Transsexuals to battle over operation delisting

Edmonton Sun, Canada
Tue, April 14, 2009
Transsexuals to battle over operation delisting
By KERRY DIOTTE, LEGISLATURE BUREAU CHIEF

Alberta transsexuals are stepping up their fight for government-paid
sex-change operations.

Members of the community will be at the Alberta legislature today for
question period. Tomorrow, they'll march to Alberta Human Rights and
Citizenship Commission offices in Edmonton and Calgary to file
numerous complaints because the government is delisting sex-change
operations, also known as gender reassignment surgery.

Officials announced in last week's budget the province will save
$700,000 annually by no longer paying for the operations.

"It's devastating to live in a gender you can't associate with," said
campaign co-ordinator Michelle Drinkell, who was born a man and says
she's been approved by the government to have a sex change but isn't
sure if it will now be covered.

Drinkell is taking hormones, paying for hair-removal laser treatment
and working with a voice coach in her process of trying to become a
full-fledged woman - all of which has cost her "thousands of dollars."

"The $700,000 is a very small amount compared to the total value of
the $13-billion health-care budget," she said.

Continuing to fund the operations "works out to 19 cents per Albertan
per year. It's nothing more than a teardrop in the ocean."

Transsexuals and supporters are planning to show up at the legislature
about 12:30 p.m, then take in question period when the three official
parties square off about 1:45 p.m.

They plan to file official complaints tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the
Calgary and Edmonton offices of the human rights commission arguing
sex-change operations are medically necessary.

Drinkell says they're buoyed by results from Ontario where a human
rights challenge forced the government to re-list the operations.

Drinkell plans to have a sex change done even if she has to pay for it
herself. She said she's been taking hormones for about two and a half
years and now lives as a woman.

Delisting the operation will have profound psychiatric effects on
people who've been diagnosed as needing a sex change, she says.

The suicide rate among transsexuals is already about triple the rate
of the non-transsexual Canadian population, she said.

Edmonton transsexual Cynthia Paish, 36, said her life and the lives of
others are in limbo because of the funding cancellation. Her sex
change surgery to become a woman was scheduled for August 24 but has
now been cancelled, she said.

Paish worked 12 years as a car audio installer but is now studying
esthetics. She's not 100% sure her operation will still be covered but
tries to be optimistic.

"It makes me really mad," said Paish, who is paying $100 a month for
hormone therapy on her own and plans to show up at the legislature.
"They're basically playing with people's lives. You really are trapped
in the wrong body."

Health ministry spokesman John Tuckwell said delisting sex-change
operations was a way to save the province money.

"The minister has acknowledged he's had to make some tough decisions
and this is one of them," said Tuckwell.

"He needed to find some additional funds to support some initiatives
for seniors' continuing care and $41 million was put into that
strategy," he said.

KERRY.DIOTTE@SUNMEDIA.CA
Copyright © 2009, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2009/04/14/9104791-sun.html