Gender clinic

Had my first appointment at the national gender clinic today. Over video. And it went well, in fact better than I'd expected. It was basically an interview, much like the first couple of appointments with a new psychologist. I spoke 90% of the time. She took notes. I didn't really get much of an impression of her, but she seemed nice enough. 

I know they'll probably discharge me without offering any treatment, because I don't lie about being nonbinary... I'm very purposefully not lying about that, because I want to fight to change the system. Nonbinary people deserve treatment by the public health system too, for us to be automatically rejected is just stupid. I impressed upon her that even though I define as nonbinary, my needs regarding treatment is the same as transmen: I want hormones (already have those, but they're expensive when going privately), and I want top surgery (mastectomy, basically remove my boobes). So what I call myself shouldn't really make any difference for them.. 

She didn't exactly agree, talking about how it was important to assess what kind of treatment was really necessary and not to over-treat... Which sounds good in principle, but in reality is just a defence of the gatekeeping model of trans healthcare. Basically, it's not up to us how we define ourselves or what kind of treatment we need, it's up to them. They want to bar the gate for as many people as possible.

I also mentioned how some of their patients lie about being binary to get the treatment they want. She claimed to be able to tell when people lie out their gender, which I'm 100% confident isn't true... She also seemed surprised that I define myself as nonbinary, when I had so many "binary" wants for my transition.. 

I have recordings, both as audio files and as screen captures, of the entire appointment. If (when) they reject me, my plan is to formally complain. And potentially talk to media, in the long run. And now I have recordings of everything I've told them. They can't claim I haven't said x, y, z. 

I wasn't rejected out of hand TODAY, which is what I expected would happen. She wanted to confer with other colleagues. I asked for written feedback from her, after she's spoken with the others on her team. So we'll see.