Taxpaying Dallas citizens are helping to pay for various gender alteration services, according to documents reviewed by The Dallas Express.
An internal City of Dallas “Gender Transition Protocol” obtained by The Dallas Express declares, “All of the City of Dallas’ active and retiree benefit plans cover transgender-inclusive services. This coverage is explained in detail in the Blue Cross Blue Shield paperwork.”
“A copy of the Medical Coverage Policy can be found on the Benefits page of the City’s website,” the document continues. “For additional questions related to coverage, providers, or navigation of the benefits provided, please contact the Benefits Office.”
The coverage is not new. In 2013 the Trans Pride Initiative “began work to eliminate the exclusion of trans affirming healthcare from the City of Dallas health insurance coverage. The work continued into 2014.”
By 2015, the City seemingly adopted a plan that included coverage for 70-75% of costs for “Transgender Services” after an employee met their annual deductible.
The services provided under the taxpayer-funded plan included “genital surgery and surgery to change secondary sex characteristics (including thyroid chondroplasty, bilateral mastectomy, and augmentation mammoplasty).”
The City noted, however, that “[t]he treatment plan must conform to the most recent edition of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People.”
Additionally, “irreversible surgical interventions” were reserved for patients 18 or older. Before such surgery, “the patient must complete 12 months of successful continuous full time real-life experience in the desired gender.”
The City limited “augmentation mammoplasty” to instances when “the Physician prescribing hormones and the surgeon have documented that breast enlargement after undergoing hormone treatment for 18 months is not sufficient for comfort in the social role.”
Other “Transgender Services” covered in the City’s 2015 plan included “psychotherapy for gender identity disorders/dysphoria and associated co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses,” “continuous hormone replacement,” and “laboratory testing to monitor the safety of the continuous hormone therapy.”
For several years now, the Human Rights Campaign has given Dallas a perfect score for its pro-LGBTQ policies, such as trans-inclusive healthcare.
The City’s 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report noted the Human Rights Campaign gave Dallas “recognition for having single-occupancy and all-gender facilities, transgender-inclusive health-care benefits, and openly LGBTQ elected or appointed municipal leaders.”
Blue Cross Blue Shield Texas notes that it “stands by our core values of integrity, respect, commitment, caring and excellence. We work together with our LGBTQ employees to better understand the health care needs of our LGBTQ members.”
Several Dallas politicians, such as Council Member Adam Bazaldua (District 7), have been vocal in their support for sex alteration surgeries.
For “Transgender Day of Visibility” on March 31, Bazaldua said the day “is celebrated to reflect the progress and strides made by the transgender community over decades of turmoil and struggle,” further denouncing legislative items he believed were “targeting transgender people, their access to life-saving care, and even their ability to be mentioned in public life.”
“We condemn all attacks from state and federal officials towards the transgender community and their wellbeing and reaffirm our commitment to being an inclusive city for all who reside,” Bazaldua added.
The Dallas Express has asked several clarifying questions regarding the Gender Transition Protocol but received no response before publication.
The Gender Transition Protocol also requires employees to use someone’s “preferred pronouns,” no matter what they personally “believe in,” as reported by The Dallas Express. Such forms of compelled speech potentially raise legal concerns of a constitutional nature.
The protocol also mandates team training on transgender issues if a coworker decides to undergo a “workplace gender transition.” Additionally, the City permits all employees to use facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their subjective gender identity, regardless of biological sex.