Toronto, Canada
— The Ontario government has been ordered to
cover the costs of sexual realignment surgery (SRS) for
three transsexuals left stranded when the Tories delisted
the service in 1998.
In an interim ruling this
week, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario
<http://www.hrto.ca/>
found the province discriminated against them based on a
disability when it cut SRS funding on Oct. 1,
1998.
Diagnosed with "gender
identity disorder," an internationally recognized medical
condition, Martine Stonehouse, Michelle Hogan and a third
complainant known only as A.B. were patients at the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health's Gender
Identity Clinic in Toronto on the day funding ended.
No Final
Decision
They were part of its
transition program so they could receive the clinic's
recommendation for SRS. This was the only clinic in
Ontario that had an arrangement with OHIP for
sex-reassignment surgery and the supporting
services.
The tribunal found that
delisting SRS had a disproportionate adverse impact on
the complainants, as they had already spent years in the
transition process.
There was a
"grandfathering"clause, but it only covered those
individuals who'd already been recommended for surgery.
Given how far along each of the complainants were, the
tribunal said they should have been grandfathered as
well.
Hogan is encouraged by
the ruling, but has no idea what the final decision will
contain. It's also unclear when it will come, which is
why this was released in the interim.
'Mean-Spirited'
Hogan was already taking
hormone replacement therapy when the government cut its
funding, and like A.B., has already had the surgery. She
had to travel to Thailand and pay $15,000. Despite the
government's health care difficulties, Hogan said cutting
programs with a small patient base doesn't make it
better.
"It would have cost a lot
less if they had simply realized their error and
corrected it rather than putting us through six years of
fighting," she said.
Ontario had paid for the
procedure since 1969. It's now the only province that
doesn't.
"The delisting was
mean-spirited," said Egale Canada executive director
Gilles Marchildon. Given the small number of people
involved, he said the province can afford to pay for the
help they need.
