The procedure for changing legal gender in Ukraine is very lengthy and filled with discriminatory requirements. According to the Ministry of Health Order No. 60, to obtain permission for gender recognition surgery, a person has to be diagnosed with “transsexualism”, which requires mandatory placement in a psychiatric ward for evaluation for 30 to 45 days. In addition, the legal instrument regulating legal gender recognition states that “intensive psychotherapeutic work aimed at the patient’s refusal of change (correction) of sex should be conducted with them”. Consequently, conversion ‘therapy’ is part of state policy and can be conducted at any psychiatric facility. The experiences of trans persons in psychiatric institutions during their ‘voluntary’ hospitalisation varies considerably. Negative experiences include the confiscation of personal belongings and communication devices; restrictions on freedom of movement; dehumanising medical procedures (such as probing questions, the imposition of gender stereotypes, objectification and being forced to undress); not being accommodated in a ward of their preferred gender or being allowed to use the bathroom of their choice (which also leaves persons open to bullying and discrimination); and refusal to address trans persons by their name and pronouns.16 To be diagnosed with ‘transsexualism’, a person cannot have any other psychiatric diagnosis. This forces trans people with mental health conditions to either hide and suppress their problems (especially in case of phobias, mood or personality disorders) or give up on transitioning (if they are schizophrenic, autistic etc.). The current procedure also dictates that a transgender person can change their gender marker in their documents only after undergoing complete surgical sterilisation. Permission to transition is refused if a person is not straight, is married, has underage children, has no permanent job and residence, 16 Treatment of LGBT persons deprived of liberty in Ukraine: risks of ill-treatment. Submission to the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, 8 February 2016. Compiled by ILGA – the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, in consultation with Insight. Available: http://bit.ly/2hpWzmN. 17 See Insight’s publication: Transgender People in Ukraine: Social Barriers and Discrimination. 2016. Available: http://bit.ly/2gQwexy.