CAMH Clarke Institute to control funding for trans health services again |
|
Looks as if 8 to 10 people in Ontario willing to subject themselves to CAMH Clarke Institute’s onerous and humiliating “gender program” will be able to qualify for subsidized services. From the article:
[Health Minister George] Smitherman says people wanting the procedures must first go through “very, very sustained psychological evaluations” and must get approval from the Centres for Addiction and Mental Health.
A Toronto Star article indicated that between 1969 and 1984, 90% of all people seeking transsexual health services (over 900 people) were turned away at The Clarke. (Newbery 1984) This created a system where applicants must compete to be the most suitable clients in the eyes of the gatekeepers. This allowed the gatekeepers to choose people who best exemplified their pet theories about “male gender dysphorics, paedophiles, and fetishists,” as the current key gatekeeper Ray Blanchard describes them. (Freund & Blanchard, 1993) As with any parole board situation like this, patients do everything they can to provide the evaluators with the answers they want to hear, which has led CAMH Clarke Institute employee Maxine Petersen to assert that “most gender patients lie.” (Bailey 2003)
“Evaluations” in the past at CAMH Clarke Institute have included penile plethysmography, a controversial lie detector for the genitals that measures intensity of erections. The device was developed to catch draftees who were lying about being gay to avoid conscription and is mainly used on sex offenders today.
Blanchard has stated that a trans woman who goes through their program, such as CAMH Clarke Institute employee Maxine Petersen, is in reality “a man without a penis.” (Armstrong 2004)
Most people seeking trans health services in Ontario choose better options such as Sherbourne Health Center or the youth-focused program at the 519, Trans Youth Toronto. See the Ottawa Transition Support site for other good alternatives to CAMH Clarke Institute.
Sources:
Armstrong J. The Body within, the body without. Globe and Mail, 12 June 2004, p. F1.
Bailey JM. The Man Who Would Be Queen, p. 172
Freund K, Blanchard R. Erotic target location errors in male gender dysphorics, paedophiles, and fetishists. Br J Psychiatry 1993 Apr;162:558-63
Newbery L. Trans-sexuals happier after operation, MD says. Toronto Star, 27 November 1984, p. H2.
---
