Several years from now, we will likely look back at June 1, 2015 as a transformative day in world history. We could even have it a holiday for it — Caitlyn Jenner Day.
Bruce… Catilyn… err, the person formerly known as Bruce Jenner is now an international hero for transsexuality thanks to his Vanity Fair cover that a range of news outlets decided to show at every possible moment Monday and Tuesday.
Now with Jenner’s bulging photo firmly stuck in our public consciousness, what’s the next step for the transgender cause?
Clearly, the constant display of Jenner’s cover shoot is meant to inculcate acceptance for transsexuals… but what does acceptance actually mean?
WATCH:
It’s commonly understood that acceptance simply means that — accepting transgendered people for their decision to become a different sex and eliminating discrimination against those in transition.
But let’s face it — there’s more to it than that.
If we accept that sexual reassignment surgery is a human right for those who feel they are another gender, should the government ever foot the bill?
If you say no… well, I’ve got some bad news for you: the government’s already paying for it.
Last year, the Obama administration eliminated Medicare’s ban on sexual reassignment surgery. So if you’re on Medicare, you can now get your sex change paid for by Joe Q. Taxpayer.
And it’s not just law-abiding citizens on government health plans that can now get the procedure paid for.
In April, a federal judge in California ordered the state to take on the estimated $100,000 tab for a prisoner — who’s serving time for second-degree murder — who applied for sex-change surgery. The judge said that the state was violating the inmate’s constitutional rights by not providing for it. And this order happened in one of the nine states that bars insurance companies from excluding coverage for the procedure.
The California decision could have wide-ranging implications for America. If a murderer can successfully argue that the government is violating his human rights by not paying for the surgery, what’s preventing a person with more respectable credentials from having the same privilege? Why shouldn’t the government cover anyone who wants the surgery if it’s inhumane to not provide it for our worst criminals?
That’s where acceptance becomes problematic. We live in a country that operates on the principle that people can live their lives the way they best see fit as long as they’re not hurting anyone — including themselves. But with this growing movement of transgender acceptance, there are two serious problems that arise: one, taxpayers may have to pay for surgeries that are not medically necessary; and two, we could be covering a procedure that is absolutely the wrong treatment for individuals who are suffering from a mental disorder.
It will undoubtedly be hard to prove that an individual absolutely needs this operation — and that taxpayers should cover it. Believing that you are the wrong gender is not cancer. It is not AIDS. It is not a physical disease or ailment that puts your life in jeopardy. It is an idea a person has in their head that nature made them wrong. Making taxpayers pay thousands of dollars for a procedure that inmates and those on Medicare don’t need amounts to placing an unfair burden onto the public.
Several mental health professionals still consider wanting to change your gender a disorder that is not cured through a physical operation. For instance, Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former chief psychologist at Johns Hopkins University, wrote in a June 2014 Wall Street Journal column:
“This intensely felt sense of being transgendered constitutes a mental disorder in two respects. The first is that the idea of sex misalignment is simply mistaken – it does not correspond with physical reality. The second is that it can lead to grim psychological outcomes.”
That, combined with a lack of improvement in psycho-social conditions for patients who underwent sexual reassignment, is why McHugh says his hospital stopped providing the service. Furthermore, he said that sex change is “biologically impossible” and turning it into a civil rights issue “is in reality to collaborate with and promote a mental disorder.”
One thing is certain — we can’t change who we are. I cannot demand to be recognized as Julius Caesar just because I feel that I am Julius Caesar. I can act like him and dress like him in public as long as I don’t cross any Rubicons and turn the state of Virginia into my own personal fiefdom. But instead of society celebrating my Roman role play, what I would really need for my well-being is help from trained professionals to overcome my problem.
And that’s probably what transsexuals need rather than surgery: psychiatric help. As a society, we cannot condone our tax dollars going towards a procedure that is unnecessary and not in the best interests of the patient.
If an individual — like Bruce Jenner — wants to spend their own money on expensive surgery, nobody can stop them.
But we can stop our money from being used to pay the price of transgender acceptance.