When he wants to be a she, who are we to disagree?

Calgary Herald, Canada

When he wants to be a she, who are we to disagree?
By Paula Arab, Calgary Herald
April 9, 2009 3:03 AM

I know a female guitarist in Toronto who was in love with a woman, yet
she insisted she was no lesbian. It turned out her girlfriend was
still technically a man, but in transition. He was undergoing the
extremely long process of becoming a woman and believed he wanted
surgery. He was caught in limbo after the Ontario government stopped
funding gender reassignment.

As time passed, it became clear the guitarist didn't want her partner
to undergo the final, er, snip. The guitarist liked that aspect of
their relationship. It was all bizarre and extremely confusing, but it
illustrated to me just how complicated sexuality can be. (He was a man
who liked women but wanted to be a lesbian, she was a heterosexual
woman who liked men but was with a man on the verge of becoming a
woman. Or something like that.)

Imagine, then, how con-fusing it must seem to the actual person who
believes he or she was born inside the wrong body.

Ontario, prompted by a human rights complaint, eventually concluded a
gender identity disorder is a serious medical condition. Alberta has
always considered it a mental health issue, but the province
contradicted that position by delisting the surgery in Tuesday's
budget. The move saves the equivalent of about half-an-hour's worth of
annual health-care spending.

It's harsh, narrow-minded and backwards, never mind hurtful to those
affected. They're already rejected as social pariahs by a judging,
mainstream society.

Health Minister Ron Liepert could learn from Ontario, where it took 10
years for the government to reverse course. During that time, lives
were needlessly on hold and individuals suffered tremendously.

Last year, then-Ontario health minister George Smitherman concluded it
was "appropriate" to reinstate funding for surgery, even though it
affected only a small group.

He admitted the earlier decision had been made out of ignorance and a
"narrow understanding" of the needs of transgender people.

"A population which has needs that are quite difficult to understand
were subjected to a lot of politics. I think we should be careful not
to use what is $200,000 on a $40.2-billion budget as an excuse to try
to create a them-and-us conversation."

What Smitherman did then was courageous. What the Alberta government
has done now is not.

As Smitherman said, this is a political move. It's a cheap shot at an
extremely vulnerable and tiny minority.

Cutting $700,000 is such an insignificant amount of money, it would
barely cover the cost of paper clips for the system's administration.
The total annual health-care budget is $12.9 billion. Put in
perspective, it takes less than 28 minutes to rack up the amount spent
on gender reassignment surgery. That's not much.

The big expenses of health care are salaries and overtime. Alberta
must start tackling those costs if any improvements in health care are
to be noticeable. Liberal Leader Dr. David Swann elaborated on the
problem during a recent meeting with the Herald editorial board. He
said nurses who come straight out of school are deliberately accepting
part-time jobs, giving up benefits for the more lucrative overtime.
Extra shifts are the norm, according to Swann.

You can't blame the young nurses for taking advantage of a need in the
system to bolster their salaries. But from the government's
perspective, this is a huge waste of money. If Liepert is truly
committed to finding efficiencies, he should demand better scheduling.
Hire someone who knows how to staff an emergency department and leave
trans-genders alone! That would slash costs, whereas the $700,000
saved on phalloplasty is the kind of cut you give yourself shaving.

These people are so misunderstood, they don't even understand
themselves or their own identity. That's why some go through the
surgery, only to discover nothing has changed. For others, though,
they are able to get clarity, and the surgery is a success.

It's possible Alberta's requirements for transgender surgery--the
final stage of a complicated process --aren't stringent enough.

Surgery isn't for everyone. The process should insist the person has
come and gone into the deep recesses of their mind and soul, and is
certain they are making the right choice.

Ontario has nearly four times the population of Alberta, yet approves
just eight to 10 people for surgery each year. Candidates must first
pass a "rigorous" psychological evaluation at the Centre for Addiction
and Mental Health--the country's leading medical health organization.

Alberta candidates should be subjected to the same intense scrutiny
before undergoing the knife.

Liepert's actions belied his words Tuesday, when he told reporters:
"We want to ensure that we look after the most vulnerable in society .
. .."

Who is more vulnerable than someone who identifies as transgender--a
term so difficult, its definition is still in flux? They are the
voiceless members of our society who are on the fringe.

The province has shamefully just kicked them even closer to the edge.

parab@theherald.canwest.com

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