Christian man who regrets gender transition calls for greater caution around operations

It comes as figures released by the NHS reveal a 2,500% increase in referrals to gender identity clinics over the past decade.

Peter Benjamin, who has since become a Christian, underwent surgery to remove his genitalia and ‘become a woman’ in September 2015 after losing his wife to cancer three years earlier.

This followed an on-going addiction to alcohol and cross-dressing, with him experiencing depression and suicidal thoughts in the past.

Benjamin began identifying as “Victoria” and purchasing unregulated hormones online before approaching his GP in 2012.

Following an NHS mental health referral, Benjamin was told, despite the evidence of suicidal thoughts and mental health issues on his medical records, that he had “no underlying medical condition” and was automatically put on a private waiting list for a gender identity clinic, where he began gender reassignment treatment.

In 2015, Benjamin was referred for full gender reassignment surgery on the NHS, which was fast-tracked at the government’s expense to a private clinic where he had the labiaplasty operation to remove his genitalia.

In a statement to Christian Concern, Benjamin said: “I never thought cross-dressing would lead me to having an operation to become a woman. I had addictions […] but at every appointment, whether with the NHS, privately, or at transgender support groups, I was…