#her rule was I had to wait until I was 18 to get on hrt

[digitalcarcrash]

im literally going to THROW UPPPP i need to get on t IMMEDIATELY or i am going to DIE

[night-creeps]

I think the worst thing about the trans legislation changes Smith is proposing is that the trans healthcare system in Alberta is already fucking nonexistant. Afaik there is only 1 transgender care clinic in the province that provides for children, this is a team of psychiatrists and psychologists that provide a diagnosis of being transgender to be able to qualify for any trans healthcare and a team of endocrinologists that provide a prescription to hormone replacement therapy.

Currently under the law there is nothing stopped a kid under the age of 17 from getting top surgery, other than parental consent and a diagnosis. But no kid under 17 is getting these surgeries. You wanna know why?

When I came out as trans at about 16 years old, my therapist put in a referral to the clinic and told me I would hear from them. I brought it up occasionally, asking if she had heard anything. Then a year later I ask again and she says she had forgotten to send her certification to them and that the referral never actually got sent. She sends it for real this time, but then one of the handful of psychologists was stepping down so the wait time was going to be extended. I got my GP to send another referall to the other clinic (at the time there two). About 9 months later I get an 'unofficial' meeting with the psychologist who was stepping down because my psychiatrist was friends with them. Nearly 2 years after starting this process I was finally seeing someone! Not much came of it. Since it was unofficial nothing really happened, I was supposed to see him again but never did. About 6 months after that I finally got a call from the other clinic. They scheduled me an appointment with an endocrinologist for 3 months later. So. 2 and a half years after starting the process I was finally started on HRT. 8 months after that I graduated school and got to meet with more psychologists. I finally got put on a wait list for top surgery. For those few months though I was terrified I would have to start the whole process again once I turned 18. Thankfully that wasn't the case. So I was going to get a call to schedule a consult 6-9 months after that. A year later I call them and ask if there's any update. I get told the wait time is now 12-18 months. A little over 18 months after being put on the waitlist I finally schedule a consult with a plastic surgeon. Where I am told it is another 12-16 month wait until I can get surgery done.

I started this process at 16. I am currently fucking 20 years old. ITS BEEN FOUR YEARS. To get top surgery before 17 a kid would have to come out as trans at 12 and start the process immediately. Even if they have an accepting family, they might not have a therapist or psychologist willing to refer them. Most family doctors wouldn't refer them either. And unless they live in Edmonton or Calgary, if their parents can't take time off work to take them to their appointments they won't be starting this process at all.

There are 2 plastic surgeons offices in the entire province doing gender affirming care, and a shortage of anesthesiologists to boot so even if there were more surgeons there's still a shortage of OR's. And bottom surgery is not done in province, period.

Unless you come from a rich and supportive family who can fly you to a specialist out of province, there is an almost 0% chance that someone under the age of 17 is even getting gender affirming surgeries done. All it's doing is meaning that the waiting process can only start at 17. That's not even mentioning all the horrifying and queerphobic rules being put in place in regards to name and pronoun usage in school, or being able to learn about queer content at all.