Twenty-nine countries in Europe are insisting transgender people are sterilized before their true gender is recognized in law.

That represents a major abuse of human rights and must stop, says a new report from the Council of Europe.

In many European countries, sterilization or sex reassignment surgery or both are a requirement for the country to legally recognize a transgender person in his or her new gender.

While gender reassignment surgery may incidentally cause someone to become sterile, some countries also insist on sterilization.

Transgender campaigners are calling for an end to a 'witch hunt' against a British doctor accused of errors in treating gender reassignment patients.

The General Medical Council probe into the practice of Dr Richard Curtis was launched after allegations over his prescription of hormone therapy drugs and a serious complaint by one patient who had a double mastectomy but later regretted the decision.

A doctor who treated trans men and women seeking gender reassignment is being investigated after several patients complained about his practices.

One of the most serious complaints which prompted Britain’s General Medical Council to investigate Dr Richard Curtis was filed by a patient who had a double mastectomy and hormone therapy but later regretted the decision.

Towards the middle of Spamalot’s Act 2, the Lady of the Lake appears. She’s been off-stage for quite a long time. She starts singing: ‘Whatever happened to my part?’ She angrily complains about how long she’s been waiting since her last song and how she feels deceived by the show’s producers and her agent – her part wasn’t what was promised. My daughter sang it (very well) in a little soiree last weekend, so it’s buzzing through my head at the moment. And I’ve come to realize this morning that it’s close to how I feel right now.

San Francisco is going to become the first US city to provide and cover the cost of sex reassignment surgeries.

The Californian city’s Health Commission has voted to create a program for treating transgender people fully, as reported by the Associated Press.

Barbara Garcia, Public Health Director, said San Francisco already provides transgender residents with hormones, counseling and routine health services, but stopped short of offering surgical procedures.

A draft law in Lithuania could worsen the situation for transgender people.

Under pressure of the UN and Europe the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice has proposed new draft legislation where people who have undergone gender reassignment surgery are to be issued with new identity cards without a lengthy court procedure.

Any adult in Argentina will now be able to legally change their gender without approval from doctors or judges.

The law passed by the Argentine senate today by 55 votes in favour, one abstention and none in opposition will give people the right to officially change identity without anyone else's consent and give them access to surgery as a part of the 'Obligiatory Medical Plan' offered by private and public healthcare. President Cristina Fernandez, who has been supportive of the issue, now needs to sign the law.

The Bombay High Court yesterday ruled in favour of a 21-year-old transgender woman in a feud with her parents.

Swati Barua, 21, from Assam had been booked in for a gender reassignment operation in a hospital in Mumbai on 17 April. When her family found out they blocked her bank accounts and threatened the doctors who had been due to perform the surgery.

Last Thursday the high court reprimanded Barua for using pressure tactics after she wrote a letter saying she would commit suicide unless her petition was heard in court.

A Canadian transgender man is outraged after receiving a CA$3,400 ($3,455 €2,600) bill for a 'medically necessary' hysterectomy.

Jessiah MacDonald told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that Nova Scotia's Medical Services Insurance had charged him for the operation because they considered it to be gender reassignment surgery, which they don't cover.

A pre-op MTF transgender in Hong Kong is going to sue a Christian narcotics school for contributing to the delay of her gender reassignment operation by a decade.

The 24-year-old who identified herself only as ‘C’ was forced by her parents in 2002 to enter Christian Zheng Sheng College, according to local tabloid Apple Daily.