Attention Legislators: Gender Transitions Are Not One-Size-Fits-All

New York State’s new law requiring coverage of gender reassignment surgery sounded like a game changer. The problem: not all trans people want the same thing.

Photos by Jessica Bal

Monique Fontaine eyes her cellphone screen as she records a video from Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital in New York City. Flanked by cords and containers and a copious amount of beige, she and her doctor have agreed to enlarge her breasts, so she can look more feminine, from a B cup to a C cup, with implants surgically placed above the pectoralis muscle and filled with 425cc’s of saline. It’s not her first such procedure, but it is the first one performed in a medical facility, a far departure from the other locations – a Times Square hotel room, someone’s living room in Brooklyn – where she’s had work done before. “See ya on the flip side,” Fontaine says to her social media followers before the video ends. Fontaine is transgender, and, thanks to recent changes in New York State law, her procedure is covered by Medicaid. Not only does her breast augmentation come at no cost to her, but it comes with the peace of mind of being done safely and by a medical professio…