Trans activists are petitioning the government to include transgender surgery under Medicare.

Petition EN3307 – Gender affirming surgery should be covered by Medicare – runs until October 27, 2021.

The reason for the petition states:

Transgender people and other people in need of gender-affirming surgery must pay a lot of money, up to $30,000, so they can finally have their outward appearance match how they truly feel on the inside. I know of someone personally who is struggling to bring together the money to get this surgery as it is not covered by Medicare, even though this specific person is eligible for a breast reduction for medical purposes anyway.

They go on to request:

We therefore ask the House to make gender-affirming and gender reassignment services eligible for Medicare benefits, as these surgeries are essential for the mental health and well-being of select people in the LGBTQ+ community.

The petition makes no mention of the fact it is impossible to change sex. It does not address the fact that becoming dependent on a daily drug regime and the surgical mutilation of perfectly healthy body parts will not reduce dysphoria in many cases. It does not recognise the increasing number of people now suffering transgender regret.

Binary spokeswoman, Kirralie Smith said there is a better way.

“This petition relies on feelings, not facts. Trans identified people do require compassion and appropriate health care,” she said.

“However, there is not enough data to support radical treatments, such as surgery, to support being funded by Australian tax-payers.

“Medicare is not the solution for expensive, experimental and oftentimes ineffective treatments. For any other ‘feelings’ based issues, we send people to psychiatrists not surgeons.”