DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A judge on Wednesday cleared the way for a 48-year-old transgender woman to undergo gender-reassignment surgery, rejecting her parents' effort to have the operation blocked because they say she is mentally incompetent.

Christine Kitzler demonstrated clear understanding of the three-hour procedure and its risks, Judge C. Theodore Fritsch Jr. said, dismissing her parents' request that he appoint a legal guardian and subject her to an independent medical exam.

"I'm so happy," Kitzler whispered as the judge ruled.

Kitzler's lawyers and Philadelphia-area surgeon were working to schedule the operation for Wednesday night. It had been set for Tuesday before Klaus and Ingrid Kitzler won a temporary injunction.

"The procedure is barbaric and they want to do it tonight. Why the rush? They should be ashamed of themselves," Klaus Kitzler said after the ruling.

Christine Kitzler said having her body match the gender that she has identified with since growing up outside Cleveland, Ohio, would save her from backsliding into alcohol and drug addiction. Her parents argued that a childhood learning disorder and depression had compromised her judgment.

Their lawyer, Julia Morrow, suggested Kitzler was easily overborne and submitting to her surgeon's wishes — as she had when allowing drug dealers to grow marijuana in her home during college and drifters to crash a mobile home where she lived.

"It's barbaric to keep me this way, not to take this risk," Kitzler said. "Then I suffer and I go back to drinking and that's barbaric. I can't maintain being a sober man, being happy, because it hasn't happened. It can't happen. I don't have a choice."

Risk factors cited by her father — including complications from her HIV and hepatitis C diagnoses — were worth facing, Kitzler said.

In ruling in her favor, the judge said he recognized she had suffered from depression and substance abuse, but noted she had testified to being sober for three years and had demonstrated an ability to understand her decisions. Kitzler earned a liberal arts degree from Ohio University and has a deep knowledge and keen understanding of politics, her father testified.

"I might die from this. But it's worth dying," Christine Kitzler said. "I would rather die than live the way I was and return to my bad addictions, like alcohol, because I can't do it and I won't do it."

Her lawyer, Philadelphia gay and transgender rights advocate Angela Giampolo, said she had never seen competency invoked to block a gender-reassignment surgery.

"This isn't a competency hearing. This isn't a guardianship hearing. It's a difference of opinion," Giampolo said.

On the witness stand, Klaus Kitzler underscored his concern for his child's health. He said he would accept her surgery if an independent psychiatrist deemed her fit to make the decision.

"I accept it, but I want to stop it," Klaus Kitzler told the judge. "I would love to have a son back who goes to church with us on Sunday mornings."

Klaus repeatedly referred to Christine Kitzler — born in 1967 as Christopher Klaus Kitzler — as "he" and "his son" in his testimony. After a judge told him to use feminine or gender-neutral pronouns, he settled on "that person" before occasionally slipping back into masculine phrasing. In 45 minutes, Kitzler's lawyer told the judge, Klaus referred to Christine as a man 38 times.

Klaus, an auto technician who emigrated from German in the 1960s, watched from the gallery as Christine testified. He snickered and whispered "never" when she said she hoped her parents would call her by that name someday.

Christine Kitzler, who lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has already been through 16 months of pre-operative preparation, including a 24-hour fast before Tuesday's scheduled surgery, and has received clearances from mental health professionals that she is knowingly and willingly undergoing gender reassignment, her doctor said.

She said her parents were trying to prevent her from living an authentic life.

"They have a daughter. They don't have a son," Christine Kitzler said. "I'll have the parts. I am a woman."