Transition-Related Health Care: Is It Medically Necessary?
Omar Narvaez And M. Dru Levasseur
The kinds of health care associated with gender transition have too often been misunderstood as cosmetic, experimental or simply unnecessary. Yet, there is medical consensus that hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery (SRS) are medically necessary for many transgender people. This workshop will use a Lambda Legal Transgender Toolkit to explain the medical community's current framework for understanding transition-related care as vital for many transgender people's health and well being. It will also cover the ways in which Lambda Legal and other advocates are applying this in the legal domain to challenge denial of such care as discriminatory. Participants will leave with a basic understanding of transition-related health care and the resources necessary to advocate for transgender-inclusive insurance coverage.
Omar Narvaez is the Regional Community Educator for Lambda Legal South Central Regional Office and is responsible for reaching out to various areas in order to promote Lambda Legal’s mission. Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. A background of corporate training, human relations, public policy work, grassroots organizing and community education has helped him to build many relationships among a large diverse group of organizations and people. Originally born and raised in Houston, he moved to Austin to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where he met his partner 16 years ago. Narvaez is committed to his work of civil rights and social justice for the LGBT community. He specializes in youth issues, transgender issues, immigration, HIV, marriage equality and public policy work.
Presenting along with Omar is M. Dru Levasseur
M. Dru Levasseur is the Transgender Rights Attorney for Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people with HIV.
Levasseur focuses his work on impact litigation, advocacy and community education to advance the civil rights of transgender people nationwide.
Before joining Lambda Legal, Levasseur was staff attorney for Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, where he advocated for transgender equal rights through test-case litigation, public policy efforts, community organizing and public education. Prior to that, Levasseur served for two years as law clerk to 12 Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court.
In 2007, Levasseur co-founded the Jim Collins Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money to fund gender-confirming surgeries. That same year, he initiated and co-organized New England's first-ever Transgender Pride March and Rally. During law school, Levasseur worked at Western Massachusetts Legal Services, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut and served as a law fellow for the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's Transgender Civil Rights Project.
He serves as Chair of the Legal Issues Committee of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and is an active member of the LGBT Rights Committee of the City Bar of New York. He is also a former Foundation Board Member of the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York (LeGaL) and initiated its Transgender Committee.
In 2011, Levasseur was a recipient of the National LGBT Bar Association’s Best LGBT Lawyer Under 40 Award. He received his bachelor's degree magna cum laude in Women, Sexuality and Gender Studies from the University of Massachusetts, and his law degree from Western New England College School of Law.