めでたいニュースにけちをつけるつもりはないが。
いくつか疑問。
タイでの手術で、手術費用が25万ドル(約1970万円)とは高額すぎるのでは。
英文ニュースによれば、予備校で理系科目を教えていたようだが・・。
毎日２０時間働いていたらしいが、ベトナムの物価でそんなにお金もたまるのか・・・。
（Since then she focused on working as a math, physics and chemistry teacher at prep centers for university entrance examination in HCM City. She used to work 20 hours a day.）
あと、病院の検査で女性ホルモン値が高くて、外性器が女性的だったらしいが、だとしたら、性分化疾患では・・。
（In 2006, medical tests showed that the boy Pham Van Hiep had high female hormone volumes and a lot of female characteristics in his sex organ.）
http://www.viet-jo.com/news/social/120908101116.html
性転換を公認された初めてのベトナム人“女性”
子供の頃から「体は男性、心は女性」の性同一性障害の悩みを抱えていたファム・バン・ヒエップさんは、性転換手術を受けた後、地方政府から戸籍上で女性と公認された初めてのベトナム人となった。名前をファム・レ・クイン・チャムさんに改名することも認められた。6日付VNエクスプレスが報じた。
東南部ビンフオック省で両親と一緒に暮らしていたチャムさんは、小学校に入学した時には既に自分の性に違和感を感じていたという。思春期に入った頃、胸が女性のようにふくらみつつあることに気が付いたが、誰にも相談できず太ることで隠そうとしたため、体重は40キロから倍以上の84キロまで増加した。
高校を卒業し、ホーチミン市の大学に通うようになり、チャムさんはインターネット上で女性の名前と写真を使って、男性とのやり取りを楽しむようになった。この時知り合った米国在住の越僑青年がチャムさんの運命を変えるきっかけになった。チャムさんが自分の事情を告げると、青年は同情しその後も励まし続けてくれたという。
チャムさんは、自分の本来の性を取り戻し、この青年といつか対面するためにも、性転換手術を受けようと決心した。2006年にホーチミン市の病院に相談に行くと、タイでの手術を勧められた。しかし費用が高くてすぐには実行できない。チャムさんは学校を休み、しゃにむに働いた。貯金と青年からの援助で25万ドル(約1970万円)を用意したチャムさんは、それから2年間かけてタイで性転換手術を受けた。
体もすっかり女性になったチャムさんは2008年半ばにベトナムに戻り、地方政府に戸籍上の性別と名前の変更を申請した。前例がないため時間はかかったが、翌2009年末にこの申請は正式に承認された。チャムさんは変更の決定書を手にした時、「これから初めて本当の自分として生きられる」との思いが溢れて子供のように泣いたという。
チャムさんは今、女性としての生活を楽しみ、声のよさを生かして来年には歌手デビューを計画している。ただ一つ残念なのは、まだ米国在住の恋人に会えずにいること。彼女は「彼のことを心から尊敬しあこがれています。彼と温かで幸せな家庭を築くことを夢見ています」と語った。
The first trans-gender legally recognized in Vietnam
VietNamNet Bridge – A man who has become a woman after a transgender surgery in Thailand has become the first transgender in Vietnam and has been recognized by the authorities as a woman.
The man named Pham Van Hiep in the past is now a pretty woman named Pham Le Quynh Tram. She was very happy to show off the decision to redefine her sex as female, granted by the administration of a town in Binh Phuoc province, dated November 5, 2009.
The decision declares: allowing Pham Van Hiep to re-define sex from male to female and to change name into Pham Le Quynh Tram.
“I can’t believe that this is true. I cannot describe my happiness of living with my true sex,” Tram said in tears.
Tram said she was born in HCM City. Her family moved to Binh Phuoc when she was small. Tram was born as an intersex but she was defined at birth as a boy.
“At puberty, my body changed as a woman. My breast kept growing. I was very frightened and did not tell anyone. I tried to hide it by eating a lot to gain weight,” Tram said.
Consequently, her weight increased from 40kg to 84kg while she was only 1.57m tall.
She studied very well but felt complex of being a bisexual, Tram did not have friends. She used to love a schoolboy but she had to keep that love for herself.
After high-school, she studied at two universities at the same time: the HCM City Economic University and the HCM City Banking Institute. She began surfing Internet and making friends online. Thirsting for being a woman, she used a woman nickname and a beautiful girl as her avatar. She chatted and fell in love with a Vietnamese man in the US. Tram has never met him but he is the most influential person in her life.
“We chatted and emailed each others. I told him my problem. He was sympathetic with me and encouraged me to seek my true sex,” Tram said.
Being urged by the aspiration of becoming a woman and seeing her “lover”, Tram decided to take transgender operation.
In 2006, medical tests showed that the boy Pham Van Hiep had high female hormone volumes and a lot of female characteristics in his sex organ. Doctors advised Hiep to go to Thailand for a transgender surgery.
“My family was very poor so I did not have money to go to Thailand. I quit study to work,” Tram said.
Since then she focused on working as a math, physics and chemistry teacher at prep centers for university entrance examination in HCM City. She used to work 20 hours a day.
Besides her online lover’s assistance, Tram finally saved enough money ($250,000) for the lifetime surgery in Thailand. This was a 2-year painful process.
“I did not tell my family about the surgery when I left Vietnam because I was afraid that I might die in Thailand,” she said.
The hope to see her lover as a real woman helped Tram sustain endless pains on the operating table.
In mid-2008, after the sex organ surgery, she became a real woman. That year, seeing her white skin and pretty face, Thai doctors encouraged her to send her pictures to Tiffany Show, a beauty contest for transgenders in Thailand. Tram won the title “Miss Tiffany Photogenic.”
Returning home, she sent applications to relevant bodies to ask their permission to change her sex and name in her personal papers. Facing a lot of difficulties because there was no precedent, until late 2009, Tram’s petition was approved. She cried like a baby the day she held the decision on her hand.
At present, Tram likes wearing skirts and she is more confident seeing others. She spent a lot of time to attend make-up classes. She also worked as a host for music shows. She planed to start her singing career by a show in early 2013.
Being happy with her current life, Tram’s only wish is seeing her lover in the US.
“I love and respect him. Like other women, I dream of having a happy family and a husband who loves me very much,” she said.
