DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A judge in Pennsylvania has cleared the way for a 48-year-old transgender woman to receive gender-reassignment surgery. The judge late Wednesday rejected an effort by Christine Kitzler's parents to have her ruled incompetent and to have her plans for the operation at least temporarily halted.
The judge said Kitzler's parents, from a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, had failed to provide clear and convincing evidence that she was incompetent and needed to have a guardian appointed. Judge C. Theodore Fritsch Jr. also rejected a request for an independent medical evaluation of Kitzler, who has been living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Kitzler says she's happy she can now proceed with the operation, which had originally been scheduled for Tuesday by a Philadelphia-area doctor.
Kitzler's father says he wants to have his son back.