Out man in Havana is certainly going to take on a new meaning with the latest medical news form the island nation. Yahoo and The AP are reporting that Cuba is soon to be offering free sex change operations for qualifying citizens. Yes, you have heard that right free sex change operations.
It is not the sex change operations that I am really interested in out of Cuba. It is great news for those who are wanting one I suppose, but simply put it isn’t for me, I like the convenience standing to pee. My wife might have something to say about it too if I were interested. What I am interested in is how a country our government who balks at the notion of providing affordable healthcare much less universal free healthcare can call Cuba evil, malicious, harmful, destructive, backwards, counterproductive?
I understand how a country that prides itself on social equality (even if those equals don’t have very much), universal healthcare, and a commitment to public education might be called un-American. I also understand that those things should not be considered antithetical to our national prerogatives.
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Politics aside for a moment, more and more scientific evidence, both genetic and psychological, is emerging that gender disfunction is something that affects enough people whose lives are miserable, that I do think we should be catering to their needs on this level. Funnily enough, other less enlightened places such as Iran also provide operations at the government’s expense, and they go one step further too. They also allow the person to have their gender changed on their birth certificate. Sadly I can’t imagine that happening in the US for a while.
I don’t doubt it will be a very long time before we allow someone to change their sex on their birth certificate, but I am also not sure that is a good thing either from a point of statistical data. Of course I never thought we would be moving as far or fast as we are towards gay marriage either. That battle is far from over for sure and will ultimately wind up in the supreme court, no matter what states have decided for themselves.