"Sparks underwent surgery to become a woman last year in Thailand because she couldn't afford it in the United States."
I won't touch the political aspects of this.
I just gotta say that if your DNA says you're male, you're male, no matter if you snip your dick away and take hormones.
If you dye your hair from brown to blonde, you're still a brown haired dude by nature. You just artifically coloured your hair.
This is a non life threatening thing. It is essentially cosmetic surgery. That, to me, should make it clear that the bill shouldn't be passed to someone else.
Sandman, from a purely medical point of view, there are very few medical arguments suggesting it is a necessary medical preocedure. If you venture into the world of psychiatry (which admittedly is part of medicin) one might get some support, but even then the MEDICAL response would not be to chop off someone's genitals but instead use medication to control depression or whatnot that someone confused about their gender can get into.
I have yet to see one case where a gender change has been a physical medical necessity. In fact, the adverse effects (both mentally and physically) of such a procedure are well documented.
I say let people do to their bodies what they want, but then they have to pick up the price tag themselves. I don't have any quarrels with people who do the gender shift thing and think it should be up to them. Letting someone else pick up the bill for it is just wrong in my book though.
Otherwise you'll end up having to pay for any eventual tattoo I get. Or Oprah's fat removal (liprosuction?) thingy.
Of course cabby makes it a leftist thingy, but he always does.
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Von Santa
Staffelkapitän 9./JG 54 "Grünherz"
"If you return from a mission with a victory, but without your Rottenflieger, you have lost your battle."
- D. Hrabak, JG 54 "Grünherz"
[This message has been edited by StSanta (edited 05-02-2001).]
