San Francisco On Track To Pay For Uninsured Resident's SRS Starting Fall 2013

San Francisco California may soon become the first US city to provide Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS)  to its uninsured residents according to the minutes of  November 6 2012 meeting of the Department of Health.

The City's Board of Supervisors resolution calling for the removal of the exclusion of SRS from the Cities "Healthy San Fransisco" regulations was favorably received by the Health Commission who published this memorandum.

The Health commission has put into motion the machinery necessary to make this happen by publishing a resolution, yet to be approved pending studies, to enable the city Hospital the funding and protocols necessary for this surgery.

This is truly a historical moment in our march towards equality. Major Kudos to all who are making this happen.

As a side note, I hope my city of Fort Worth will take notice of this, since they adopted all of the 20 recommendations made in the wake of the Rainbow Lounge Raid with the exception of one,

Funding for SRS 

Such a missed opportunity! Texas are you going to be OK being 2nd best? There's still time to be the first! Enact all of the 20 recommendations, not just 19!

Class Action Lawsuit To Make Sweden Pay For Decades of Forced Sterilization Of Trans

Its Payback Time in Sweden!
[VIA TGEU'S TRANS-INFO-EUROPE EMAIL LIST]

"A coalition of Sweden's LGBTQ and Trans* organizations have joined forces to bring justice to Trans* and Gender Variant people in Sweden. In an outstanding class action law suite under the leadership of civil rights attorney Kerstin Burman the Swedish Government will finally have to face the cost for the forced sterilizations of Trans* and Gender Variant Swedish citizens who for decades have to undergo sterilization and in order to enjoy the basic human right have their gender legally recognized."

"Attorney Kerstin Burman will represent the claims of well over 100 victims of forced sterilization in Sweden. The Swedish Government has as a result of an earlier legal action accepted to pay compensation to the victims of forced sterilization between 1935 and 1975. The victims were mainly Roma and Traveler women as well as persons with disabilities and single unmarried women with low income. I'm proud to say that I'm joining my fellow Trans* and Gender Variant victims in this legal battle. Finally the time has come for the Sweden to pay for decades of injustice and human rights violations to our people!"

Ms. Maria Sundin
BSc SW

Member of the Board RFSL - the National Federation for LGBT Rights
Co-chair Transgender Europe
WPATH Membership Committee
Global Forum for MSM and HIV - Transgender Reference Group

[11/7/2012]

Source: Yahoo group transgender news message 76395

"In Sweden most transgender individuals are denied the right to change their legal gender. Under the provisions of the present law, Lagen om fastställelse av könstillhörighet i vissa fall ( SFS 1972: 119) only those individuals who have undergone treatment by one of the six regional gender teams will be granted the right to change their birth gender.

According to this law the applicant must be a Swedish citizen, unmarried and sterile and above the age of 18. With the application a statement by the treating psychiatrist must be submitted that the patient meets the criteria in WHO ICD-10 F.64.0 and that this condition has prevailed since the patients youth. This is in effect a stricter diagnostic criteria than that present in the ICD-10." - Transgender Health Sweden

Incredibly, today's enlightened Europe is still the dark ages for trans people as 17 countries STILL require sterilization before one's gender identity is officially recognized.

This is nothing less than genocide.

 AutoStraddle Feb 2012