections by preparing them for surgery and for a life in the other sex. We have wasted scientific and technical resources and damaged our professional credibility by collaborating with madness rather than trying to study, cure, and ultimately prevent it.

The U.S. Tax Court has collaborated with madness and this sets a dangerous precedent for permitting other individuals with mental problems to push for mutilating surgery and tax breaks.

A person can no more change his sex than he can change his species. A person can’t become a potato or a giraffe. Yet, the gay, lesbian, transgender movement claims that a person can become the opposite sex. This is madness.

Additional Resources:
Where Are The Transgenders In Obama's Gay Army?
Where Did The 'Transgenders' Go In The Repeal Of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Military Policy?
Can America Survive Three More Obama Years?
‘TransMan’ Demands To Show Scarred Chest On Facebook
Obama Re-Nominates Extremists To High Posts
LGBT Group Touts Obama’s Support Of Its Political Agenda
Obama Appoints She-Male To Commerce Post
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) Threatens the Practice of Religion & Our Nation’s Children
EEOC Nominee Chai Feldblum Hides Bizarre Views
EEOC Nominee Ghostwrites New Liberty Into the Constitution Violates the Free Exercise of Religion
TVC SPECIAL REPORT: IRS Gives Tax Deduction For Sex Change Operations!