‘Being a transgender person is not a choice you make’
Malta has made huge legal strides in recognising a person’s true gender, but there is no health and education system to support transgender people, Bruno Zahra tells Sarah Carabott.
A person can nowadays change name and gender, but the lack of awareness and provision of specific health services is detrimental to transgender people’s well-being, according to research conducted by Bruno Zahra.
The first of its sort locally, Mr Zahra’s master’s study shows that a lack of support has seen transgender women “come out twice” – first as gay men and then as transgender people.
The study also shows that such a lack of support can sever the transgender women’s ties with their own families.
Photo By National_Progress_Party (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons