Russian doctor defies intimidation to authorise gender reassignment surgery

[TomSea]

Russian doctor defies intimidation to authorise gender reassignment surgery
Dmitri Isaev is exploiting a legal loophole to help the transgender community from a secret location in St Petersburg

Gay pride marchers in Copenhagen wearing images of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Photograph: PYMCA/Rex/Shutterstock
Katerina Patin for Coda Story

Wednesday 1 February 2017 02.00 EST
Last modified on Wednesday 1 February 2017 06.17 EST

You won’t find any mention of Dr Dmitri Isaev’s clinic online, and patients can’t look up the number in a phone book. Both name and address are kept secret, and those who would like an appointment with Isaev, a leading gender identity expert, must discover the location of his St Petersburg clinic by word of mouth.

The doctor has been working undercover after conservative activists led a campaign of intimidation against his clinic for transgender patients at Saint Petersburg State Paediatric Medical University.

Isaev, a 60-year-old psychiatrist, led a team of doctors at the university for nine years, issuing official permission for gender reassignment surgery and for changes to identity documents.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/01/russian-doctor-defies-intimidation-to-authorise-gender-reassignment-surgery