"Mac's statement in the 2nd para posting 15 beginning 'Essentially.....' REALLY needs some examining."
What I said was; "Essentially, the physical (somatic) and chromosomal gender is at odds with the mental gender." Since this is the fairly undeniable essence of the problem, I am somewhat at a loss to know how this can be examined further, REALLY or otherwise.
"I questioned the ethics of surgeons carrying out transgender operations given it is mostly a psychological condition."
It isn't "given" at all. As I stated, the evidence is that this is no more a psychological condition than homosexuality and it is certainly no more amenable to psychotherapy. Would you suggest that homosexuals should receive treatment in an attempt to convert them to heterosexuality? This has certainly been exhaustively attempted with a conspicuous lack of success (though not without inflicting much suffering).
The ethics of carrying out gender reassignment procedures can indeed be debated, but arguably are no more complex than breast enlargement or the use of analgesics for pain (the ethics of which were intensely debated by some when anaesthetics were introduced).
These sort of discussions are really only useful if the protagonists are willing to entertain viewpoints other than those with which they entered the debate rather than attempt to impose theirs on others. Your viewpoint is neither exceptional or novel and the small arguments that you make I have heard and considered many times, only to reject them on evidentiary grounds. You might care to consider testimony from those intimately concerned with the management of these unfortunate people and, as any reasonable person might do, modify your views in the direction of tolerance at least.
Mac
To give Mac some back up with this, I'm a psych nurse, both civvy and military and I also sat on a board of a Primary Care Trust that (amongst other things) looked at requests for gender re-assignment. It is NOT considered a mental illness or psychological problem.
The only normal input from a psychologist at any stage during this process is early on by a specialist psychologist or psychiatrist to check that the person is not suffering from a mental illness that would make them lack capacity to make this decision. The vast majority have great insight into their problems and have capacity.
It's also unlawful to reveal that someone is transgendered without their consent unless it is medically necessary to do so.