This "It's Time, Oregon!" (ITOR) press release came to us from the GAIN news service (penn45@ma.ultranet.com). Lori Buckwalter of ITOR can be contacted at transgal@yahoo.com.

PORTLAND, OR. - Portland ABC affiliate KATU-TV opened its hour-long "Town Hall" program on Sunday, May 3, to the debate surrounding inclusion of transitional medical treatment for transsexuals under the Oregon Health Plan.

The Oregon Health Plan serves low-income Oregonians under a scheme which prioritizes treatment according to medical necessity, and limits provision of services by available funding. Transsexuals in Oregon have long advocated the re-examination of the low priority given to gender reassignment procedures, but only recently have taken the issue before the public.

The on-air debate centered around the questions of medical necessity and whether those who were seeking publicly-funded reassignment treatments were expressing a "personal choice" rather than resolving a verifiable medical condition. In addition, a representative of the Oregon Citizen's Alliance, which has posed previous ballot measures to limit sexual minority rights, expressed the position that "gender is genetic and determined at conception".

Transsexuals who appeared before the TV cameras, recounted personal struggles to deal with their misunderstood gender identities, and cited numerous health problems which the lack of prior treatment options had caused them. Their arguments were countered by speakers who were generally sympathetic, but skeptical of their need for treatment, or the state's obligation to provide it.

Lori Buckwalter, Director of It's Time, Oregon!, who sat in "the hot seat" to present trans community positions, spoke of the Oregon public's "compassion, which is limited by their lack of understanding" of transsexual personal and medical issues. She characterized the program as "very positive", in its overall effect. "Finally, there was an opportunity for transsexual people to speak clearly and reasonably to the public, to address directly the arguments against the validity and necessity of medical care which they seek so desperately. Perhaps there is still a long way to go for the majority of Oregon's citizens to fully understand our concerns, but this was an excellent start. I am especially glad that the discussion was very direct without becoming confrontational. I believe this allowed viewers to see that we were real people like them, struggling with an unfamiliar life circumstance."

Back to IFGE Home