With high demand and limited insurance coverage, Queer Concordia aims to make gender-affirming care more accessible despite challenges in securing CSU funding.
For translation major Lin Zahrai, the year-long waits for public healthcare became unbearable. As the months stretched on, so did the emotional toll of exposure to social gender dysphoria.
“It’s a very weird feeling; you truly feel disconnected from your body, and it just messes with your head,” he said.
He shared that quick access to gender-affirming care is necessary to escape the harms of misgendering.
“It really affects mental health, and I find getting trans healthcare is truly helpful,” Zahrai said.
This leads many people to turn toward the private sector, where they face high costs for healthcare.
Seeing these challenges firsthand, Queer Concordia Senior Coordinator Jessica Winton has initiated a short-term loan pilot project available to the Concordia community. After recognizing a surplus in fee levy funds from the COVID-19 pandemic period in July, she introduced the program proposal to the Concordia Student Union (CSU) in early September, in hopes to partner with them to expand loan amounts.
After encountering push back, Queer Concordia is hoping to start the program independently in the next two to three weeks The loans would be directed toward private healthcare providers.
“It’s very expensive to be trans,” said Matéo A., a painting and drawing major at Concordia University. His healthcare is covered by Quebec’s RAMQ insurance, which covers a limited amount of health services including genital reconstruction surgeries, breast and chest surgeries and supportive surgeries.
Matéo avoids using his full last name publicly, fearing that it could lead to a workplace conflict or personal risk.
For students from outside Quebec or those requiring additional procedures like facial masculinization, out-of-pocket expenses can reach thousands.
Currently, Studentcare offers a Gender Affirmation Care plan, the first of its kind for Concordia students. However, services like voice therapy, facial feminization, and other gender-affirming procedures are often excluded, leaving many students without essential support.
“Now that it’s established, we are continuously seeking ways to enhance it and are currently negotiating with the insurer for easier access and increased coverage,” said Studentcare representative Marc-André Ross.
Ross added that recent listening sessions with trans student representatives nationwide have guided their current negotiations for improvements.
The demand for better gender-affirming care coverage is not limited to Queer Concordia. A coordinated phone-banking event on Nov. 13 will push for better coverage for gender-affirming care.
The event is organised by multiple Canadian student groups from Concordia, McGill University, Simon Fraser University, the University of Victoria, the University of British Columbia, the University of Manitoba, and the University of Waterloo will push for expanded insurance coverage for gender-affirming care.
Access to gender-affirming care is essential. Matéo, who has not yet had top surgery, endures daily discomfort from wearing a binder.
“It completely ruins my body, and I’m exhausted all the time. It really hurts, so it impacts my grades,” he said.
Major surgeries can exceed $30,000, costs that Queer Concordia hopes to alleviate.
“Students do not have that money, shockingly,” Winton explained. “Having dealt with gender-affirming insurance myself, you usually have to pay upfront for your procedures.”
The loans would allow the funds to support multiple students over time, helping pay for the up-front cost.
However, Queer Concordia can currently only cover limited procedures, operating with the lowest fee levy on campus at $0.02 per credit.
The coverage offered by Studentcare has a lifetime limit of $10,000 and a $5000 limit per procedure. In their motion for the pilot program, Queer Concordia states that “[it] is not enough to adequately cover most gender-affirming surgeries in their entirety, often leaving the student in debt for thousands of dollars.”
After they requested $100,000 from the CSU to aid the pilot project, Queer Concordia’s initial proposal was rejected. Even after Queer Concordia adjusted their request twice based on feedback, CSU leaders indicated that funding would be difficult to find.
According to CSU Finance Coordinator Souad El Ferjani, the union’s funds had already been allocated to other projects.
“It’s not like we don’t want to help,” she said. “[The finance committee] decided not to go through this project, and that’s it. It did not make sense to us to give that money that was going to other projects and stop those projects for them just to go to Queer Concordia.”
Queer Concordia is moving forward independently despite challenges with the CSU, using their fee levy surplus. Winton says demand for a service like this is high; at least three to four people ask about the program every week.
“It’s happening, and we’re doing it,” she said.
Winton expressed frustration over the CSU’s resistance.
“If they want to hold their stance on not supporting trans students at Concordia, then that’s very telling of their true opinions,” she said.
