12/10/13

Watch the superintendent of the Catholic School Board of Vancouver says transgender youth should be hidden

Doug Lauson superintendent of the Catholic School Board of Vancouver defended his actions which resulted in transgender children being forced out of his school:
"there is a desire for the boy to wear a girls uniform. Once again there is medical research that the child should not be allowed to happen at least in the early years change over to the opposite sex. So some of the research indicates the exploration should occur while in the privacy of the home, while on vacation but not in a public manner. Does the boy change in the girls change room?"


There is no medical research supporting Doug Lauson's religiously founded transphobia. One of the children that Lauson forced out of his school has filled a civil rights complaint against the government. It will be interesting to see the 'medical research' that Lauson supports his transphobic dogma with.

Watch below: Doug Lauson, superintendent of the Independent Catholic School Board of Vancouver, talks about the church’s position on being transgender and the research they are doing on how best to accommodate transgender students in their schools.



Read the full story and watch all of the videos at globalnews.ca/news

12/8/13

Dept of Health and Human Services rules that Medicaid Medicare will not pay for SRS, for now

After thoroughly considering the results from their 2 hour comment period and summarily dismissing empirical proof that sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) is a medical necessity the HHS opted to hunker down with its 1981 ruling calling SRS 'experimental' and problematic.

In the trans advocacy world this is known as the 'we need to research just what transgender means' escape which is inevitably used by conservatives whenever trans inclusive legislation or ordinances are being voted on. Its a sure fire way to kill the bill and in this case stop a measure which would help save lives medically.

Back in April the Advocate reported on how the challenge to HHS's archaic rule began,
The National Center for Lesbian Rights, American Civil Liberties Union, and Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders filed the challenge on behalf of a transgender veteran who was denied gender-reassignment survey after her doctors determined it was medically necessary to alleviate her severe gender dysphoria. 
"Medicare's categorical exclusion of this care lacks any scientific basis," NCLR's legal director, Shannon Minter, said in a statement announcing the challenge. "Study after study has shown that these surgeries are the only effective treatment for many patients suffering from severe gender dysphoria."
"As a result of the administrative challenge, the Department Appeals Board of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must review the ban, determine whether it is reasonable based on current standards of care, and reverse it if it is not," according to the LGBT organizations' release. "Earlier last week, the HHS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services on its own initiative included a statement on its website that it would be reconsidering the ban. [The center] subsequently withdrew its proposal to reconsider the ban and through a spokesperson explained that the ban would instead be reviewed through the independent Department Appeals Board process."
The December 2013 ruling denies Medicare or Medicaid coverage for SRS for the exact same reasons regardless of the proof it is a medical necessity for some trans people.

From the HHS December PDF
"Based on the current record in this proceeding initiated by an acceptable NCD complaint from an aggrieved party, the Departmental Appeals Board (Board) has determined that the NCD (National Coverage Determination) record in this case “is not complete and adequate to support the validity of the NCD” denying Medicare coverage for transsexual surgery “for sex reassignment of transsexuals."

Case Background
The aggrieved party here filed an initial NCD complaint and supporting materials on March 26, 2013 and a supplement on April 18, 2013, and the Board notified CMS of the filing of an acceptable complaint on April 29, 2013. CMS submitted the NCD record on May 15, 2013, and the aggrieved party submitted, on June 14, 2013, a statement of why the NCD record is not complete or adequate to support the validity of the NCD under the reasonableness standard. In addition, six advocacy organizations petitioned for and were granted permission to participate as amici curiae in the NCD review by filing written briefs, which they submitte

tem/Service Description

Transsexual surgery, also known as sex reassignment surgery or intersex surgery, is the culmination of a series of procedures designed to change the anatomy of transsexuals to conform to their gender identity. Transsexuals are persons with an overwhelming desire to change anatomic sex because of their fixed conviction that they are members of the opposite sex. For the male-to-female, transsexual surgery entails castration, penectomy and vulva-vaginal construction. Surgery for the female-to-male transsexual consists of bilateral mammectomy, hysterectomy and salpingooophorectomy, which may be followed by phalloplasty and the insertion of testicular prostheses.

Indications and Limitations of Coverage

Transsexual surgery for sex reassignment of transsexuals is controversial. Because of the lack of well controlled, long term studies of the safety and effectiveness of the surgical procedures and attendant therapies for transsexualism, the treatment is considered experimental. Moreover, there is a high rate of serious complications for these surgical procedures. For these reasons, transsexual surgery is not covered.
­
The NCD directly quotes from or paraphrases portions of an 11-page report that the former National Center for Health Care Technology (NCHCT) of the HHS Public Health 2 NCDs are available at http://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/overview-and-quick­search.aspx?list_type=ncd.


The aggrieved party also argues that the NCD when issued was invalid and unsupported by the NCD record. The aggrieved party argues that the 1981 NCHCT report acknowledged the effectiveness of transsexual surgery in stating that “eight of the nine studies” that “represent[ed] the major clinical reports thus far published” between 1969 and 1980 on the outcome of the surgery “reported that most t ranssexuals show improved adjustment on a variety of criteria after sex reassignment surgery.”7 NCD Record at 17­18. The aggrieved party also argues that the ninth, unfavorable, study on which the 7 The NCHCT discounted these findings on the ground that the eight favorable studies did not meet “the ideal criteria of a valid scientific evaluation of a clinical procedure.” NCD Record at 18.

Conclusion

For the reasons explained above, we conclude that the NCD record is not complete and adequate to support the validity of NCD 140.3, “Transsexual Surgery.” Therefore, as required by the statute and regulations, we will proceed to discovery and the taking of evidence. As stated above, our ruling here does not address the ultimate question of whether the NCD as written is valid under the reasonableness standard in the statute and regulations.

Sometimes the government makes absolutely no sense even to our advocates in DC.




Brittany-Nicole Kidd-Stergis is the second Ohio transgender woman murdered this week

Cleveland resident transgender woman Brittany-Nicole Kidd-Stergis was found shot to death in her car Friday night according to the Plain Dealer. Much to the credit of the Plain Dealer they contacted a local trans advocate who said her murder has all the earmarks of a hate crime.

The police are not saying her murder was a hate crime but have not ruled out the possibility.

This makes two transgender woman murdered in the past week and three recently in North East Ohio.. Just a couple days ago Betty Janet Skinner 52, a disabled trans woman was found beaten to death in her apartment. In January 2012 Cemia Acoff was found tied to a concrete block in a pond. Andre L. Bridges was arrested and later sentenced to life for her murder.


This video was posted by Brittany Dec 4th on facebook
Click here to watch


12/6/13

Disabled Cleveland Transgender woman beaten to death in her assisted living home

CLEVELAND -- Police are investigating a homicide that apparently occurred overnight in a Devonshire Road apartment.

Just after 2:30 p.m. Thursday, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office identified the victim as Betty Janet Skinner, 52, a transgender woman.

Police say that a home healthcare worker found Skinner dead early Thursday morning. The worker had left the apartment about 10 p.m. Wednesday and returned to find her dead in bed with severe head injuries Thursday morning.

Police say Skinner was physically disabled, required assisted living and received regular home health care.

Police say there are no witnesses or suspects at this time and the cause of death will be determined by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner. ~ WKYC.com

Anyone with information regarding this matter is asked to contact the Homicide Unit at 216-623-5464.

Attorney for murderer Rasheen Everett asks for light sentence saying transgender woman Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar's life didn't matter

The callous heartless lawyer for Rasheen Everett appealed to the judge at the sentencing hearing hoping that the judge shared his and his clients belief that all people are human, except transgender people.

New York Post: In a bizarre courtroom speech, a Queen defense attorney said the life of a murdered transgender prostitute wasn’t worth much — and argued that her convicted killer shouldn’t be punished as if he had killed someone “in the higher end of the community.”

“A sentence of 25 years to life is an incredibly long period of time judge,” John Scarpa said Thursday as he asked a judge to go easy on his client, Rasheen Everett, for killing hooker Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar in 2010.

“Shouldn’t that be reserved for people who are guilty of killing certain classes of individuals?”
Then, taking callousness to a new level, he said: “Who is the victim in this case? Is the victim a person in the higher end of the community?”

New York Post reports that Everett snickered during the emotional testimony by Amanda's family even winking at friends as he was led out of court..

Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter scolded Scarpa as he sentenced Everett to 29 years in prison.



VIVIRLATINO : Remembering Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar : “She Wasn’t a Loner, She Wasn’t a Throwaway”

The "bone headed attorney"
So who is this John Scarpa a man who would throw us away like trash?

During the trial he asked Everett's ex why she broke up with him. She told the jury it was because he tried to choke her, beat her up and imprisoned for a week before she got away and she had pictures to prove it with her.

The jury gasped and shook their heads at Scarpa's ineptitude. The New York Post summed up it nicely when they reported about the "Bonehead attorney outs client’s ‘assault’"

Just so you know who NOT to hire the law office of John A Scarpa, Jr.is at 125-01 Queens Blvd, Kew Gardens NY 11415 and his number is (718) 281-2331

You can read the reviews about attorney Scarpa and even write one as long as you aren't receiving freebies from him at YELP.


Video: Ten year old reacts to being told that some "blame" her parents for her being transgender

"I'm taking a stand. It will not happen here without a change in plumbing," said Delta School District 50J board member Kathy Svenson this week.

Svensons isn't backing down. She's demanding that 10 year old girls like Harriette Cunningham be castrated and 10 year old transgender boys be sterilized before she would allow them to attend her Delta Colorado school.

Forced sterilization amounts to nothing less than genocide

Kathy Svenson take a good look at this video. Rethink your morality.


  16x9

ABOVE: Ten year old Harriette was born a boy “Declan”. Never wavering in who she is, Harriette knew early on she was meant to be a girl.
“I’ve always been a girl, even when I was considered a boy,” says ten-year-old transgender child, Harriette Cunningham. “In my dreams I was never a boy.”

Read more at globalnews.ca news