World
Philadelphia health providers bring trans-affirming surgery to Argentina
Temple University Hospital doctors recently traveled to Buenos Aires
BY LAUREN ROWELLO | Argentina is known for implementing some of the most comprehensive federal laws to protect and affirm transgender people. In 2012, the country became the first to pass legislation that gives its trans citizens the right to be recognized and treated in accordance with their gender identities — and the right to develop a sense of personhood associated with this experience.
This law gave Argentines the right to change their legal documents to display accurate gender markers and updated names — something many trans people in the U.S. are still unable to pursue because of differences in state laws regarding the matter. Among various other rights — including confidentiality — the legislation also grants trans people in Argentina the right to access comprehensive hormone therapies and gender-affirming surgeries.
But the right to pursue authenticity doesn’t mean trans-competent care is readily available. That’s why Dr. Alireza Hamidian Jahromi, MD, director of the gender affirmation surgery program at Temple University Hospital, is passionate about collaborating with providers across borders.
He recently traveled to Buenos Aires with Dr. Michael Metro, MD, director of reconstructive urology at Temple University Hospital, to jointly perform the first-ever penile inversion vaginoplasty in Argentina.
“A lot of teaching and training has to happen before you can perform a surgery,” Hamidian Jahromi underlined, noting that resources — including access to trans-specific training — can be limited in some areas, especially for genital reconstructions or “bottom” surgeries.
For instance, in 2012 — the year Argentina’s trans-affirming legislation was passed — the U.S. had only six surgeons performing genital reconstruction surgeries. A lack of surgeons greatly limits a surgery’s availability. Today, more doctors are starting to learn about and perform these procedures in the U.S. — but insurance does not always cover them and some state laws are attempting to further limit people’s ability to pursue them.
To overcome the unique hurdles and barriers that each country faces, Hamidian Jahromi — who is on the central committee for certification and mentorship at WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) — urged advocates to not only raise awareness of trans people and their needs but also to push for stronger and more accessible training and education for healthcare providers.
“[Surgeons] specifically have to go through a special training in order to know how to bring their skills together to be able to align them with the patient’s specific need,” Hamidian Jahromi said, adding that a specialization in gender-affirming surgery requires many years of training to develop expertise.
Exposure to and experience in a variety of related fields — such studying and collaborating closely with both urology and plastics — is necessary, and finding programs and professionals to study under can be an additional challenge.
The first trans-specific surgical fellowship in the U.S. didn’t open until 2017. It took more than nine years of education — along with additional surgical experience completed in Europe — for Hamidian Jahromi to become fellowship trained and specialized in trans-specific surgical interventions.
It takes a lot of time and intentional effort to build a comprehensive program that can competently and efficiently meet the needs of its patients. A lack of appropriate training can and has led to botched procedures, infections, and other disastrous outcomes.
Fortunately, there are more resources for learning and honing these skills across the United States than there were in the past. Hamidian Jahromi, who is the assistant professor of Plastic and Reconstructive and Gender Affirming Surgery at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, often trains surgeons, fellows and residents here in Philadelphia today.
Continued learning is not only key to the development of trans-specific programs and new providers. Trans-competent experts rely on information-sharing between professionals to constantly challenge themselves in new ways with the hope of improving their skills, advancing their understanding of best practices, and implementing new techniques in how to better care for trans people.
Because of this desire and ability to share and exchange skills, Hamidian Jahromi was able to observe the surgeries and study with colleagues at NYU — who pioneered a robotics-assisted peritoneal flap vaginoplasty, which is more minimally invasive than traditional methods. Temple is now one of just a handful of programs to offer surgeries using this technique.
It’s just one of various modalities used to help Hamidian Jahromi’s patients achieve their goals.
“A lot of [needs] could be different in every patient,” Hamidian Jahromi explained about the differing challenges, unique experiences and individual perspectives of each patient — who all have a different idea about what a positive outcome will look like for them. “And that’s actually a welcome part of these kinds of surgeries for me — because you have to see the patient, you have to see the world through their eyes, you have to try to understand.”
“I also have to mention that a lot of these surgeries need more than one surgeon at the time of the surgery. It’s multi-speciality,” he added, explaining that teams of experts in those related fields often work together to achieve the best outcomes. “So when I’m standing here in front of you, I’m standing on a pillar of different members of my team that all work together very closely in order to create a success story for each individual patient. It’s a whole team’s work.”
Hamidian Jahromi, who is cisgender, was drawn to trans healthcare because he appreciated the opportunity to make such a positive difference in the lives of patients and to develop longer relationships with each person he supports.
“When you put together the happiness and the help you’re providing for the patients, I’m very well-rewarded every day,” he added.
Belarus
Belarusian lawmakers approve bill to crackdown on LGBTQ rights
Country’s president known as ‘Europe’s last dictator’
Lawmakers in Belarus on Thursday approved a bill that would allow the government to crack down on LGBTQ advocacy.
The Associated Press notes the bill would punish anyone found guilty of “propaganda of homosexual relations, gender change, refusal to have children, and pedophilia” with fines, community labor, and 15 days in jail.
The House of Representatives, the lower house of the Belarusian National Assembly, last month approved the bill. The Council of the Republic, which is the parliament’s upper chamber, passed it on Thursday.
President Alexander Lukashenko is expected to sign it.
Belarus borders Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Lukashenko — known as “Europe’s last dictator” is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kazakhstan is among the countries that have enacted Russian-style anti-LGBTQ propaganda laws in recent years.
Vika Biran, a Belarusian LGBTQ activist, is among those arrested during anti-Lukashenko protests that took place in 2020 after he declared victory in the country’s presidential election.
Kenya
Kenyan advocacy groups launch LGBTQ voter mobilization campaign
As Kenya prepares for next year’s August general election, local queer rights groups have joined Gen Zers in also mobilizing their members to register as voters.
The groups’ drive began ahead of the electoral commission’s official launch of a one-month nationwide mass voter registration on March 30, targeting 6.5 million new voters to bring the total to more than 28 million.
The groups — led by the Initiative for Equality and Non-Discrimination (INEND) and Galck+ — note that politics is not optional, but rather it is “our responsibility” to use the ballot to put an end to bad leadership and discriminatory laws against them.
“Voting is one of the most powerful ways we exercise our autonomy and remind the State that our human rights are not ‘Western imports’; our struggles for housing, employment, safety, and dignity are fundamentally Kenyan issues,” INEND states.
It reminds queer individuals that the nation entrusts them with an identity card at age 18 as a recognition of their ability to make decisions, follow laws, and take responsibility for the country’s future.
INEND also notes that despite this honor, LGBTQ people get kicked out of their homes due to homophobia, are discriminated against at work, and face violence in public places due to the punitive laws that the same State legislates.
“As queer Kenyans, our vote matters,” INEND states. “Our voice belongs in the democratic and governance conversations, and true democracy includes everyone.”
Some voter mobilization initiatives the queer lobby groups have been using include ‘Queering the Ballot’ Podcasts on civic participation, dubbed ‘Your Vote is Your Future’. The topics explored include how laws shape their lives, the relationship between lived experiences of common citizens, discrimination fatigue, distrust in government systems, and voter apathy.
The groups through the mobilization drive hope to create a queer voting bloc to actively participate in restructuring and reconstructing the existing governance system they argue has been a problem for them. They maintain the queer community navigates a system that was not built for them from its questioning of their right to exist, yet the Kenyan Constitution clearly states that no citizen should be discriminated against based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Court of Appeal next month will hear a case challenging the constitutionality of provisions in Kenya’s Penal Code that criminalize consensual same-sex relationships among adults. The appeals court postponed the case after adjourning on Feb. 4, its first substantive hearing since the High Court judgement in 2019.
“Change requires more than pointing fingers. It requires reflection, action, and showing up, especially at the ballot box as LGBTQ Kenyan citizens and declaring that this is our country, our business, and we can no longer watch from the sidelines,” INEND states.
The group notes that they want a governance system that embraces queer people as they go about their daily lives without any form of homophobic discrimination, harassment, or arrests. Queer people are therefore urged to pick the right leaders who listen to them in Kenya’s six elective positions, from the president down to the local government representatives, as their decisions while in power affect them.
“It is very irresponsible for any human being, even around the world, to assume that they don’t have political responsibility. It is easy and sounds fancy to say ‘I don’t like politics,’ but it does not make one good as it makes one abandon their political responsibility as a citizen,” INEND states.
The groups are also concerned with the existing homophobia among Kenyans, especially whenever they join them in street protests against the government’s punitive measures or advocating for change. However, they maintain that the LGBTQ community won’t be left behind despite being marginalized in society, yet they are the most affected group when the government raids people’s pockets for taxes.
“Now we are moving from the margins to the centre of this political conversation early enough to ensure that our community sees the sense because if we live in a country that doesn’t work, we will be the most affected,” INEND states.
INEND, with the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Galck+, last November launched the second Queering the Ballot Campaign and the 2024 Situation Report on queer participation in Kenya’s democracy.
The report surveyed 14 of the country’s 47 local governments, whose key findings affirm that queer Kenyans are not outsiders to democracy but its heartbeat.
“The title ‘Our Vote, Our Future: LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Democratic and Governance Processes’ in Kenya is an ode to the spirit of the queer movement in Kenya; unshaken in the face of adversity, determined in its pursuit of justice, and unrelenting in demand to be seen, heard and counted in democratic and political processes,” reads the report forwarded by former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.
The report calls on Parliament, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the County Assemblies, and every Kenyan to make inclusion not symbolic but systemic.
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will visit Hungary next week.
An announcement the White House released on Thursday said the Vances will be in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, from April 7-8.
JD Vance “will hold bilateral meetings with” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The announcement further indicates the vice president “will also deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary.”
The Vances will travel to Hungary less than a week before the country’s parliamentary elections take place on April 12.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The Associated Press notes polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.
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