The number of U.S. companies choosing to cover the cost of gender reassignment surgery has nearly doubled from 2009, New York Daily News is reporting. The Human Rights Campaign reported Thursday that 207 of the 636 surveyed businesses provide or will start providing transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits. The increase in transgender benefits is well-received by candidates looking to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
Last year, 85 companies elected to cover gender reassignment surgery as a part of its benefit package. In 2009, only 49 employers elected to do so. Nearly a decade ago, gender reassignment surgery was an uncovered expense altogether.
“We really wanted to set a best-in-class standard for what it meant to provide the holistic class of LGBT inclusion in the workplace,” HRC spokesman Fred Sainz said.
The most LGBT-friendly corporations according to HRC include Apple, American Airlines, Kellogg, Chevron, Nordstrom, Office Depot, Raytheon, Whirlpool and Levi Strauss.
Among the corporations that expanded their insurance coverage this year are Apple, Chevron, General Mills, Dow Chemical, American Airlines, Kellogg, Sprint, Levi Strauss, Eli Lilly, Best Buy, Nordstrom, the U.S. division of Volkswagen, Whirlpool, Xerox, Raytheon and Office Depot.
I am curious… Since it is often claimed that “gender is what is between the ears, and sex is what is between the legs,” exactly how do they reassign gender? I mean, does this involve some sort of brain surgery, or is this just another attempt to confuse the the two terms? I changed my sex. My gender, i.e. what is between my ears, was always female, and as best I can tell, there is simply no way to change that, with surgery, otherwise. Of course, as I point out, many seem to want to avoid this, and have tried to confuse the matter.
To Jennifer and everyone who thinks like her:
Gender is a function of the brain. It cannot be reassigned. It is whatever it was when you were born. However, it needed not be congruent with your body. For many trans people, the incongruence is between the gender in their brains and their secondary sex characteristics. For a few, the incongruence includes their primary sex characteristics. Those few need this surgery to function correctly sexually and socially. While the terminology is a misnomer, it is cruel to oppose a surgery based on terminology while people suffer from a condition which you do not understand.
If one’s gender is TRULY incongruent with one’s body, then you will seek to have it corrected. That is the definition of a transsexual. Now, some people have a desire, for whatever reason, to transgress gender (some would say they “transcend” gender) and choose to, shall we say, straddle the fence. This is what is called “transgender.” These are really two completely different concepts. Some who are, more properly, transgender may decide to have sex reassignment surgery for reasons other than achieving congruence. These people generally are very “out” about having had surgery, having no desire to actually live fully as their target “sex.” They continue trying to straddle the fence.
Now, I do not oppose sex reassignment surgery. I oppose the attempt to obfuscate the truth, and to push the ‘transgender” paradigm by calling “gender reassignment surgery,” which simply does not exist. Gender does NOT change, No matter how much some wish to believe it does.
Actually, employers paying for TRANSSEXUAL surgery is a nightmare for the transgender extremists. It quickly reveals the truth. They are not transsexuals, and really don’t want to be women, or in some cases, men. All those who whine about how they would have surgery if they could afford it, suddenly have it offered on silver platter. They immediately grab tight to their penises and run like crazy, find new excuses why they simply will not give up their penis. It is all rather amusing.
Simple bottom line. If you don’t want to have sex reassignment surgery, the don’t call yourself a transsexual. You are not fooling anyone. On the other hand, don’t insist on imposing the term “transgender” on those who do not wish to be called that.
And keep in mind, women don’t willingly have penises.