So Hastings consulted with a plastic surgeon and arranged for surgery -- only to be told by the hospital, Catholic Hospital in Daly City, that she could not have the surgery, because of the way God made her.
Now, Catholic Hospital is usually quite willing to allow surgery for breast augmentation. But Hastings, unfortunately, is transgendered. And while Catholic Hospital thinks there's nothing wrong with adding to the breasts God gave you, that only applies if you're cisgendered:
"God made you a man."
That's what Charlene Hastings said she was told when she called to inquire about breast enlargement surgery at Seton Medical Center, a Catholic hospital in Daly City.
Now the San Franciscan is suing the hospital, claiming officials there discriminated against her because she had a sex-change operation.
Hastings, 57, had already had the major surgery she needed to become a woman. She had chosen a San Francisco plastic surgeon with privileges at Seton to perform the breast augmentation in October 2006. But the surgeon, Dr. Leonard Gray, told her that Seton no longer allowed him to operate on transgender patients, Hastings said.
When Hastings called Seton to learn more, a surgical coordinator said the hospital would not allow its facilities to be used for transgender surgery, according to the lawsuit, "She was saying, 'It's not God's will,' " Hastings said. "I couldn't believe it. It's a blatant case of discrimination."
Well, yeah. If you're going to ban surgery because of "God's will," you're going to have to go beyond simply denying procedures for the transgendered. I assume that hair transplants, reconstructive facial surgery to repair a cleft palate, and tubal ligations will be out. And while we're at it, let's eliminate chemotherapy. I mean, who's to say God didn't want you to get cancer? And heart surgery? God probably wanted you to drop dead of that myocardial infarction. Don't even get me started on hysterectomies.
If Catholic Hospital wants to take the bold stance of providing no services, and allowing God's will to take over, they're free to do that. But if they want to simply draw arbitrary boundaries that leave out services for one group while allowing them for everyone else -- well, there's a word for that, and it's discrimination.
(Via piny)
