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Johns Hopkins Gender Identity Clinic is closed.

1979

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After a controversial study is published arguing that adults that undergo "sex reassignment" surgery have "severe psychological problems that don't go away following surgery" (Brody, 1979), the clinic is permanently closed.

Many believe that the author of the study, a member of the Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit at Johns Hopkins, simply wanted an excuse to close the clinic. The study was preceded by another report released by the clinic that documented that amongst 24 adult patients who had willingly undergone "sex reassignment" surgery, all but one was confident that they had made the right decision.

The closure of the clinic also halts the non-consensual "sex assignment" surgeries performed on intersex infants and children there. Non-consensual surgeries on intersex children continue elsewhere at Hopkins and around the country.