Transgender EuroStudy – Legal Survey and Focus ... - ILGA Europe

Transgender EuroStudy:
Legal Survey and Focus on the
Transgender Experience of Health Care
acknowledge there is no known cure, but that transgender medicine and surgery can alleviate a
patient’s distress and anxiety, and often enable them to regain a place in society. Though trans people
have expressed their concerns repeatedly, and are currently lobbying the APA for a revision of the
categorisation in the DSM V, there has yet to be seen a body of psychiatrists coming out on their side.
Trans people have a right under the European Convention on Human Rights not to be
discriminated against and this would include access to anything that might prevent a loss of their
rights to private and family life. Similarly a right exists under Community law to freedom of movement,
which includes movement to access health care. A few Health Authorities in the UK have already
funded (female to male) trans men to have surgery overseas in Belgium where the team at the
University of Ghent Hospital are considered amongst the best for phalloplasty surgery. Similarly, trans
men in The Netherlands and France also often seek surgical treatment in Belgium using their insurance
coverage (Whittle et al, 2005). But these opportunities have rarely been taken up because they
generally require the patients to meet travel costs and supplementary hospital costs which, for
example, rebut the UK’s NHS concept of free healthcare at the point of access. Trans people, who from
the evidence of the data analysis for this report are almost all economically and socially disadvantaged
for the transitional periods of their lives, are rarely able to meet the costs of taking up such
opportunities.
One of the most frustrating aspects of the EU for trans people has been its failure to ensure that
Member States are meeting their obligations under the directives, regulations, policies and case law.
As one trans woman said:
“who do they think we are, have they ever bothered to look at our demographic, do they not
know we are poor and have very little spare cash for the luxuries in life such as justice” 69
Put simply, whatever is said in the meeting room is often blatantly ignored in the corridors.
Since the ECJ decision of P v S and Cornwall County Council in 1996, no country other than the
respondent country has taken action to ensure protection exists in the workplace. Without
enforcement, and punishment if necessary, many States and employers will continue to ignore the EU
legislations and the protection they offer to trans people.
As European citizens, it is now time for trans people to be considered fairly in healthcare which
is a major part of the possibility of leading a successful life. National and European prioritisation needs
to be given to finding new ways of meeting trans people’s medical needs. Though the challenges
presented are great, the EU has the unique ability to provide a leadership role by standardising a high
level of service agreements throughout the Member States, by facilitating the continuing education of
practitioners and policymakers, and by creating equalities strategies that put the needs of transgender
and transsexual people at the forefront.
69
To Prof. Whittle in
conversation in October
2007 at the UNISON
Road Show, Manchester.