LGBTIQ+ Groups Call Out MP Alex Borg For Questioning Prioritisation Of Sex Reassignment Surgery
Prominent LGBTIQ+ activist groups have called out PN MP Alex Borg after he said the government should prioritise financial aid to fibromyalgia sufferers over making sex reassignment surgery for trans people free of charge.
The Malta Gay Rights Movement said Borg’s statement was an example of “whataboutism”, the practice of discussing an argument by raising a completely different issue.
“Not only is it a logical fallacy which makes the argument null, but it also implies that people who are trans are not interested in fibromyalgia treatment. It further assumes that people who are trans do not also suffer from fibromyalgia,” MGRM said.
“Why is it being thought that the LGBTIQ community won’t be happy when fibromyalgia treatment is free, and equally why is it being assumed that people with fibromyalgia are not happy that gender reassignment treatment will be free?”
“To us, it only shows that some politicians are out of touch with the electorate on which they depend for their re-election. Or else, they opt to be populists. It is particularly disappointing when new generations of politicians reason like this.”
It also argued there already exists political consensus that fibromyalgia medication and treatment should be free of charge, seeing as both PL and PN had promised it in their respective manifestos.
MGRM’s statement was shared by LGBTI+ Gozo, which recently organised Gozo’s first Pride March.
Allied Rainbows Communities (ARC) also weighed in, stating that “transgender healthcare is essential, not cosmetic or elective”.
“We are dismayed by certain rhetoric and statements made by MPs, allies and people from the community who think trans people’s right to gender re-affirming surgery is cosmetic and superficial,” ARC said. “This is an essential service that is long overdue.”
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“Research demonstrates that gender-affirming care – a medical and psychosocial healthcare designed to affirm individuals’ gender identities – greatly improves the mental health and overall well-being of gender diverse, transgender and non binary individuals.”
Last weekend, Prime Minister Robert Abela pledged free sex reassignment surgery for trans people as one of the next items on the government’s agenda to improve civil rights for LGBTIQ+ people.
While Borg welcomed the announcement, he insisted that the government should prioritise the treatment of fibromyalgia.
“We need to be realistic,” he said. “It’s good that there is money for free sex reassignment surgery, but how isn’t there enough money to cure and treat fibromyalgia?”
“I cannot understand how Robert Abela tells fibromyalgia sufferers who are in constant pain that there isn’t enough money for them. Prime Minister, the first people you should help are these people experiencing this pain; they need some kind of monthly voucher to buy medicine and make use of pools and physiotherapists of their choice.”
“Stop choosing the path of populism and let us embark on the path of common sense, where the people of Malta can enjoy life equally and not only a part of society.”
Ruth Debono, president of the ME, CFS and Fibromyalgia Alliance, displayed a similar sentiment, stating that while she sympathises with trans people she cannot understand how the authorities can tell people suffering from 24/7 pain that there isn’t enough money for them.
The Alliance has distanced itself from homophobic comments passed on by people suffering from fibromyalgia or ME but urged the government to address these two ailments in the same manner as sex reassignment operations.
“We advocate for both illnesses and we do sympathise with our members for the anger expressed, however, we cannot condone any homophobic comments passed by them,” the Alliance said.
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