A couple days ago, I got a note from a friend of mine, linking me to a letter posted on the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project Facebook page. The letter is from David Wilson, minister of health and wellness for the province of Nova Scotia, to one Lucas Thorne-Humphrey. Thorne-Humphrey had written the minister on behalf of NSRAP to discuss what NSRAP viewed as the "health disparities facing trans Nova Scotians," as well as support from the NS Human Rights Commission and Doctors Nova Scotia to have sex reassignment surgery (SRS) covered by the province.

The letter from the minister, as posted by NSRAP, is as follows.

Dear Mr. Thorne-Humphrey:

Thank you for your letter e-mailed on October 1, 2012, requesting support from the Department of Health and Wellness to remove clause #4.8 from the MSI Physician’s Manual Preamble, which prohibits the approval of billing codes for surgical procedures relating to transgender health in Nova Scotia. I apologize for the delay in my response. I wanted to ensure that serious consideration was given to your request. Departmental staff was directed to do a careful policy review, including extensive research and consultation with other provinces regarding procedures that are currently insured and the short and long-term health outcomes. I regret to inform you that due to the lack of high quality scientific evidence to support the efficacy of the long-term outcomes of these procedures and lack of a strong economic argument for their benefit, the department is not in a position to grant your request at this time. I appreciate your patience and understanding while we have deliberated on this issue.

Sincerely, Original signed by

David. A Wilson Minister

Yesterday, the CBC reported on this story, and this morning, NSRAP's Kevin Kindred was interviewed on CBC’s Halifax morning news and current affairs program, Information Morning. In his interview with Don Connolly (full disclosure: I have worked at the CBC as a freelancer, including at Info AM), Kindred pointed out that individuals who seek out SRS have to go away and pay thousands of dollars (Kindred mentions that top surgery is roughly $10,000) for the procedure. This means that these individuals are often away from their primary support systems (ie, families and friends) during an important moment in their lives.

I started writing an op-ed about this story and was on my way to file it when I was told that the minister had changed his mind. According to Justin Ling’s story on Xtra,

“Section 4.8 of the province's health insurance act -- the section that bars trans people from having their surgeries covered -- will be repealed "immediately."

This is good news for the individuals who wish to undergo SRS, even though it will take time, effort and infrastucture before SRS will be available in Nova Scotia. Their support systems can conceivably be easier to access; their financial, emotional and physical recoveries would be more facile; and it would show that Nova Scotia’s recent amendment to include gender identity and gender expression was more than just an exercise in lip service.

The wheels in government are known to move very slowly. But once in a while, someone gives them a swift kick, leaving them to momentarily surge forward. Let's hope they keep that momentum going.

The Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project is gearing up for its annual general meeting.

The organization, which has been around since 1995, will be presenting a report of their activities over the past year at the AGM. It takes place Saturday, June 22 at 1pm at the Local Women's Council House at 989 Young Ave.

The AGM is expected to run an hour. It will be followed by a 30-minute break, then a community forum where participants are invited to discuss issues NSRAP could look at next.

NSRAP notes that while everyone is welcome to attend the AGM, only those with active memberships (having joined or renewed within the last 12 months) are permitted to vote. To join, go to their website at http://nsrap.ca/join.

Last Friday, OUTeast Film Festival, Halifax's queer film fest, started to rev up its engines with a program launch at Neptune Studio Theatre. 

The festival is armed to the teeth with parties, screenings, art openings and more. Screenings include such buzz-worthy films as James Franco's Interior. Leather Bar, the comedy GBF and the festival's opener, I Am Divine.

You can download the program guide here.

On Friday, May 31, Halifax's queer film festival, OUTeast, will announce its program for this year's screenings.

The launch will take place at the Neptune Studio Theatre, at 1593 Argyle St, at 5pm. The box office will also open that day; all screenings are $10, with an all-access festival pass available for $60. This will be OUTeast's second year. 

Check out the Facebook page or Twitter feed for updates on this year's festival.

It hasn't been an easy month for Stepping Stone.

The sex-work advocacy group recently lost its executive director, Rene Ross, and also has been having a hard time with gathering consistent funding. Thankfully, the doors are still open, and so the organization is putting on a fundraiser, called Sale for Solidarity.

Taking place next Monday, June 3, at 1313 Hollis St, the event will include a silent auction, as well as the Halifax launch of Selling Sex: Experience, Advocacy, and Research on Sex Work in Canada, by Emily van der Meulen, Elya M Durisin and Victoria Love.

So if sex work in this town matters to you or the people you know, love or have sex with, check out the Facebook event page.

Halifax Pride recently put out a press release to promote the upcoming OUTBid!, their annual auction to raise funds for Pride festivities.

Well, they pulled a pop culture doozy this time.

This year you can bid for a date with Big Brother Canada cast members Emmett Blois and Andrew Monaghan.

 

The event is hosted by Eureka Love, and the doors open at 6pm this Thursday down at the Harbourfront Room at Casino Nova Scotia. As well as the aforementioned dates, there are lots of other prizes available. Check out the Facebook event page for more details.

 

Although the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia is tomorrow, May 17, this evening will see a rally take place at Grand Parade.

This year's theme is Our Bodies, Our Health, Our Rights. Speakers at the rally, which kicks off at 6pm, include The Raging Grannies; Gabe Saulnier, from Healing Our Nations; and many more individuals and groups speaking on everything from trans rights to the gay blood ban.

For more information, check out the Facebook event page.

Keeping in the same vein, prideHealth and the Aids Coalition will present Health Impacts of Homophobia and Transphobia at the IWK Health Centre. It features a panel discussion with Jacqueline Gahagan, from Dalhousie School of Health and Human Performance; Ellen Taylor, with the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women's Health; Sheena Jamieson, from the YouthProject; and Chris Aucoin, with the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia.

For more info, check out prideHealth's poster.

Halifax Pride is gearing up for this summer’s events and wants you to be a part of it.

In collaboration with the NSCAD Queer Collective, Halifax Pride recently put out a call for submissions as organizers are looking for the 2013 Halifax Pride visual artist. The artist's work will be exhibited during this summer’s Queer Acts Theatre Festival, be featured in the 2013 Pride Guide, as well as on tickets to various events during Halifax Pride. The deadline for submissions is May 15.

For eligibility criteria and more, check out Halifax Pride’s guidelines on their website.

As well as looking for artists, Halifax Pride is also looking for submissions for events for this year’s Pride Guide, as well as entries to the parade and booth for vendors and organizations at the Community Fair.

For more information on all this and more, check out Halifax Pride’s website.

One year ago this Wednesday, Raymond Taavel was found attacked on Gottingen Street in Halifax in the early morning. He would soon die from his wounds. Taavel was a well-known fixture of Halifax’s rainbow community and an activist.

Later that evening, hundreds of people would stand on the street where he was found, remembering who he was and what he stood for.

In light of the first anniversary of that event, Halifax Pride is asking Haligonians to remember Taavel by placing rainbow flags in their windows, an echo of last year’s happening.

“In organizing this we weren't looking to do something that was a media event, or an event at all really,” says Adam Reid, Halifax Pride's communications coordinator. “We want to give people a way to mark the day, express their grief, celebrate Raymond's life and hopefully find some comfort. People were so touched by the number of flags that sprung up around town last year following Raymond's life, we wanted to replicate that moment and the comfort it brought people.”

Reid notes that there will also be gatherings held at Menz Bar and The Company House between 5 and 7pm, “so people won't feel alone in their grief.” He expects that “many people will just want a hug and someone to talk to.”

When asked about the ongoing and much-delayed trial for Andre Denny, who stands as the accused in Taavel’s death, Reid says, “We're really just focused on celebrating and remembering the friend we lost.”

You can find out more at the Facebook event page.

After a fun-filled evening where a student group resurrected Halifax's queer history with a party at The Turret, the NSCAD Queer Collective is holding a roundtable discussion on safe, queer and trans spaces, as well as the challenges faced by those looking to create those spaces, from both internal and external forces. The event takes place this evening, Tuesday, April 2.

In an email to Down East, a spokesperson for the collective said, "The discussion will be a round table on the concepts of safe space, queer space and community accountability. Together we'll talk about the rhetoric of 'safe space' and what challenges we face as a community in trying to construct safer queer spaces. We have several local organizations lined up to speak about the work they do to create safer spaces for queer and trans* folk!"

An example of the internal challenges that these spaces face is represented in a historical project put on by the collective. During The Turret's heyday, local artist Rand Gaynor painted a mural, an image that certain members of the community took umbrage at, and covered it in graffiti. The NSCAD Queer Collective has brought back the mural, along with the graffiti. The mural's resurrection is also part of the Khyber's 125th anniversary.

For more information on the roundtable discussion, check out the Facebook event page.