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.
Cuba
Trans parent charged with kidnapping, allegedly fled to Cuba with child
Cuban authorities helped locate Rose Inessa-Ethington
Federal authorities have charged a transgender woman with kidnapping after she allegedly fled to Cuba with her 10-year-old child.
An affidavit that Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jennifer Waterfield filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on April 16 notes the child is a “biological male who identifies as a female” and “splits time living with divorced parents who share custody” in Cache County, Utah.
Waterfield notes the child on March 28 “was supposed to be traveling by car to” Calgary, Alberta, “for a planned camping trip with his transgender mother, Rose Inessa-Ethington, Rose’s partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, and Blue’s 3-year-old child.”
The affidavit notes the group instead flew from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Mexico City on March 29. Waterfield writes the Inessa-Ethingtons and the two children then flew from Mérida, Mexico, to Havana on April 1.
The 10-year-old child called her biological mother on March 28 after they arrived in Canada. The custody agreement, according to the affidavit, required Rose Inessa-Ethington to return the child to her former spouse on April 3.
“Interviews of MV [Minor Victim] 1’s family members provided significant concerns for MV 1’s well-being, as MV 1 was born a male, however, identifies as a female child, which is largely believed to be due to manipulation by Rose Inessa-Ethington,” reads the affidavit. “Concerns exist that MV 1 was transported to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty.”
The affidavit indicates authorities found a note in the Inessa-Ethingtons’ home with “instruction from a mental health therapist located in Washington, D.C., including instruction to send the therapist the $10,000.00 and instructions on gender-affirming medical care for children.”
The affidavit does not identify the specific “mental health therapist” in D.C.
A Utah judge on April 13 ordered Rose Inessa-Ethington to “immediately” return the child to her former spouse. The former spouse also received sole custody.
“Your affiant believes that due to the extensive planning and preparation exhibited by both Rose Inessa-Ethington and Blue Inessa-Ethington to isolate MV 1 and take MV 1 to Havana, Cuba, without notifying or requesting permission from MV 1’s mother indicates they are likely not planning to return to the United States,” wrote Waterfield.
The affidavit notes Cuban authorities found the Inessa-Ethingtons and the child.
A press release the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah issued notes the Inessa-Ethingtons “were deported from Cuba” on Monday “with the assistance of the FBI.”
The couple has been charged with International Parental Kidnapping. The Inessa-Ethingtons were arraigned in Richmond, Va., on Monday. The press release notes a federal court in Salt Lake City will soon handle the case.
The New York Times reported the child is now back with their biological mother.
“We are grateful to law enforcement for working swiftly to return the child to the biological mother,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak of the District of Utah in the press release.
The case is unfolding against the backdrop of increased tensions between Washington and Havana after U.S. forces on Jan. 3 seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January 2025 issued an executive order that directed the federal government to only recognize two genders: male and female. A second White House directive banned federally-funded gender-affirming care for anyone under 19.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year in the Skrmetti decision upheld a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors.
Cuba’s national health care system has offered free sex-reassignment surgeries since 2008.
Activists who are critical of Mariela Castro, the daughter of former President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ issues as director of Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education, have previously told the Washington Blade that access to these procedures is limited. The Blade on Wednesday asked a contact in Havana to clarify whether Cuban law currently allows minors to undergo sex-reassignment surgery.
Australia
Australia lifts additional restrictions on LGBTQ blood donors
Gay, bisexual men, trans people in long-term monogamous relationships can now donate
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service (Lifeblood) has lifted additional restrictions on LGBTQ people who want to donate blood.
The Star-Observer, an Australian LGBTQ newspaper, reported new Lifeblood rules that took effect on Monday will allow “gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term monogamous relationships to donate blood and platelets for the first time.”
The new policy defines “long-term monogamous relationships” as those that are at least six months.
All potential donors — regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity — will answer the same questions about recent sexual activity.
“Previous donor rules prevented many people from the LGBTQIA+ community from donating blood or platelets if they’d had sex within the past three months,” said Lifeblood CEO Stephen Cornelissen in a press release that announced the new policy. “These latest changes mean many gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term, monogamous relationships will become eligible to donate blood or platelets for the first time.”
Lifeblood in 2025 ended its blanket ban on sexually active LGBTQ people from donating blood.
Rodney Croome, an Australian LGBTQ activist who is the spokesperson for Let Us Give, a campaign that has championed the changes, donated blood on Monday.
“After three decades of advocacy, and for the first time in my life, I was able to donate blood today,” said Croome in a Facebook post that showed him donating blood. “From today, gay men, and bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men, are able to give blood without the traditional three month abstinence period. All donors are now asked the same questions about sex regardless of the gender of our sexual partners.”
Croome in the post said “there are still problems with the new donor regime,” but said Let Us Give will continue to work with Lifeblood.
“Those who may have not been monogamous in the recent past should not be subject to a six month wait time,” he wrote. “Three months is considered more than enough in the UK, US and Canada. It should be here too. People on PrEP and trans people also face continued barriers. Let Us Give will continue to work towards greater equity in donation.”
European Union
Top EU court strikes down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law
Ruling issued days after voters outed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
The European Union’s top court on Tuesday struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law.
Hungarian MPs in 2021 approved Act LXXIX of 2021.
“It shall be forbidden to make accessible to persons who have not attained the age of 18 years advertisement that depicts sexuality in a gratuitous manner or that propagates or portrays divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality,” it reads.
The European Commission in 2022 challenged the law. Sixteen EU countries — Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden — joined the lawsuit. The European Parliament also supported it. Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, for his part, said his government would defend the law.
The EU Court of Justice heard the case in 2024.
A press release that announced the ruling on Tuesday said Hungary “acted in breach of EU law.”
“The court finds, for the first time, a separate infringement of Article 2 TEU (Treaty on European Union), which lists the values on which the (European) Union is founded and which are common to all the Member States,” it reads. “The aspects of the amending law targeting content which portrays or promotes deviation from the self-identity corresponding to the sex assigned at birth, gender reassignment, or homosexuality constitute a coordinated series of discriminatory measures which are in breach, in a way that is both manifest and particularly serious, of the rights of non-cisgender persons — including transgender persons — or non-heterosexual persons, as well as the values of respect for human dignity, equality and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.”
“Consequently, that law is contrary to the very identity of the (European) Union as a common legal order in a society in which pluralism prevails,” notes the press release. “Hungary cannot validly rely on its national identity as justification for adopting a law which is in breach of the values referred to above.”
The Háttér Society, a Hungarian LGBTQ rights group, said the ruling “is a milestone for the protection of human rights in the European Union, and it is also a historic victory for LGBTQI people in Hungary.”
The court issued its ruling nine days after Péter Magyar ousted Orbán in Hungary’s elections.
Orbán took office in 2010.
He and his government faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown that included laws that banned Pride events and other public LGBTQ events. (Upwards of 100,000 people last June denied the prohibition and marched in Budapest’s annual Pride parade.)
“Those amendments constitute a particularly serious interference with several fundamental rights protected by the (EU) Charter (of Fundamental Rights), namely the prohibition on discrimination based on sex,” notes the court’s press release.
The EU since Orbán took office has withheld upwards of €35 billion ($41.2 billion) in funds to Hungary in response to concerns over corruption, rule of law, and other issues. Magyar has said he will work with Brussels to unfreeze the money.
ILGA-Europe Deputy Director Katrin Hugendubel urged Maygar’s government to repeal the law.
“With this ruling, the CJEU (The EU Court of Justice) is confirming what we have been saying for six years,” said Hugendubel. “There is now no excuse for the Commission not to require Hungary to quickly withdraw the law. Hungary cannot enter a post-Orbán era without repealing this legislation, including the Pride ban.”
“If Péter Magyar truly aims to be pro-EU, he must place this at the top of his agenda for his first 100 days in office, as an essential part of his EU facing reforms,” added Hugendubel.
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