Trans Employee Sues Employer For Refusing to Pay $40,000 to Fix ‘Her’ Mannish Face

“Once you start catering to people’s pathologies, it seldom ends well or at a reasonable point.” — John Hawkins

I know it’s kind of a d*ck move to start this article out by quoting myself, but that quote is so applicable here it hurts.

Christina Ketcham, a 59-year-old longtime Clatsop County employee, has already undergone sex reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy. She has also worked with a voice coach and changed her name, clothes and hairstyle to match her gender identity.

Ketcham’s doctors advised that “facial feminization surgery” was the “medically necessary” next step. But Citycounty Insurance Services and Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, which handle insurance for Clatsop County employees, have refused to cover the cost of the surgery, the lawsuit says.

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The procedure could cost as much as $40,000 and include rhinoplasty, reduction of facial bones, a face lift and an eyelid lift, Asaf Orr, one of Ketcham’s lawyers, told The Oregonian.

…“Ms. Ketcham continues to be perceived by others as male,” according to the suit. “Her facial features and the shape of her face frequently lead others to call Ms. Ketcham ‘sir,’ ‘mister’ or ‘he-she,’ and to treat her as a man.”

The reason people keep thinking “Christina Ketcham” is a man is that he’s a man. Oh, but if this poor mentally ill man can get just one more surgery, that will fix everything and people will believe he’s a woman. Except it won’t. Next, it will be the Adam’s apple or the hands or shoulders that are too wide — or SOMETHING.

Attempting to change your gender will in most cases cost more than $150,000 and when it’s all over, 99% of the time a guy trying to do it will still end up looking like a homely, mannish woman. Are there exceptions to every rule including this one? Yes, but there aren’t a lot of them. That’s why they’re exceptions. If we cruelly allow mentally ill people to surgically mutilate themselves in this way, which we shouldn’t, it should be treated as the elective surgery driven that it is. In other words, transsexuals should have to pay for it out of their own pockets.