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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Taxpayer dollars could soon pay for sex reassignment surgeries for elderly or disabled Americans on Medicare, thanks to a ruling earlier this month from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The agency’s Departmental Appeals Board lifted a three-decade-old ban on using Medicare funds for transsexual surgeries. The decision means the government considers the surgeries medically necessary and effective treatment for some individuals who do not identify with their biological sex.
The policy reversal came in response to a request from 74-year-old Army veteran Denee Mallon to have Medicare pay for genital reconstruction.
Mallon, from Albuquerque, N. M., was born a man but has been diagnosed with “gender dysphoria,” a state of distress about one’s biological gender. Medicare denied Mallon’s request for surgery two years ago, but today the appeals board overturned that decision.
Gender reassignment surgeries vary by type and scope: For men, they can involve castration and genital reconstruction. For women, they can involve mastectomy and the implantation of a prosthetic. The cost of transsexual surgeries range from $7,000 to $50,000, according to the Transgender Law Center in Oakland, Calif.
Friday’s ruling means individuals on Medicare who can provide documentation from doctors and mental health professionals stating that a surgical sex change is medically indicated for them can bill Uncle Sam for the procedure. The government-run Medicare program provides healthcare for 49 million Americans.
Transgender advocates said the Medicare decision could influence private insurance companies and state-run Medicaid programs to also cover transsexual procedures, since they often look to federal government policy as a guideline.
Houston Tramples Religious
Liberty with New Anti-Bias Policy
HOUSTON, Texas – In what some are calling a sham proceeding, Houston leaders last month approved an Equal Rights Ordinance that adds the LGBT community to the city’s nondiscrimination laws.
Supporters claim it provides necessary protections for the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered residents. But religious liberty experts warn it could be used to force churches, colleges, and Christian-owned businesses to act against their biblical beliefs about sexuality.
The ordinance, which takes effect in 30 days, passed the Houston City Council 11-6, and local television news broadcast the LGBT supporters’ jubilation. Reports said fewer than 30 people out of more than 200 in attendance spoke against the measure, but they failed to mention that more than 150 pastors and pro-family advocates felt so disrespected by the proceedings that they staged a walkout early in the meeting.
Mayor Annise Parker, a lesbian, attempted to “stack the deck” against critics, said Jonathan Saenz, director of the conservative group Texas Values. The council moved homosexual activists to the front of the speaking line, denied pro-family African-American pastors the same courtesy, then moved more homosexual activists to the front.
The pastors described the move as “flagrantly disrespectful,” Texas Values reported, equating it to being “sent to the back of the bus.” As much as half the room walked out, Saenz said.
Houston joined nearly 200 cities and counties nationwide with similar ordinances, and gave LGBT activists a clean sweep among major Texas cities. San Antonio passed a similar measure that was heavily disputed last year in the conservative state. Parker said passing her city’s ordinance was the “most personally meaningful thing I will do as mayor.”
Supporters say the measure offers local protections against all forms of discrimination in housing, employment, and services provided by private businesses.
“If Houston wants to be considered a community that values all of its citizens, this ordinance should be passed today,” said Robert Brewer, a Houston attorney who identified himself as gay. Violating the ordinance is a Class C misdemeanor, carrying a $5,000 maximum fine. Cases would be tried in municipal court.
Christian businesses aren’t the only ones affected, though. “It raises serious constitutional questions,” said Jeff Mateer, general counsel at the Texas-based Liberty Institute. Critics painted religious liberty exemptions as poorly written, rushed at best and downright nefarious at worst.
Colorado Baker Ordered
to Make Same-Sex Wedding Cakes
BOULDER, Col. – Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission earlier this month ordered a Christian baker to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples, ruling his religious objections did not trump the state’s anti-discrimination statutes.
The unanimous ruling from the seven-member commission upheld an administrative law judge’s decision in December that Jack Phillips violated the state’s civil rights law when he refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012. The couple sued.
Phillips, a devout Christian who owns Masterpiece Cakeshop in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, said the decision violates his First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise. “I will stand by my convictions until somebody shuts me down,” he told reporters after the ruling.
The commission disagreed, ruling that religious liberty does not go beyond beliefs to practice. “I can believe anything I want, but if I’m going to do business here, I’d ought to not discriminate against people,” Commissioner Raju Jaram said.
The panel issued its decision verbally, ordering Phillips to “stop discriminating against gay people,” document any customers he refuses to serve, provide “anti-discrimination training” for his staff, and report quarterly for two years.
Phillips said his bakery has been so overwhelmed by supporters eager to buy cookies and brownies that he does not currently make wedding cakes. His legal counsel, which includes religious liberty attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom, are considering an appeal to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
The couple who sued Phillips, Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig, described themselves as “thrilled” by the ruling. Gay marriage remains illegal in Colorado, but state law prohibits businesses from refusing to serve customers based on sexual orientation. Phillips told the men he would bake them any kind of cake other than a wedding cake.
Court rulings this year have not favored Christian-owned businesses caught in discrimination cases. The U.S. Supreme Court in April refused to hear the case of a Christian wedding photographer fined after she declined to work a same-sex commitment ceremony.
The New Mexico Human Rights Commission levied a $6,637.94 fine, and the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled her refusal was the same as if the wedding were between people of different races.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries also ruled a Christian couple can’t refuse to bake cakes for same-sex weddings. LGBT activists forced that couple’s storefront shop to close with boycotts, threats, and vandalism.
Need an Immune System Boost? Try a Three-Day Fast
University of Southern California (USC) researchers published a study in June suggesting that fasting may put the immune system into overdrive by activating stem cells.
Studying the effects of fasting on cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy produced the unexpected result. Fasting not only protected healthy tissue, but also allowed the body to recycle old and damaged white cells.
When the patients resumed eating, their white counts returned to normal. Valter Longo, director of the USC longevity institute and a member of the USC Norris Cancer Center, said, “We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem-cell based regeneration.”
The prolonged fast in this study lasted three days and limited participants to between 400 and 1,000 calories a day.