Still No Real Movement at the VA

From The Advocate and Autumn Sandeen:
It will likely take a lawsuit  to end the Veterans Affairs policy of denying coverage for gender-confirmation surgery — a procedure currently covered by Medicare. 
Here is an excerpt: "A lawsuit was filed recently that made little news, lost to the headlines of HB 2 and the Department of Education telling America's 13,000-plus school districts that they must accommodate transgender students in accordance with Title IX. This little-heard-of lawsuit was filed by the Transgender Law Center and Lambda Legal, with co-counsel WilmerHale, and in it they've petitioned the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to change the rule that categorically excludes transition-related surgery for transgender veterans.

For a bit of background, in June of 2011, many of us transgender veterans were pretty excited when the VA announced a standardized policy of respectful and affirming delivery of health care for transgender and intersex veterans. The policy required equal access to affirmative basic health care for transgender veterans across every VA facility — which surprisingly wasn't uniform across the country — and that all medically necessary health care for transgender veterans was and still is to be provided by the VA.

Well, almost all medically necessary health care. Under existing VA regulations, transition-related surgeries — also referred to as gender-affirmation surgeries — aren't performed by or paid for by the VA. In fact, VHA Directive 2013-003 (Providing Health Care For Transgender And Intersex Veterans) states under line item 2.b. "[The] VA does not provide sex reassignment surgery or plastic reconstructive surgery for strictly cosmetic purposes."

Being a transgender veteran myself, I'm not holding my breath waiting for change, but who knows?

Transgender Migration (Archive Post)

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Transsexual Migrations

"Kristina was born 33 years ago as a boy, but in her teens she realized she was at odds with her body. She has been thinking of sex change since 16, but not until four years ago, after moving to Germany, did she start doing something about it. In Lithuania, sex change operations are impossible because there are no laws governing them. “I was told I needed therapy, they suggested I had my head examined. There was so much mockery before... About locking me in a mental hospital, testing and curing like a lab rat. But it is not a disease, a person is simply born in a wrong body,” she explains."

For more on Kristina and Lithuanian transgender law, go here.

Just What The Hell Should They Know?

Liz and I went to the first planning session for the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Transgender Day of Remembrance.

I didn't attend last year's because of reasons I don't actually remember, but later I got the sense there were two separate competing events? Partially, I guess, the problem was a cis gender woman was running one and it was way too religious in scope.

It was about that time, I began to tally my own unofficial count in the room and came up with an almost even break down of cis versus trans people. The count included an even break between transgender men and trans women. The HUGE problem I immediately saw was there was only one transgender woman of color in the room and she said she had to be talked into coming after last years event.

I grew quickly bored as the meeting turned into what I call "circular" the same peeps bringing up the same subject endlessly. Plus it was religion. 

Which brings me back to my original question, When does an "ally's" help cease to be help no matter how well intention-ed it is?