Alberta delists gender reassignment surgery
ALBERTA / Program cost only 19 cents per Albertan each year
Xtra.ca staff / National / Thursday, April 09, 2009
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The Alberta government delisted funding for gender reassignment surgery this week, and trans activists are quickly organizing to push for the program's reinstatement.

In Tuesday’s budget, the province announced it was cutting the GRS program to save $700,000 a year. Alberta plans to spend $12.9 billion on healthcare in 2009, according to figures released this week. The GRS program funded surgeries for between 10 and 20 people a year.

The decision to end the GRS program comes just weeks after the province said it would add sexual orientation but not gender identity to the province’s human rights legislation.

Activists have taken to the web to organize. A Facebook group, Reinstate Gender Reassignment Surgery Funding in Alberta, was created on April 8 and now has over 600 members.

Members of the group are urging anyone who has started the transitioning process to file a human rights complaint on the grounds of "gender," "physical disability" or "mental disability."

It’s unclear if those already on a waiting list for surgery will have their surgery funded. Some members of the Facebook group say they have been told by Alberta Health that only people who are part way through surgery will be “grandfathered.”

Others are starting a letter-writing campaign to provincial politicians. The annual cost of the surgery breaks down to about 19 cents for every Albertan, so activists are sending 19 cents in pennies to their MLAs to demonstrate that the program does not have a high price tag.

There is also talk of demonstrations in Edmonton and Calgary, but no dates or details have been set.



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Reader Comments


 
Your kidding me!
Ummmm Ya ok, lets do that before Chiropractic services etc are re-instateted... give me a break... Special interest again... How about re-instating services a good percentage of people use... When will logic win.
alex, Calgary Alberta
04/09/09 4:40 PM EST
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Values
This just goes to show what little value Alberta places on its trans citizens. If this was about any other rare condition, or minority-related condition, they wouldn't have dared. But because being trapped in the wrong body is a joke to some people, they felt OK to delete it. Pathetic.
Randy, Windsor Ontario
04/09/09 5:36 PM EST
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an ideological decision
It cost such a relatively tiny amount a year its hard to imagine its about saving money instead of ideological reasons. Perhaps the cut is designed to reassure social conservatives in Alberta that just because they finally added sexual orientation to their HR code they weren't going that far progressive and showed it by making this cut. Just because its a relatively rare problem is no reason not to fund it, I doubt anyone would argue against funding treatment for any other rare health problem. Trans folk seem to have it harder in society as a whole than any other sexual minority, this cut will just make their lives that much harder for no good reason.
Rich, Toronto Ontario
04/09/09 5:48 PM EST
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There are kidding you!
I can see how gay people can relations with each other,but how can somebody think that they are a women or a man,it is just insane and then change there body phisacly,what next will they make pedophilia legal,what it called polygamy?
Paul, Edmonton Alberta
04/09/09 9:55 PM EST
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??
I am a skinny guy caught in a fat mans body, can I get my lipo free too?
Calgary, Calgary Alberta
04/09/09 11:46 PM EST
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eugenics
i would pay 19 dollars a year to bring back alberta's eugenics program so we can just sterilize them instead.
joe, calgary alberta
04/10/09 2:07 AM EST
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thank you Alberta rednecks
you're a credit to the stereotype of Albertans as a backwards people. Joe: keep your 19 bucks and just give your 19 cents. you are clearly too ignorant to realize it, but we very happily end up sterilizing ourselves via either hormone or hormone blocker medications and/or one of the surgeries you seem to object so cleverly to seeing funded. it's kinda inherent to the process, so you're all covered there. and I must say, you're a real sharp knife and clever boy for wanting to pay 19 bucks for something that only needs to cost you 19 cents. you're smarter than me: what is that? 1000 percent markup? 10,000 percent? *applauds joe for his brilliance and sharp wittedness* you should be fuckin' finance minister!
Hagglepuss, here, there and everywhere
04/10/09 3:22 AM EST
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I paid my 19 cents !!!!?!?!!?!
GRS isn't like pedophilia or poligamy & by the way the surgery does leave one sterile. I have been dealing with this since I was 3 years old. On top of being blessed as trans I also have a photographic memory. I have been living with this, seeking out a resolution for almost 3 DECADES. I was lucky enough to buy a $22 million lottery ticket and unfortuneatly lost it. I moved here as a last resort. I have a decent job, pay my taxes, and am still a virgin - waiting til after surgery. I was down to DAYS away when I again lost everything.
Jessica, The big City Alberta
04/11/09 4:55 AM EST
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Stop Complaining
Whether or not trans-gendered individuals are psychologically damaged is not the issue under discussion. No one is saying they can't have their surgery, but if it is that important to them, they should pay for it themselves and not force everyone else to pay for it. It may be a small amount, but if 100 special interest groups all use that argument, it is no longer small. They lost my support when they started screaming discrimination. I am sure many of them do face ridicule, that comes with human nature. But... It is not discrimination or racism to believe that you should be willing to sacrifice for things that are important to you. Not fair you say? Get a grip, life is not fair and you are "entitled" to nothing except what you work for. So stop attacking people whose only crime is having a strong sense of accountability and not agreeing with your take on life (sound familiar?). Public funds should be restricted to life-saving services - a difficult enough concept to define I will admit - there is nothing to say people need this surgery to live full lives, just that they "want" it to be happy and "self-actualised". You want to be happy? Work and pay for it like the rest of us. Otherwise you won't appreciate it's true value.
Loose Cannon, Mississauga Ontario
04/11/09 10:46 AM EST
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amazing
Some of these comments are truly astonishing. Sex reassignment surgery is recognized as medically necessary -- let's review that: medically necessary, not cosmetic, not optional, necessary -- by the American Medical Association (which restated its support as recently as June of last year), the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, all of the Canadian counterparts, and the World Professional Association on Transgender Health. It's recognized as essential because rates of poor social function, mental illness, suicide, and other sequelae are very high among trans people who need but are denied access to surgery. It ought to be enough that it is medically necessary; when you add to that the fact that due to discrimination many trans people have difficulty finding work, and also that no Canadian province will currently change your legal gender until you have some sort of surgical intervention (thereby causing legal problems of all sorts), saying "Just save up for it!" is beyond callous. This is Canada, these are Canadian people, and we're supposed to have Medicare coverage for medically necessary procedures.
Matt, Verdun QC
04/11/09 10:59 AM EST
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definition
Medically Necessary: I will die in xxx days if I don't get this surgery. Not Medically Necessary: I will kill myself if you don't give me what I want. Ethically Necessary: Counseling and coping programs to help people work through their problems.
more beer needed, Edmonton Alberta
04/11/09 11:14 AM EST
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totally reasonable
I think Alberta's government decision was totally rational, considering that gender re-assignment is an aesthetic surgery, and NOT a vitally important life saving procedure, I'm all for taxpayer's funded health care not paying for it. Let those with gender issues (who would be gay if not for their own issues of self importance)pay for it themselves.
Jason Lawrence, Ladysmith BC
04/11/09 2:04 PM EST
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Speak fitly or be silent wisely
"Let those with gender issues (who would be gay if not for their own issues of self importance)pay for it themselves." The fact you're not aware that trans people come in all sexual orientations, because gender identity and sexual orientation are fundamentally different, is a pretty good indicator of the value of your comment as a whole.
Matt, Verdun QC
04/11/09 5:06 PM EST
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Wow
"Medically Necessary: I will die in xxx days if I don't get this surgery. Not Medically Necessary: I will kill myself if you don't give me what I want." So what you're saying is that you know better on this medical and psychiatric issue than the medical and psychiatric professionals who compose American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, all of the Canadian counterparts, and the World Professional Association on Transgender Health. I'll advise the Nobel committee.
Matt, Verdun QC
04/11/09 5:22 PM EST
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SRS provides safe treatment!
It’s really disheartening to see so many uninformed, misleading, discriminatory comments on this page with regards to trans persons and SRS. What’s worst, Alberta seems to have jumped on the bandwagon that categorically prevents coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder when the majority of these treatments (breast augmentation or removal, hormone therapy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy, and salpingectomy) are covered for other medical conditions. It’s disconcerting that so many folks can’t see the blatant discrimination of rejecting health insurance to cover surgical, hormonal, psychiatric therapy based on gender-identity. Further, has anyone even considered the difficulty of “paying it for yourself” if finding appropriate employment is limited because of the pervasive transphobia that exists in our workplaces and societies. SRS provides safe treatment for persons with grave health conditions. How dare we take that away from them.
Lali Mohamed, Toronto Ontario
04/11/09 11:09 PM EST
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Anyone really surprised
I find it interesting that some of the ignorant comments made here have not been posted with a name on them. And as for the gay men who have posted such comments, might I sudjest they crawl back into the closet, and never look at or touch another man as long as they live, then tell me what is or is not nesessary.......
S.Wilson, Calgary Alberta
04/12/09 12:49 PM EST
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Alberta Rednecks!!
I am disgusted with the right-wing diatribe emanating from that fascist place we call Alberta. I never knew that they would be that ignorant and intolerant. Thank God, we don't have those attitudes down our way. Glad to be a proud gay Newfoundlander!!
Kieran Earles, Mount Pearl Newfoundland
04/13/09 2:29 PM EST
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Medical procedure, not cosmetic or aesthetic
If a cisgender male gets into an accident and his penis is damaged, public health care will cover the cost of reparative surgery. If a cisgender woman has her vagina torn during childbirth, public health care will cover the cost of reparative surgery. That's exactly what GRS is to transsexuals; not cosmetic, not aesthetic, but reparative surgery to correct a mistake. Why are we refused coverage for this medical procedure when others in our society are not? Subconscious sex (which some call "gender identity") is fixed within the brain, and cannot be changed through therapy; the only procedure with any demonstrable rate of success is a physical reconstruction of the body, which often includes GRS. It is far more effective than psychotherapy, and over the long term, much more cost-efficient. Most people accept that their sexuality is innate, so why can't they also accept that subconscious sex might be as well? There was a time when people thought that homosexuality could be "cured" by therapy (some religious conservatives still do) but this has largely been rejected by science and common sense; why do people still think therapy will somehow "cure" transsexuals? We're not asking for special treatment or special interest - we're demanding equal access to the health system, which we've been denied for decades. The next time someone says that it's cosmetic, imagine your genitals were badly damaged or defective, through no fault of your own, and your doctor told you, "Oh, we won't cover that. It's only cosmetic, so if you want to fix it, pay for it yourself. But why don't we send you to therapy instead, to make you feel better about it?" Now do you understand what we go through?
Nikki, Etobicoke ON
04/13/09 5:02 PM EST
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its not only an Alberta problem
I'm sure most trans folk would agree that ignorance and bigotry is a serious problem for them wherever they live, its just that Alberta has a socially conservative gov't that has no sense of morality and is willing to play politics with the lives of any minority that suits its political agenda at the time. Social conservatives are almost always immoral hypocrites with no sense of shame, they like to pretend they're morally superior to others but their actions tell another more revealing story. I wasn't surprised to see some complain that they're being "attacked" for being bigots as if bigotry towards sexual minorities was something to be proud of, actually I think they forget that these are real people with real lives and instead see sexual minorities as some sort of abstract issue to be debated like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Well we're not abstract issues, we're real people and the bigots have nothing to say about whether our lives are meaningful or not, I still can't believe they think they know more about me and other sexual minorities than we know about ourselves. Let us not forget that just because gays and lesbians have achieved legal equality it doesn't mean other sexual minorities have or that we are anywhere near achieving social equality, that's still a long way off and we must not stop the fight for equality until the humanity of all sexual minorities is fully recognized by society at large.
Rich, Toronto Ontario
04/14/09 12:42 AM EST
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Arrogant Toronto
Typical arrogant Torontoinan. Thinks that he knows more than we do. I am sick of Eastern Canadians, criticizing us. Quit being so jealous it's not our fault that you rely on us and our conservative government for transfer payments to keep your artsy socialist paradise's from going under. Have some respect for the people that support your economies and give you the ability to be an anti-establishment beat-nick. That said, Trans people have the right to be free from violence and all forms of discrimination. Just like every other Canadian. But being free from discrimination does necessarily mean that the government has to pay for their surgery. Especially since the surgery itself does not necessarily free a person from discrimination.
Conservative gay, Edmonton Alberta
04/14/09 2:41 AM EST
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Orphan Gordie loves Trans Peoples
I just wanted to tell u all , I love the Trans People in our world , Of course I love you too , and YouTube ! So is the Alberta Government blaming this cut back on the economy ? It's just cruel and cold hearted to not cover this medical procedure I'am your friend ! Yes I'am YouTube's Orphan Gordie
Orphan Gordie, Vancouver BC
04/15/09 12:07 AM EST
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Typical Arrogant Conservative Gay
"conservative gay" If the government in Alberta had it's choice you wouldn't even have rights, let alone the right to equal marriage. Just how long did it take to have sexual orientation added to the Code? As for the right to equal health care, which is really what this is about, all people should have that right but what you are saying is, everyone but people that are transexual. Until you are there pushing, and your government doing the same, to stop paying for self inflicted injuries, sports/hobby/past time related then maybe you should give your head, the one on your shoulders, a shake. Maybe they need to stop paying for the treatment of STIs like the human papilloma virus too? After all if you don't have sex you can't get it. Or lung cancers on people that smoke, skin cancers on people that live or work in the sun. How about heart transplants for people who live unhealthy lifestyles? Lets just stop funding anything that can be prevented? Course that would still leave funding for people that are transexual since that can not be prevented, is not a choice and allows the person to live a full healthy and tax paying lifestyle. Like you they pay taxes and deserve to have what they pay medically help their lives too.
femme, T O ON
04/15/09 1:38 PM EST
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I never said it was about choice
You can not compare medical interventions for physical injuries or physical illnesses to trans people's gender reassignment surgery, because the there NOTHING physically wrong with the person to begin with. We're not talking about ill people or injured people, we are talking about people who's bodies are fine. The only way that government coverage of this surgery can be legitimized is if you use the argument that Transexual people have a MENTAL ILLNESS (as outlined by the DSM) and that it can only treated with the surgeries. Now this is where the problem is. If Transexualism is a Mental illness then yes, public funds should be used, if it's not and there's nothing wrong with them then why should we use public funds to pay for their surgeries? I don't believe that Transexual people are mentally ill. Gender, gender identities and gendered behaviors have nothing to do with "biological sex" and are not inherent to any individual. If a person identifies as another gender or no gender or more than one gender then they have the freedom to do that and be free from violence and discrimination (gender identity needs to protected under human rights legislation). Trans people can still get the surgery if they want (because not all of them do) but the surgeries involved do not need to be payed for by the public. There are other options like, creating a private health care system along side the public one or maybe interest free government financing for the operations.
Conservative gay, Edmonton Alberta
04/15/09 6:59 PM EST
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Health Care Goes Beyond The Physical
Conservative Gay writes "You can not compare medical interventions for physical injuries or physical illnesses to trans people's gender reassignment surgery, because the there NOTHING physically wrong with the person to begin with." Wait a minute here. Mental health is a part of the picture here too. The WPATH Standards of Care is quite explicit about the medical need for surgery in severe cases of GID. ( see section X of http://wpath.org/Documents2/socv6.pdf ) Second, with regards to physical issues, there is a growing body of evidence that links transsexualism to a series of factors in the structure and organization of the brain. Thirdly, I'm not buying the "fund something everybody uses" argument - it's false logic. I don't "need" funding for , that's not the point. It's an insurance plan - that means that we pay into it, and those who need it, draw from it. We fund treatment for all sorts of extremely rare conditions - many of which are not directly fatal in their own right.
Michelle, Calgary AB
04/17/09 4:31 PM EST
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Obviously you did not read my comment...
I said, "If Transexualism is a Mental illness then yes, public funds should be used". THAT IS THE PROBLEM!!! By publicly funding these surgeries we as a society are saying that Transexual people are abnormal and have a DISEASE THAT MUST BE FIXED. By publicly funding these surgeries we are saying that gender and gender norms are tied INEXORABLY to a persons biology and that any deviation from what society considers "normal gendered behavior" is wrong and needs to be corrected. As much as people in the GLBTQ community don't want to admit it, Gender identification, Gendered behaviors, Gender norms and Gender in general, have NOTHING to do with inherent biological characteristics. Gendered variations in the structure of the brian are due to SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND INDIVIDUAL LIFE EXPERIENCES. This DOES NOT mean choice, nobody chooses to be Transsexual, Transgendered, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual etc. BUT if the GLBTQ community is truly "normal" the way we profess to be, then that means we DO NOT NEED SPECIAL MEDICAL treatment to FIX US AND CURE US. We are already "normal". DON'T confuse this with treating diseases like HIV or injuries from a bashing, because that's not what I'm talking about. Those types of things can happen to anyone. The bottom line is that we can't have it both ways, either we are "normal" or we aren't.
Conservative gay, Edmonton Alberta
04/17/09 5:46 PM EST
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reading you loud and clear
Conservative Gay: read up on the 'work' of John Money and what he did to David Reimer in hopes of proving the proposition you've advanced (i.e. the gender is all socially constructed BS.) Tragic story, arising from a tragically flawed theory. the book As Nature Made Him by John Colapinto is a good source on this particular story. Bottom line: gender may well be a mix of "nature" and "nurture" but it is most assuredly not a pure matter of nurture as you suggest. If it could be thought away, willed away, conditioned away or punished away...I wouldn't have transitioned. And David Reimer would be alive today.
Shannon Blatt, Vancouver BC
04/17/09 8:06 PM EST
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There is a Difference
Conservative Gay: Although transfolk share common political cause with the GLB, when it comes to our medical needs, we aren't in the same game. Transsexuals require significant access to medical treatment to reach where we need to be. I'd love to not need to transition, but I've tried not to and it failed miserably. The GLB don't require medical intervention to achieve peace - just equality and freedom from discrimination. Frankly, if my therapist and physician need the language of GID in the DSM to convince themselves that they aren't breaking oaths and ethical concerns, that isn't a big deal to me. Access to the medical treatment (physical and mental) that I need is vital to my continued well being. I agree with you on one thing - being trans is natural; but that doesn't alleviate the real need for medical assistance to achieve congruity. Transition is a need for people like me, not a fashion choice.
Michelle, Calgary AB
04/17/09 10:00 PM EST
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Saving money
Okay, the provincial health care annual budget is $12.9 billion, and the program costs $700,000 per year. The amount of money the province will save by cutting the program is equivalent to my saving $1.62 on a $30,000 car. Whee.
Xenon, Edmonton AB
04/22/09 8:18 PM EST
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Arrogantly Wrong
Firstly, Arrogant Gay, I will agree with you that being transexual is not a mental illness. And for that matter history can show people who are transexual have been in societies since the beginning. What is a mental illness is the affects of being transexual, that being the ever increased feeling of depression, hopelessness, despair of being in a body prison. The depression caused by the amount of constant discrimination from so many who would rather not try and understand a grouping of people. The discrimination faced as they loose jobs, homes and even families because they are correcting their bodies to match their brains. One need not be suffering from a disease in order to require medical support. We know that as a fact, not all medical procedures and ops are preformed because of diseases. You seem hell bent on saying that the only way people who are transexual deserve funding is if they are mentally ill, I don't understand that stance as it's illogical. What surgery does do for people that are transexual is it allows them the inner peace and sense of well being of not fighting from within themselves.
Femme, Toronto ON
04/23/09 11:06 AM EST
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And Wrong
NO by publicly funding you as a society recognise that people who are transexual understand their own needs and as such are equal partners in their own health care and in what they need in order to live a better life. Each human being at one time or another needs some sort of medical treatment, whether that be to fix a broken bone to treating a cancer, so that that person may life their life to the best of all possibilities. That does not mean a person is not normal, whatever normal is, but rather they need medical support in their lives. I wonder what your views are on forced assignments of infants who are intersex? These surgeries are done, not because the infant has a say or a problem for that matter but rather because the "professionals: say the child will be better off. Many of these children as adult find themselves having to then go through the process to fix the mistakes made on them against their own consent, In effect these people are created transexual. That being because when a child is born it is felt they must have an assigned gender, male or female. So then would you also deny these people, many only learn of these operations much later in life, of funding too? If people who are transexual are to be truly treated as equal beings then they must also be permitted equal access to whatever medical health care that is needed by them to live a healthy life.
Femme, Toronto ON
04/23/09 11:09 AM EST
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And Wrong
Clearly you have but a slight understanding of what people who are transexual live if this is your feeling. Well first it's not the gender which is reassigned, gender is hard wired, within the brain and can not be changed. That said if one's brain is of a female gender and their outward genitals are male, then I'd have to say there clearly is something physically wrong. True for some it's not full the case and they live well either cross dressing or even as a third type of being, but still for others fixing the body is the only way they can continue. Science continues to prove this more and more as more studies are done on this subject. Arrogant gay, not sure but sounds more that you are just afraid of some how being called abnormal or maybe afraid someone will seek the gay gene. Thanks for the laugh. Having been in Alberta, and seeing what a mess it is now financially, Hospitals with some of the worst wait times in Emerge., worse doctor shortages, over priced homes and housing, I can't see anyone being jealous
Femme, Toronto ON
04/23/09 11:11 AM EST
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Mankind evolves slowly
I long for the day when mankind (and government) can find the compassion to try to educate themselves and understand what it is to be a transgendered person. History has shown us that compassion for people comes slowly when we do not understand. Perhaps it is the evolution of man to resist what is different for fear of their own survival. In any case, the human race will understand in time as we have in the past with other issues. Frustrating as it is for me in this world, I know, without a doubt, that the day is coming when transgendered people will be recognized as equal in every respect. Sadly, this day will not be in my life time.
Christine, Chilliwack BC
05/22/09 11:44 PM EST
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