Edmonton Sun, Canada
Wed, April 15, 2009
Province retreats on sex changes
By KERRY DIOTTE, LEGISLATURE BUREAU CHIEF
The province is bending a bit on cancelling gender-bender surgery.
Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert said yesterday the province won't
snip sex-change operations out of this year's budget to save $700,000
as previously announced.
Liepert announced that in question period as more than two dozen
transsexuals and their supporters watched from the public gallery.
The minister told the House 26 Albertans are now "in the program" and
their surgery will be covered.
A further 20 people who hadn't been scheduled for surgery but were on
a waiting list for funding will now also be paid for, but the
procedure won't be funded next fiscal year, he indicated.
Health ministry spokesman John Tuckwell says that means the government
will have to come up with extra cash in the soon-to-be-passed 2009-10
budget to pay for the sex-change operations that can cost between
$18,000 and $70,000 and are performed in Montreal.
Opposition MLAs accused the government of trying to save money by
picking on a small minority group that's been told by physicians their
surgery is medically necessary. But Liepert said his ministry had to
make tough choices.
TOUGH DECISIONS
"This was not based on medical decisions," said Liepert. "This was
based on a number of programs we had to make ... There were some very
tough decisions that had to be made, everything from cancelling some
programs around youth suicide prevention to programs around certain
surgeries."
Edmonton Centre Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman argued the province will
likely waste more cash than it will save by chopping the sex-change
procedure from next year's budget because government lawyers will have
to defend human rights challenges.
Click here to find out more!
Transsexuals have vowed to file numerous complaints as early as today
to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission.
HUMAN RIGHTS
A human rights challenge in Ontario saw that province forced to
reinstate coverage of sex-change operations.
Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MLA Rachel Notley says Alberta will come off
as looking like rednecks nationally because it cancelled funding for
sex changes to save a small amount of money. That's exactly the
opposite of a recent rebranding program that boasts that Alberta is
open and tolerant, she said.
"This is an attack on the most vulnerable," Notley told Sun Media.
Because of the government's decision, "we will continue to look like a
backward group of folks to the rest of the country ... That's not how
Albertans are."
Premier Ed Stelmach said it was "fair and reasonable," that Liepert
extend the sex-change operation program for one year.
Axcella Zelensky said she already had her publicly funded operation in
January but was at the legislature to fight to see others continue to
have access to publicly funded sex changes.
"I was actually planning in the next little while to send a thank-you
card to the government, but I'm not sure whether I can anymore," she
told Sun Media.
Surgeries are a necessity, she said. "We never chose to be born into
the wrong body."
KERRY.DIOTTE@SUNMEDIA.CA
Copyright € ¦© 2009, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2009/04/15/9116406-sun.html
Showing posts with label Kerry Diotte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kerry Diotte. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
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
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
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