Transgender Americans face dearth of sexual reassignment surgeons

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2015/8/28/transgender-doctor-shortage-surgery-america.html

America.Aljazeera/August 28, 2015 7:45AM ET by Lisa Fletcher

"From the age of 7, Jayden Thai knew he was different. But his differences didn't make him stand out academically or athletically.

"[In] the second grade, I remember being pulled out by my teacher, saying that I can't return to school until I start wearing girl's clothes," he said. "It was the first time I realized there's something wrong with me."

He added: "The world saw me as a girl. What I saw was ... I didn't know what I saw. I just know that it was not that."

Confused and ashamed, Thai spent the next 16 years struggling to find a sense of self that fit. It wasn't until 2012, when Thai came out as transgender, that he began to feel whole. A few months later, he says he knew it was time to change his outer appearance to match his inner person."

I don't think I agree there's a shortage. That should show up either as really long waiting lists or incredibly high prices, and I don't think that's the case. There's not many surgeons, but there's not really that many trans people either.