I-Team In-Depth

Access And Insurance Continue To Be Obstacles To Gender-Affirming Surgery in Connecticut

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Since coming out as transgender in 2015, Lillian Maisfehlt has spent $10,000 on electrolysis and had voice and hormone therapy and breast construction. She also spent 10 days in Pennsylvania recovering from vaginoplasty, an operation that few surgeons perform for transgender women in Connecticut. Maisfehlt, 47, of Chester, said the pain, cost and occasional fights with her insurance company for reimbursement have been worth it. “Each step has made me feel a little bit more like myself,’’ Maisfehlt, a librarian at Gateway Community College in New Haven, said. “I’m Lillian.

States Stand With Transgender Community As Federal Protections Erode

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Julia Montminy is waiting at one of those chain restaurants near The Shoppes at Buckland Hills. In the dim light, the server greets Montminy and another woman with “Welcome, ladies,” then does a double-take, and apologizes. “Welcome, sir and ma’am. My mistake.”

Montminy, a slight woman in leopard-print jeans, follows the server to her table and says nothing. If someone doesn’t know her preferred pronoun, she says, not everything requires a fight.