George Smitherman Cares

Next time you have to wait for months to see a specialist in Ontario, or hours for care in an emergency ward, or years for a publicly paid family doctor to accept your application, take a deep breath of tolerance and diversity and think of the tormented victims who have to pay for a sex change out of their own pockets. Rest assured that while you are essentially denied the right to jump the queue, you do get *free* care. The trans community does not however currently enjoy this *right*.


Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman is upset by this injustice. Many of these victims of their body parts cannot afford the operation. Activists are quick to remind us that the inability to transform their bodies to fit their mental image results in depression, violence and even suicide. All the more reason for the government to reinstate funding for sex change operations.

Health Minister George Smitherman said Wednesday he has an obligation to consider the health of every resident in the province, and re-enlisting sex change operations is something the Ontario Human Rights Commission has repeatedly called for.

About 10 people a year in Ontario undergo the surgery, which would cost OHIP about $200,000. Smitherman said the figure can easily be covered in the government's $40-billion health care budget.

"It's something that's always been a matter of consideration for me," the minister said of having the government pay for the operation.

"As a representative for the riding of Toronto-Centre, I tend to know more of these (transgendered) folks than most other people would, so my level of awareness, I suppose, informs me perhaps a little more personally."

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo also says the surgery improves people's lives.

"It's a minority that suffers greatly -- they have a huge high rate of suicide, depression," DiNovo said.

"It's a community that's beset by violence. This is the trans life in our community and we should do everything we can to make their life easier." (CTV)

cp: London Fog and Dust My Broom. We care too!