Number of transgender cases has increased severalfold in recent years

One-year waiting list for surgery

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The number of those wishing to change their sex has multiplied in recent years.
      In 2003-2006 around 40 people per year sought treatment from the relevant clinics in Helsinki and Tampere. Last year's corresponding figure was about 90, and this year even more patients have called at the clinics dealing with transgender issues.
      The congestion has caused queues for corrective operations. At the moment the waiting time is about a year. "If the number of referrals remains this high, our capacity will be stretched", explains acting specialist doctor Marja Kautto from the Helsinki University Central Hospital.
     
Issues relating to correcting one's gender became topical in connection with Imatra vicar Olli Aalto's announcement, according to which he would return from his leave of absence at the beginning of 2009 as a she, Marja-Sisko Aalto.
      Aalto and other transgender people's mind and body are of opposite genders. People diagnosed with the condition in thorough examinations have the right to receive treatment, which will - apart from changing their social life - also involve hormonal and often surgical treatments.
      There is no obvious reason for the increased number of those seeking treatment. "This phenomenon has clearly existed below the surface for quite some time, but now that there is more information available people dare to come out and start looking for help", Kautto reckons.
      "The society's attitude towards different identities has become more tolerant."
     
Heli Hämäläinen from Helsinki was baptised 45 years ago as Veli-Matti. A couple of years ago she assumed a new name and for three years she has been taking female hormones.
      The treatment has made her life much easier. Prior to the change, Hämäläinen felt like many other transgender persons; that she was living her life to only 70 per cent of its capacity. Part of her persona always had to be tossed in the bin.
      "You feel like a diver in a cave. The ceiling and the floor keep nearing each other, until finally you cannot move forward any more. You're just facing a wall", Hämäläinen says.
      Hämäläinen had to seek help, to get a referral to transgender tests. The family has since also received help from a private marriage therapist, because the change was difficult for the partner, too. Work colleagues, relatives, and neighbours have been understanding over the situation.
     
Science has not yet found a clear explanation to the transgender phenomenon. Therapies have failed to provide help to those suffering from the condition, but the present corrective treatment forms have produced good results.
      When it comes to the underage, a common treatment policy has not yet been agreed on. Senior social worker Maarit Huuska from the Trans Support Centre is aware of two incidents from recent years, where young individuals unhappy with their bodies managed to acquire illegally the hormones used in corrective treatments.
     
The Aalto case, in which questions were asked about the suitability of the vicar's return to the position after changing gender, has prompted a response from labour legislation experts.
      While the Bishop of Mikkeli Voitto Huotari has said Aalto's continued pastoral work may "contain problems", the law as it stands does not present any formal obstacles to a transgender person returning to a job in a different sex after a leave of absence.
      Since female clergy are an established part of the Finnish Lutheran Church, there can also be no grounds for dismissal on that score.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Transgender Lutheran vicar wants to continue his pastoral work (12.11.2008)

Links:
  Trans Support Centre
  Transgender (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat