[Breathless]

Originally Posted by EnderD_503

I really dislike these comparisons. Do you see the difference between rhinoplasty and SRS? SRS isn't for cosmetic purposes.

It was not meant as a comparison but more as a medical treatment that should be continued once started. I meant no insult what so ever in saying that, as I am one of the biggest supporters when it somes to SRS.
To me this comes down to the US moving toward public healthcare, and if having the state pay for SRS for trans inmates is a step in t hat direction, I don't see the problem. In Ontario, OHIP pays for SRS for those who seek a year's worth of counseling, and I'm not sure I see the problem with that. While it's not perfect (to require counseling, imo, is wrong), it shows a positive step and changing attitudes within the medical community wherein they've begun to see the importance of SRS to the basic health needs of trans individuals.

I agree with you on this, I live in Ontario. However this case is not in Canada, it is in a state that does not cover the bill for the average person. Everyone else has to pay for it, why should someone who is in prision get better treatment then then tax paying working folk?I have huge issues with how we treat our criminals, and we treat our seniors like shit. Where is the fairness in that?

I've known a few transfolks who have been incarcerated in Ontario prisons. You don't get to choose which prison they put you in. I've known people who start off in a male prison, get shifted over to a female prison and back and forth again. Additionally, they were treated very poorly and humiliated by the guards, placed in solitary confinement away from the general population without the basic necessities (warmth, proper food, the courtesy of being told which prison they're in etc.) The prison system, at least over here (and seems to be the same in US), does not seem to know how to deal with trans inmates, and inmates have very little control over where they go. I think it's very easy for someone who isn't trans or who isn't a trans inmate to say "all or nothing," but when you're in the actual situation with your own well-being in mind (given that nobody else seems to have it in mind), and realizing that you have very little control over your own situation, it's an entirely different ball game.

I don't have to be trans to understand how it feels, I have loved someone with all my heart that is. To love someone that much, is to feel their pain, in the most helpless of ways. This is a human rights issue, and should be addressed as such. In the most severe of fashion. I agree that there is definately a lack of information and compassion for our transfolk in the prisions, and it is an absolute shame that there are still so many that act with this much hate towards those of which they do not understand. My all of nothing comment comes from the simple fact that in these situations, I feel that it is sometimes taken advantage of. In the article, there was someone quoted saying that she didn't want to move prisions because she had met partner and been together for 2 years, in my opinion, if you identify as a specific gender, you should be respected on that, however, all the way. I am by no means suggesting that these people be subjected to rape and beatings.