Calgary Sun, Canada
April 13, 2009
Lawsuit in works over sex surgery
Transgendered demand province reinstate funding
By TARINA WHITE AND CLARA HO, SUN MEDIA
Calgarian Niqolai Gryphon is considering legal action against the
province after it announced it would no longer fund sexual
reassignment surgeries.
The 21-year-old, who has spent the last three years transitioning from
a woman to a man, is also planning to lodge a human rights complaint.
"For me, and for many other trans people who haven't had access to
surgery yet, this could mean giant cases of discrimination," said
Gryphon.
"We're going to fight this."
Meanwhile, an Edmonton businesswoman is spearheading a class action
lawsuit against the Alberta government's decision to cut the funding
to save about $700,000 in the provincial budget.
Sarah King said she will bring the case to court on Wednesday in hopes
of first obtaining an injunction that will force the province to
approve funding for everyone on a gender reassignment surgery waiting
list. The next move will be to fight to have the funding relisted, she
said.
Currently, there are more than 16 people represented in the lawsuit --
and that number continues to grow by the day, said King, who was
recently notified that funding for her own gender reassignment
surgery, scheduled for January, had been cancelled.
"By delisting gender reassignment surgery, the government is
performing capital punishment or execution on that person," said King,
citing examples of transgendered individuals hurting themselves
because of their gender identity disorder.
Gryphon said he hasn't joined the lawsuit because he doesn't yet know
whether he will be denied sexual reassignment surgery.
"All of us are uncertain where the province will be cutting off the
funding -- are they going to be cutting it off for people who have
been approved already?" he said.
Gryphon, who has been on a waiting list for the surgery since
February, said its a poor financial decision on the part of the
province.
"It's going to be way more costly to fight the human rights complaints
that are going to be lodged and the potential class action lawsuit
than it would be to fund the surgeries," he said.
A Calgary woman, who has spent the past four years transitioning from
a man, said she's planning to join the class action lawsuit if she is
denied surgery.
"This is medically necessary -- it's not like cosmetic surgery like a
boob job," said the 24-year-old, who didn't want her name printed.
TARINA.WHITE@SUNMEDIA.CA
Copyright © 2008, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2009/04/13/9096776-sun.html
Showing posts with label Calgary Sun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calgary Sun. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Calgary Sun, Canada
Fri, April 10, 2009
Transsexuals gear up for fight
Decision to cut funding for sex reassignment surgery appears bound to
fail in courts
By ANDREW HANON
EDMONTON -- "This," says Kris Wells, "could be the next Vriend case."
The provincial government is about to drag all Albertans into yet
another costly, shameful and needless legal battle -- this time over
the decision to stop funding sex-change surgery.
And like the landmark Delwin Vriend Supreme Court case that forced
Alberta to protect gays in its human-rights legislation a decade ago,
or former premier Ralph Klein's pigheaded -- and ultimately futile --
fight with Ottawa over same-sex marriage, this is one the government
cannot win.
After all, last year Ontario was forced to reinstate funding for
sex-change surgery after losing a human-rights case.
The Alberta government politicians insist their decision wasn't based
on morality. They say they had to "de-list" the service in order to
save about $700,000 in the provincial budget.
Yeah, right.
Yes, that's the same budget that will see overall program spending
hiked $1.1 billion and a total deficit of $4.7 billion, the most
profligate in Alberta history.
Activists are already fighting back, first with political pressure,
then through human rights complaints and if necessary, all the way to
the Supreme Court of Canada.
Wells, of the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at
the University of Alberta, said a campaign is underway to pressure a
government health committee, which will make the final decision on
whether to cut the program next week.
Meanwhile, others are planning to flood the Alberta Human Rights
Commission with complaints.
Failing that, there's always another court challenge based on the
Charter of Rights.
"Often it's only a matter of time before the right person comes
forward and is willing to litigate for change," Wells says.
Dr. Lorne Warneke, the only psychiatrist in Alberta who specializes in
transgender issues, says it's a common misconception gender
reassignment is elective surgery and shouldn't be tax funded.
"It's not. It's a well-known condition that people are born with," he
says, adding that if left untreated, it "can cause tremendous
psychological anguish and distress."
Warneke, who runs the transgender clinic at an Edmonton hospital, was
not consulted or even notified that the funding would be cut.
Up to now, he's approved 16 people a year for the surgery, which is
usually performed in Montreal.
Alberta Health has said anyone who has had their funding approval will
still get the surgery, but Warneke said at least 16 of his patients
have been caught in a limbo where he's approved them but the
government hadn't yet green-lighted the funding.
Then there are dozens of others who've begun the long assessment
process -- which includes hormone treatments and living for at least a
year as the opposite sex.
"I'm completely screwed," says Jan Lukas Buterman.
Buterman, a 40-year-old teacher, began the process in 2007 and lives
as a man. "My surgery and follow-up treatment will cost about
$60,000," Buterman says. "How do you save up for that?"
For many transsexuals, borrowing is out of the question because
discrimination keeps them underemployed.
Buterman's driver's licence has him listed as female, and can't be
changed until he completes all surgery. "So now, if I go to a store
and try to pay with a credit card and they ask for ID, I have to show
them this," he says.
At best, it's embarrassing. At worst, he can be accused of having a forged ID.
ANDREW.HANON@SUNMEDIA.CA
Copyright © 2008, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2009/04/10/9075496-sun.html
Fri, April 10, 2009
Transsexuals gear up for fight
Decision to cut funding for sex reassignment surgery appears bound to
fail in courts
By ANDREW HANON
EDMONTON -- "This," says Kris Wells, "could be the next Vriend case."
The provincial government is about to drag all Albertans into yet
another costly, shameful and needless legal battle -- this time over
the decision to stop funding sex-change surgery.
And like the landmark Delwin Vriend Supreme Court case that forced
Alberta to protect gays in its human-rights legislation a decade ago,
or former premier Ralph Klein's pigheaded -- and ultimately futile --
fight with Ottawa over same-sex marriage, this is one the government
cannot win.
After all, last year Ontario was forced to reinstate funding for
sex-change surgery after losing a human-rights case.
The Alberta government politicians insist their decision wasn't based
on morality. They say they had to "de-list" the service in order to
save about $700,000 in the provincial budget.
Yeah, right.
Yes, that's the same budget that will see overall program spending
hiked $1.1 billion and a total deficit of $4.7 billion, the most
profligate in Alberta history.
Activists are already fighting back, first with political pressure,
then through human rights complaints and if necessary, all the way to
the Supreme Court of Canada.
Wells, of the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at
the University of Alberta, said a campaign is underway to pressure a
government health committee, which will make the final decision on
whether to cut the program next week.
Meanwhile, others are planning to flood the Alberta Human Rights
Commission with complaints.
Failing that, there's always another court challenge based on the
Charter of Rights.
"Often it's only a matter of time before the right person comes
forward and is willing to litigate for change," Wells says.
Dr. Lorne Warneke, the only psychiatrist in Alberta who specializes in
transgender issues, says it's a common misconception gender
reassignment is elective surgery and shouldn't be tax funded.
"It's not. It's a well-known condition that people are born with," he
says, adding that if left untreated, it "can cause tremendous
psychological anguish and distress."
Warneke, who runs the transgender clinic at an Edmonton hospital, was
not consulted or even notified that the funding would be cut.
Up to now, he's approved 16 people a year for the surgery, which is
usually performed in Montreal.
Alberta Health has said anyone who has had their funding approval will
still get the surgery, but Warneke said at least 16 of his patients
have been caught in a limbo where he's approved them but the
government hadn't yet green-lighted the funding.
Then there are dozens of others who've begun the long assessment
process -- which includes hormone treatments and living for at least a
year as the opposite sex.
"I'm completely screwed," says Jan Lukas Buterman.
Buterman, a 40-year-old teacher, began the process in 2007 and lives
as a man. "My surgery and follow-up treatment will cost about
$60,000," Buterman says. "How do you save up for that?"
For many transsexuals, borrowing is out of the question because
discrimination keeps them underemployed.
Buterman's driver's licence has him listed as female, and can't be
changed until he completes all surgery. "So now, if I go to a store
and try to pay with a credit card and they ask for ID, I have to show
them this," he says.
At best, it's embarrassing. At worst, he can be accused of having a forged ID.
ANDREW.HANON@SUNMEDIA.CA
Copyright © 2008, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2009/04/10/9075496-sun.html
For a mere $700,000 taken from a $13-billion health budget the
Calgary Sun, Canada
Thu, April 9, 2009
For a mere $700,000 taken from a $13-billion health budget the
province is risking a very costly human-rights complaint
By MICHAEL PLATT
For Michelle Ann Duff, it wasn't a choice between changing a few body
parts through surgery, or learning to live with what she was born
with.
For Duff, sex-change surgery was a decision between an early grave, or
a new life as a woman.
"I had two choices -- number one was to make a gender change, and
number two was to jump in front of a subway car," said Duff.
For the 69-year-old Ontario woman, changing genders was a much bigger
leap of lifestyles than for the relatively few Canadians who undergo
the life-altering switch on an operating table every year.
In 1985, as the soon-to-be "she" boarded a plane to Belgium for a date
with a sex-change specialist, Michael Duff was a world-acclaimed
motorcycle racing star, Canada's own record-setting grand-prix hero.
Retired from racing, and with three children to support from two
marriages, Duff abandoned the uber-macho world of Castrol oil, pistons
and leather to start a new life as a woman.
"I hate that overused cliche, a woman trapped in man's body, but
that's basically it," said Duff, speaking from her home out east.
"It's been shown time-and-time again that the only way to connect for
a person with gender dysphoria is to make the outside the same as the
way they feel inside."
Gender dysphoria is a recognized psychological condition which causes
distress and depression, because the victim is miserable with the sex
they were born with.
In Alberta, the condition is considered serious enough to qualify
victims for sex-change surgery, paid for by the province for the past
decade.
Or at least it was.
On Tuesday, while hiking the price of beer and cigarettes, the
province's budget also yanked funding for transgender surgery,
supposedly to cut $700,000 a year out of a $13-billion purse.
Petty doesn't begin to describe the few pennies saved by cutting
funding to the 10 to 20 Albertans who underwent the $20,000-to-$70,000
surgery each year.
Already, there's talk of a human-rights complaint -- Ontario faced a
similar challenge and lost in 2008 -- but those who have been awaiting
their turn for change are devastated.
"I've been on hormones for two years and dressing as a female, and
then they do this -- how is this even possible?" said Paris, a Calgary
male-to-female gender converter, who asked her name be changed to
avoid recognition.
"I've been waiting to get on the waiting list -- now I have no idea
what I'm supposed to do."
Those who have started the surgery, which can take more than one
operation, will have their change covered by Alberta Health, but those
like Paris, who are still functionally of their birth gender, are out
of luck.
"It's not the same as getting a boob-job," said Paris, who describes
the change as essential to a person's identity, unlike cosmetic
surgery.
A Facebook group, Reinstate Gender Reassignment Surgery Funding in
Alberta, already has in excess of 300 members, and a campaign has
started to send a letter of complaint, along with 19 cents, to the
province.
That 19 cents represents the per-Albertan cost for funding the
surgery, highlighting the pittance at stake, cash-wise.
On the human front, the cost could be incalculable: The Facebook group
already contains messages from despondent patients hoping to undergo
surgery, which they can't afford without funding.
"My chest surgery date is coming up in November, and if it's not
covered at that time.. I will not be able to pay for it myself.. so
I'll have to go without.. which will most likely result in me feeling
hopeless and suicidal," wrote Dominic Scaia, who gave reporters
permission to quote him.
Kristopher Wells, a researcher at the Institute for Sexual Minority
Studies at the University of Alberta, said the province is facing a
serious legal battle, which will end up costing far more than
$700,000.
"They made this cut without understanding the personal and legal
implications," said Wells.
"A human-rights complaint will be filed -- that's the talk in the
community at this point."
Copyright © 2008, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Platt_Michael/2009/04/09/9063411-sun.php
Thu, April 9, 2009
For a mere $700,000 taken from a $13-billion health budget the
province is risking a very costly human-rights complaint
By MICHAEL PLATT
For Michelle Ann Duff, it wasn't a choice between changing a few body
parts through surgery, or learning to live with what she was born
with.
For Duff, sex-change surgery was a decision between an early grave, or
a new life as a woman.
"I had two choices -- number one was to make a gender change, and
number two was to jump in front of a subway car," said Duff.
For the 69-year-old Ontario woman, changing genders was a much bigger
leap of lifestyles than for the relatively few Canadians who undergo
the life-altering switch on an operating table every year.
In 1985, as the soon-to-be "she" boarded a plane to Belgium for a date
with a sex-change specialist, Michael Duff was a world-acclaimed
motorcycle racing star, Canada's own record-setting grand-prix hero.
Retired from racing, and with three children to support from two
marriages, Duff abandoned the uber-macho world of Castrol oil, pistons
and leather to start a new life as a woman.
"I hate that overused cliche, a woman trapped in man's body, but
that's basically it," said Duff, speaking from her home out east.
"It's been shown time-and-time again that the only way to connect for
a person with gender dysphoria is to make the outside the same as the
way they feel inside."
Gender dysphoria is a recognized psychological condition which causes
distress and depression, because the victim is miserable with the sex
they were born with.
In Alberta, the condition is considered serious enough to qualify
victims for sex-change surgery, paid for by the province for the past
decade.
Or at least it was.
On Tuesday, while hiking the price of beer and cigarettes, the
province's budget also yanked funding for transgender surgery,
supposedly to cut $700,000 a year out of a $13-billion purse.
Petty doesn't begin to describe the few pennies saved by cutting
funding to the 10 to 20 Albertans who underwent the $20,000-to-$70,000
surgery each year.
Already, there's talk of a human-rights complaint -- Ontario faced a
similar challenge and lost in 2008 -- but those who have been awaiting
their turn for change are devastated.
"I've been on hormones for two years and dressing as a female, and
then they do this -- how is this even possible?" said Paris, a Calgary
male-to-female gender converter, who asked her name be changed to
avoid recognition.
"I've been waiting to get on the waiting list -- now I have no idea
what I'm supposed to do."
Those who have started the surgery, which can take more than one
operation, will have their change covered by Alberta Health, but those
like Paris, who are still functionally of their birth gender, are out
of luck.
"It's not the same as getting a boob-job," said Paris, who describes
the change as essential to a person's identity, unlike cosmetic
surgery.
A Facebook group, Reinstate Gender Reassignment Surgery Funding in
Alberta, already has in excess of 300 members, and a campaign has
started to send a letter of complaint, along with 19 cents, to the
province.
That 19 cents represents the per-Albertan cost for funding the
surgery, highlighting the pittance at stake, cash-wise.
On the human front, the cost could be incalculable: The Facebook group
already contains messages from despondent patients hoping to undergo
surgery, which they can't afford without funding.
"My chest surgery date is coming up in November, and if it's not
covered at that time.. I will not be able to pay for it myself.. so
I'll have to go without.. which will most likely result in me feeling
hopeless and suicidal," wrote Dominic Scaia, who gave reporters
permission to quote him.
Kristopher Wells, a researcher at the Institute for Sexual Minority
Studies at the University of Alberta, said the province is facing a
serious legal battle, which will end up costing far more than
$700,000.
"They made this cut without understanding the personal and legal
implications," said Wells.
"A human-rights complaint will be filed -- that's the talk in the
community at this point."
Copyright © 2008, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Platt_Michael/2009/04/09/9063411-sun.php
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