Selected Writings:
Transgender Issues
Protests Against SRS Cuts in Ontario
People's Voice
By Chris Frazer
Transsexuals and intersex persons are the latest victims in the
Harris government’s orgy of health-care slashing in Ontario.
On October 2, senior government officials confirmed that Tory
health minister Elizabeth Witmer is cutting all funds for
sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) from OHIP. The cutback will "save" about
$122,000, based on figures from 1997-1998 when the Ontario Health
Insurance Plan subsidized eight operations.
The cutback formalizes an earlier decision by the ministry
which suspended SRS payments more than a year ago, pending a review of
OHIP.
The move has delighted reactionaries and bigots in the
government and the media, but has outraged transgender activists who
are mobilizing to reverse the cutback.
The amount of money devoted to SRS "is such a measly figure
when you consider that the Mike Harris government spends more than that
on a cocktail party," said Michelle Renée of the Ottawa-based Task
Force for Transgendered Law Reform, in a letter sent to the Sun
newspaper chain.
Both the Sun and the Ontario government have denigrated SRS as
cosmetic surgery. Their statements have angered transgender activists
and have drawn criticism from the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
The cause of transsexuality (known as Gender Identity Dysphoria
in the medical literature) is hotly debated, but there is a consensus
among transgendered persons and their health-care providers that
sex-reassignment is necessary for male and female transsexuals, and
for many intersex persons (those born with ambiguous genitalia).
Transgender activists have raised the possibility of a court
challenge. One source suggested that the Ontario cuts, "may go against
the Canada Health Act, in spirit if not in fact, by denying people who
cannot afford it access to treatment for a ‘recognized’ medical
condition."
The cutback to SRS funding reflects the intolerance, fear, and
bigotry that infest the Ontario Tories and some segments of Canadian
society. It sends a clear message that the interests and needs of
transgendered people are not worthy of social support, and it will
certainly encourage trans-phobia.
"People who need the surgery most, and who cannot afford it,
will suffer the most," said Sarah Martin of the Toronto chapter of
Transsexual Menace, a transgender rights group. "More people will end
up using understaffed and unapproved clinics and surgeons."
Under OHIP, candidates for SRS had to travel to Britain or the
USA for the procedure. However, OHIP coverage only paid for surgery
itself, and patients were required to pay travel expenses, and all
other aspects of their transition including electrolysis and ongoing
hormone therapy.
Some transgendered persons can afford high quality surgery and
care in private clinics. Those who cannot will face high-risk choices
between two evils: foregoing surgery, or opting for dangerous
alternatives to quality subsidized care. For those who forego SRS, the
decision of Witmer’s ministry will mean an increase in despair,
depression, and suicide attempts, said Lynn Lefevre, an activist with
the Task Force on Transgendered Law Reform.
Meanwhile other observers predict a rise in transgendered
prostitution, pointing to an already-established link between the
inaccessibility of sex-reassignment surgery and the market demand for
so-called "she-male" sex workers.
Reduced access may also lead to more frequent reliance on the
services of pseudo-medical quacks who prey on the desperation of
cash-strapped transgendered persons.
The most infamous of these medical predators is San Diego’s
John Brown, also known as "Butcher Brown", who has a lengthy history of
botching operations, mutilating his patients and sometimes killing them.
Brown was recently been jailed in the USA for operating without a
license, which was revoked in 1977.
According to Lynn Lefevre, one of the bitterest ironies of the
cutback, is that "it’s likely going to cost the system a lot more than
$122,000 per year [in counselling, therapy, and other medical services,
and perhaps policing] to treat those who now have lost all hope."
Both the TS Menace and the Canadian Task Force on Transgendered
Law Reform are considering plans to fight the cutback with a campaign
of letter-writing, protests, and media events. They are encouraging
supporters to contact their MPPs and Ontario Health Minister Elizabeth
Witmer to protest the cutback.
For more information visit the website of the
Toronto TS Menace , or the
Canadian Task Force on Transgendered Law Reform .
December 1998
on January 18, 1999
