The dominant story on the front page of Tuesday’s USA Today was incredibly one-sided on “transgender equality.” Above and below a picture of trans man Grayson Russo were the headlines “Some Americans are denied ‘lifesaving’ health care / Because they identify as transgender.”
Right under the headline is a large pull quote to add to the theme:
“These are lifesaving procedures, and to deny somebody a lifesaving procedure is malpractice,” announced Johanna Olson-Kennedy, director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Inside the story she added "It's incredibly problematic to put your own feelings and needs and opinions above the needs of the patient." It's ironic that transgender patients -- whose care is entirely based on feelings, not science -- lecture the so-called troglodytes about relying on their opinions.
Reporter Kristin Lam has composed a perfectly propagandistic package of LGBT advocacy. The story began by comparing the psychological “need” to amputate breasts to a cancerous tumor:
LOS ANGELES – Grayson Russo desperately needs a surgery similar to a double mastectomy.
Although someone with a breast tumor is able to promptly schedule such a surgery, Russo fought more than three years simply for approval.
That's because Russo experiences gender dysphoria, a discomfort or distress caused by a discrepancy between a person’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth. Their exhausting battle is not atypical for transgender people, who account for about 1.4 million American adults, according to a 2016 report by a UCLA think tank, and that's despite organizations such as the American Medical Association recognizing treatment for gender dysphoria as medically necessary.
There is not an uncomfortable whisper of disagreement with LGBT orthodoxy. No one questions that amputations of breasts and penises can be medically (or scientifically) defined as "lifesaving." In fact, the word "amputation" is nowhere employed. A caption on 6A uses the trans euphemism: "Grayson Russo, 23, got approval in November for top surgery but will have to wait for about six months. The words "top surgery" aren't even put in quotation marks.
Everyone Lam cited agrees on the urgency of politically correct transgender policy to break down "barriers to accessing health care."
– Grayson Russo, trans man
– Harper Jean Tobin, National Center for Transgender Equality
– Kimberly Zieselman, interACT advocates for “intersex youth”
– Alex Keuroghlian, diredctor of the National LGBT Health Education Center
– Olson-Kennedy
– Hope Jensen, Transgender Health Coordinator at the Feminist Women’s Health Canter in Atlanta
– Aubrey, 16-year-old who “wanted to omit her last name to avoid further conflict with parents,” who obviously don’t matter to USA Today.
PS: In the longer online version, Lam descends into complete PC pronoun dementia by describing a single person as a They:
Shannon McGinty, 25, of Portland, Maine, drives nearly three hours to Fenway about once a month. Transgender and gender nonconforming, they try to stay at their parents’ place in Massachusetts before or after appointments. The time and cost adds up, but they say traveling is worth it.
Three years ago, McGinty wasn't aware of Fenway or its treatment options. Back then, McGinty’s dysphoria took such a visible toll that their primary care doctor asked them what was going on. Once they shared they were struggling with their gender identity, the doctor gave what McGinty describes as a life-altering recommendation.
[PHOTO CAPTION: Shannon McGinty smiles at a waterfall swimming hole in September 2016, three months after they had top surgery.]
After a couple of months of therapy at Fenway, beginning November 2015, McGinty decided they needed top surgery for their mental health and chose the center for primary care. By April, they got a consultation with a surgeon after finishing the approval process for insurance. The surgery was done in June 2016.
Insurance covered two-thirds of the $10,000 procedure, deeming the remainder as cosmetic.
McGinty takes a birth control injection that suppresses their menstrual cycle.
