A 39-year-old gay, Belgian man identified only as Sebastien has asked to be euthanized because he cannot accept his sexuality. Under Belgium's controversial euthanasia laws, people experiencing sexual difficulty or who see themselves as sexual misfits have the right to request euthanasia.
The man claims he is enduring extreme psychological suffering and that his sexuality has made him 'a prisoner in his own body'.
He is now undergoing medical assessments to check whether his wish to die is in line with the country's 14-year-old euthanasia laws.
Sebastien who said he has undergone 17 years of counselling, therapy and medication revealed he is attracted to young men and adolescent boys and that he is scarred from a difficult childhood, during which his mother was ill and he was brought up according to a strict Roman Catholic ethos.
He believes he has no option but to ask for death.
'My whole life has led me to this, really,' he said. 'My mother had dementia so I wasn't right, mentally. All that was instilled in me, so I was extremely lonely, very inhibited physically – scared to go out, hugely shy. I didn't want to be gay. I have always thought about death. It is a permanent suffering, like being a prisoner in my own body. A constant sense of shame.'
Three years ago Belgium allowed 44-year-old transsexual Nathan Verhelst, who was born Nancy, the right to die because of his suffering after a botched sex-change operation.
The shift to allow death on request for those with sexual difficulties is controversial among doctors in Belgium, who last year saw the number of recorded euthanasia cases pass the 2,000 a year mark.
