TO THE EDITOR:
As a transgendered Tar Heel transfer student, I was delighted to learn UNC has an anti-discrimination policy.
Unfortunately, our insurer, Pearce & Pearce Inc., discriminates against transgendered individuals—a fact I discovered while filling my hormone prescription and getting charged the full cost.
I contacted Terri Phoenix, director of the LGBTQ Center, who urged me to write Winston Crisp, vice chancellor for student affairs, and Mary Covington, executive director for Campus Health Services, about this.
I’m grateful that I am supported by many organizations and staff here, including GLBTSA, with whom I met directly. I was urged to find money to cover my expenses through financial aid, which I am doing.
I can cover my costs now, but where does it leave us? To mandate purchasing a health care policy that won’t serve me when so much eloquence has been devoted to the language of inclusivity is intolerable.
Many transgendered individuals depend on hormones and surgeries. Our lives literally depend on them when we’re in communities that react violently to our gender presentation.
Under Pearce & Pearce’s policy, women can have medically necessary hysterectomies — but not if they are transitioning between genders.
Pearce & Pearce’s policy is in clear violation of our own discrimination policy.
