Catch 22

Awhile back I wrote about a trans-woman living in a homeless shelter in Maine, there were complaints about her making the other clients uncomfortable. They said,

But the women who complained said they believe that in at least one case, it was a ruse. They believe one of the people in question is a man who occasionally dresses as a woman to get into the shelter, perhaps for voyeuristic reasons. That person did not have any feminine mannerisms and often dresses in a T-shirt and jeans, sporting a 5 o'clock shadow of male facial hair, they said.

So this leads me to the “Catch 22” people want trans-women to have electrolysis and to be on hormones but for someone living in a homeless shelter that is beyond their financial means and insurance or state assistance does not cover hormones, surgery, or electrolysis. Many people think that insurance shouldn’t cover our medical expenses but at the same time they expect us to integrate in to society.

So that leads me to where I am today, at a meeting on aging. I have been invited to a meeting on developing a policy for trans-seniors and one of my concerns is that they expect us to have hormones, surgery and electrolysis; but that not what they are going to get! I want them to understand that nowhere in the non-discrimination law does it say that you have to have any of those, all it says is “gender identity” not how well you can integrate into society.