NY Transpeeps Medicaid Coverage Hopes Crushed

Well, the dissing of New York state's trans population continues. 

Just as hopes of Empire State transpeople were buoyed by the possibility of them getting Medicaid coverage for transgender medical care was raised by a September 30 report stating a task force studying ways to revamp the system was considering doing so, those hopes were crushed by that same New York Medicaid advisory panel.

New York State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah says that no consideration is being given to using government Medicaid funds to pay for "gender reassignment surgery."

Note to Health Commissioner Shah:  Transpeople do pay taxes in NY state, so those government funds you speak of do come from work that was performed by trans New Yorkers.

The working group for Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Task Force had proposed to "provide Medicaid coverage for transgender surgery/hormone replacement therapy and treatment."

You really need to, in light of the fact these Medicaid exclusions on trans related medical care  disproportionately impact trans people of color. 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) immediate response was less definitive, saying simply he hadn't yet reviewed any recommendations from the working group.  

Yeah, the governor can be so definitive, bold and ot front with his leadership when it comes to getting same gender marriage passed, but not on GENDA or any issues that affect the Empire State's trans people.

Why am I not surprised?

NY State Considers Medicaid Coverage For Trans Health Care

I would probably hazard a guess that if New York transpeople had their way, they would rather have GENDA as the law of the land in New York State, but if this goes through, we trans people may have a reason to hold up 'Thank You Governor Cuomo' signs like the GL community did recently in the near future.

It'll also be a nice win and something that will benefit trans New Yorkers until the long overdue GENDA law is finally passed.

What I'm talking about is the proposal in New York to "Provide Medicaid coverage for transgender surgery/hormone replacement therapy and treatment."  

The panel advising Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on ways to revamp Medicaid has proposed that the program cover surgery and therapy for transgender New Yorkers.   It was a task force convened earlier this year by Gov. Cuomo to overhaul New York's Medicaid system that paid out $53 billion for medical benefits while cutting costs.  

A panel of medical health care professionals are examining disparities in coverage and will decide next week where the transgender healthcare proposal fits on the list of priorities for the revamped system.   It's just one of the many issues that the panel is pondering  including better data collection, diabetes prevention, low income immigrant health care, and contraception for women of reproductive age.

Back in the early 80's Medicaid systems used to cover transgender care until Janice Raymond's infamous 1980 paper led to the phasing out of that practice and the beginning of trans medical care prohibitions in medical insurance coverage

The American Medical Association supports the proposed change, and the California and Minnesota Medicaid systems already provide coverage for hormone therapy and transgender surgery.  

Ross Levi, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda supports it as well. "The reason the AMA said this is medically necessary is if the transgender can't get services they need to live in the gender they are it leads to depression, suicide attempts, substance abuse," said Levi.. The cost would be a tiny part of the Medicaid budget, a fraction of a percent, and overall could provide a net cost savings, he said.

The change in Medicaid policy could affect thousands of trans New Yorkers and help cut Medicaid costs for their mental health and drug abuse treatment..

Before you trans New Yorkers start celebrating, you may wish to start planning lobbying trips to Albany.

The proposed changes even if favorably recommended  and adopted by the governor and placed in his 2012  budget still needs to go through the legislative process before they can take effect.  

So hint, hint time for y'all to prepare to be agents of your own liberation, and hope and pray it happens for y'all. . Lord knows it would help equalize the trans playing field for low income transpeople.

A New World Trade Center Building Rises On The Site Of The Old Ones

With the tenth anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center rapidly approaching, even in the wake of that tragedy there was not a question in people's minds that rebuilding was going to happen on that site   The contentious question was how and what shape it would take.

A memorial and museum was already in the planning stages and is now under construction with a completion date scheduled for September 11, 2011. 

There is also a new office tower called 1 World Trade Center in the works as well.  It was known until 2009 as the Freedom Tower but the name was changed by the New York and New Jersey Port Authority.

Since then 1 World Trade Center has been steadily rising in the New York City skyline since ground was broken for it in April 2006.  

It is a building cloaked in symbolism.  It will have a roof that is 1368 feet (417 m) high, the same height as the old World Trade Tower One.  It will have an indoor observation deck at the same level as the old building and with the television tower that will top it off, it will be 1776 feet (541 m) high.   1776 was the year the US Declaration of Independence was signed, hence the original name of Freedom Tower.

It wlll not only be a green building, it will be the tallest all office building structure in the world when it is completed in 2013.  1 World Trade Center will also reclaim for New York the title of the tallest building in the United States despite the fact that its roof is 83 feet (25 m) shorter than Chicago's Willis (Sears) Tower.

It will also have some differences due to what happened there in 2001 . It will have biological and chemical filters in its ventilation systems, a extra wide emergency stairs and a staircase exclusively reserved for firefighters and emergency personnel.along with reinforced concrete in stairwells and other critical areas.

To defeat car bombs, the windows on the West Street side will be blast resistant plastic and a 185 foot (56 m) windowless concrete base was added to the original design of the building    The new tower also sits 65 feet (20 m) from the West Street side as opposed to the 25 feet (8 m) ethe old building did. .

So when the memorial ceremonies happen, you'll note that there has been a lot of construction activity going on.  While we'll never forget what happened there and the monument will ensure we don't, the new 1 World Trade Center building rising from the destruction that was visited upon that site on that chaotic and terrifying morning signifies to the world that we got up from the symbolic blow that was struck that day.

Just Say No To Rivers Of Honey Transphobia

TransGriot Note: Received this from a friend of mine involved in the New York TBLG/SGL POC community and I'm signal boosting it.  Seems like the disco era hate on trans people attitudes prevalent for decades in the white radical lesbian feminist community are trying to take root in the POC community, and people ain't havin' it.


Rivers of Honey is a women-centered monthly cabaret at WOW Café Theatre in NYC. Since it began in 1998 Rivers has served as a major cultural institution, a launch pad for artists and producers whose work might never have been seen and celebrated in mainstream venues, and a vital, queer-centric POC community space.

In August 2011, a small and closed Rivers of Honey team stated the cabaret is now a "platform for womyn of color, defined as female-bodied individuals." Under this new policy trans women are no longer welcome to produce or perform. Trans men and other female-assigned gender non-conforming people are still welcome provided they identify with the "female-bodied" women's only space.

For the past 8 of Rivers’ 13 year existence, trans women, trans men and gender non-conforming people have all been welcomed to be a part Rivers of Honey. Until recently, language inclusive of all women and trans folks has appeared on Rivers of Honey fliers, the WOW website, and Facebook and MySpace pages. A Rivers of Honey mission statement that was collectively written and agreed upon in August 2009 states that: "Rivers of Honey is a monthly women's cabaret featuring queer and trans artists of color."

Questions about how these decisions were made, requests for clarification, and objections to the policy have been met with silencing, dismissal, and the refusal of further discussion.

Rivers of Honey is an important institution for our community. We love and value it deeply and therefore do not wish to see it replicate the trans misogyny and transphobia we struggle so fiercely against in our larger society.

***WHY SHOULD I CARE?***

1. The exclusion of trans women of color from the women's space of Rivers of Honey is an act of trans misogyny – a form of transphobia directed specifically against trans women. Such exclusion is part of a damaging pattern of discrimination that contributes to the already tremendous degrees of bigotry, harassment and violence that trans women of color face.

2. The current language is not truly inclusive of trans men and gender non-conforming people of color. Just as the current language implies that trans women are not truly women, it also implies that trans men and gender non-conforming people are, in the end, actually women despite their own self-identification. In both cases, people are being robbed of their agency to define their own identities.

***WHAT WE WANT***

We, queer and trans people of color, community members, past performers, producers and audience members want to see:

1. Rivers of Honey reject trans misogyny and include all women of color equally, whether they are cisgender women or trans women;

2. If trans men and gender non-conforming people of color continue to be welcomed as performers at Rivers of Honey, the language of Rivers of Honey should be changed to "a space for all women, trans men and gender non-conforming people of color";

3. Rivers of Honey return to its longstanding tradition of being an open, accountable, and collectively-run space where dialogue is encouraged, disagreement is allowed, and decisions are made in an open, transparent, and community-inclusive manner.

***HOW TO GET INVOLVED***
We ask our community members and allies to join us in voicing your opinions and concerns. We offer these ideas for participation:

***DISTRIBUTE WIDELY ***
Share this note with your communities, families, colleagues, and friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, personal blog, etc.

***ENDORSE THIS LETTER*** .
Visit http://riversofhoneycommunity.com/endorse to publicly endorse and support this letter. Both individuals and organizations can endorse!

***LET CURRENT PRODUCERS KNOW YOUR OPINION***

If you choose not to attend or perform at Rivers of Honey because of these changes, or if you attend or perform but disagree with or have questions about these changes, please voice your questions/concerns to the current producers at riversofhoney@gmail.com

***JOIN US HERE ON FACEBOOK*** .
Show your support by RSVP'ing to this event! It will be updated to take place at the same time as each monthly Rivers of Honey until the policy of trans inclusion is reinstated. Updates about actions related to trans inclusion at Rivers will also be sent to folks who RSVP to the event.

2011 Williams Watch-US Open Starting

My favorite tennis playing siblings are playing in the last Grand Slam tournament of the 2011 tennis season at the  US Open in New York.   They are only playing women's singles in this one probably to the relief of the women's doubles competitors.

They are thankfully on opposite sides of the draw once again, with Serena on the side of the draw that contains current world number one player and number one seeded Caroline Wozniacki.     

Serena hasn't played her opening round match yet, bit the unseeded Venus has gotten her US Open play off to a successful start yesterday by winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 against Russia's Vesna Dolonts.  26th seeded Little Sis has an opening round match with Serbia's Bojana Jovanoswski.

The US Open continues through September 11, and it would be nice to see them be the last women standing on that day.

Suspect In Camila Guzman Killing Arrested

Have some good news to report in the Camila Guzman case.

25 year old Equan Southall, the reported boyfriend of Guzman for the last four months, was arrested and charged with her murder

As of yet NYPD has not reported a motive for the killing, but I'll be passing along info on this case as I receive it.

Guzman moved to the United States from Chile nine years ago in order to be able to transition, and was recently memorialized by local activists and friends outside her east Harlem home last week in a vigil organized by the Anti-Violence project.

"She came to the United States and she was herself. She lived her dreams," said M. Dru Levasseur, transgender rights attorney for Lambda Legal at the Guzman vigil. "And she should not have been killed for that."

Damn right she shouldn't have been.   May Camila receive justice for what was done to her.    

Another Transwoman Killed-This Time In Harlem

Harlem is the legendary and historic heart of New York City for African Americans, but unfortunately it is also the place where Camila Guzman died.

Camila was found brutally murdered in her Harlem apartment on August 1 and as you probably guessed, the tabloids and the news media there are exhibiting their usual sterling journalism in reporting this story.

"Camila's friends and the transgender community overall are not happy with her portrayal in the news. As transgender people, we feel alone and like we're invisible targets for violence," said Ruby Teresa Chavez, friend of Camila Guzman. "We deserve respect and increased advocacy around the prevention of anti-transgender violence."

This comes in the wake of Lashai Mclean's murder in Washington D.C., and literally a day after someone attempted to shoot another DC African-American transwoman a block from the same area where Lashai was killed but fortunately missed.

I'm also troubled by the news that a longtime radfem hater of this community, Cathy Brennan along with Elizabeth Hungerford submitted a paper to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women that advocates denial of basic civil rights coverage to transwomen.

But back to Camila's story.


"We are saddened and troubled by the death of another member of our community," said Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. "This horrible murder further underscores the violence transgender people, and particularly transgender women of color, face in their daily lives. Our thoughts and prayers are with Camila Guzman's family and friends."

Indeed they are.