March 9, 2007
EMANCIPATED MARIAH
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We couldn't agree more |
Transgender youth in foster care can expect to get proper medical treatment thanks to a recent court decision by a New York State Family Court Judge.
On February 21, the Honorable Sheldon M. Rand of the Family Court of the State of New York issued a groundbreaking decision that deemed gender reassignment surgery “medically necessary” for foster child Mariah Lopez and ordered the Administration for Child Services (ACS) to pay for the operation.
Lopez, now 21, was under the care of the ACS when she filed the suit. The ACS refused to foot the $20,000 bill for the gender-reassignment surgery.
Judge Rand weighed expert testimony from leading researchers in transgender health issues and compassionately ruled that the surgery was essential to Lopez’s health and wellness. Judge Rand also said that delaying the surgery put Lopez at risk for bodily harm, prejudice, and mental health problems.
“Mariah should be treated in order that she may go on with her life and be in a body which blends with the gender with which she identifies,” Rand wrote in his decision. Lopez, who has been taking female hormones since the age of 13, hopes to have the surgery
Advocates hail legal victory
June Brown is the communications coordinator for the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a transgender-rights organization. She applauded the judge’s ruling. “This decision ensures that transgender clients under the care of ACS will get the health care they need and rightfully deserve,” she says.
Housing Works’ Lynn Walker, program director of the Transgender Transitional Housing Program, also lauds the decision: “We now have legal precedent to say gender-reassignment surgery is medically necessary. This may even figure in our favor when trying to persuade insurance companies that this is a legitimate medical cost.”
Walker hopes that the decision will lead to improved health care access for people who receive any kind of public entitlement, such as Medicaid, and are unable to afford gender-reassignment surgery. Walker says even working trans folks often have health insurance benefits that are not adequate for their needs.
Sticking it to the Post
Within days of Judge Rand’s landmark decision, the media attacked. The New York Post criticized the judge for “forcing taxpayers” to pay for the surgery and made transphobic remarks in its coverage, including references to Lopez as a “woman wannabe” and a “He-She.” In response, trans activists have begun a letter-writing campaign to demand that the Post cease its hate-mongering reporting and disrespect of the trans community.
Click here to send a letter of your own to the New York Post.