News

[bottomfeeder]

This article appears in the Jan 8 San Francisco Examiner:
TRANSGENDERED WOMAN SUES HOSPITAL FOR DISCRIMINATION.
A transgendered woman is suing a Catholic hospital in Daly City, (Just south of San Francisco)claiming medical offricials blocked her from getting surgery there because she had  a sex-change operation.
Fifty seven year old Charline Hastings already had one major surgery she needed to become a woman. But she says when she called Seton Medical Center to inquire about breast enlargement surgery, an official told her it wasn't "God's will" for her to get that treatment. Hastings says her plastic surgeon told her Seton wouldn't allow him to operate on transgendered patients there.  

Well I guess we aren't as liberal in San Fran as we thought we were!

[stogie bear]

She's a nutter desperate for attention.

WHO in their right mind and almost 60 considers breast enlargement and then goes to the papers when they can't do it on the day she wants!

It's California, folks. NOT the real world.

[Mr. GRUMPY (Grrr!)]

When Charlene Hastings of San Francisco called Seton Medical Center, a Catholic hospital in Daly City, Calif., about breast-enlargement surgery, she was told, "God made you a man."

Hastings, 57, said she had elected the surgeon at the hospital willing to perform the surgery, Dr. Leonard Gray, the San Jose Mercury News reported. When he was denied the rights, Hastings filed suit against the hospital, challenging its ability to operate according to religious principles.

While she had already undergone the major part of the gender reassignment surgery, she was denied by a surgical coordinator for the breast augmentation, who said the facilities were not to be used for transgender surgeries.

"She kept saying, 'It's not God's will,'" Hastings said. "I could not believe it. It's a blatant case of discrimination."

While state law does allow religious hospitals to refuse to perform abortions, there are no specific exemptions for elective transgender surgery.

Kristina Wertz, legal director of the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco, said this isn't the only such incident. "Seton and other hospitals in the area have put up significant barriers to care for transgender people."

"There's simply no religious exemption in the Unruh Act," Wertz said about California's law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. "We're talking about a type of care that's OK for one class but not another."

"Seton Medical Center provides medically necessary services to all individuals," said Elizabeth Nikels, vice president of communications for the Daughters of Charity, an organization that operates Seton and five other Catholic Hospitals in the area. "However, the hospital does not perform surgical procedures contrary to Catholic teaching."

Hastings's lawyer, Christopher Dolan, said the case not just about the hospital's religious procedures but also about civil rights.

"It is about transgender people being able to use businesses and other facilities on an equal basis as other people. If you took out 'transgender' in the lawsuit and replaced it with 'African-American,' this would be a no-brainer," he said.

The hospital does allow female patients who are not transgender the right to breast-enlargement surgeries. (The Advocate)

More information...

[janabiyah]

Another reaon why the Catholic Church is in such serious decline all over the world.

[Fred_Nguyen]

I'm surprised this morris dancer has not sued someone for denial of infertility treatment at age 60.

[Ladyboy_Loser!]

Welcome to California, particularily the S.F. Bay Area, where if the wind won't blow ya, the men will.

[buttafly]

(stogie bear @ Jan. 09 2008,02:39) It's California, folks. NOT the real world.

Any truth to the rumour that Snick is moving to L.A.?

[Fred_Nguyen]

(PogueMahone @ Jan. 10 2008,00:33) Welcome to California, particularily the S.F. Bay Area, where if the wind won't blow ya, the men will.