Transgender ban at Vancouver women-only pharmacy may violate profession's code of ethics

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      A spokesperson for the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia has said that she doesn’t think the code of ethics governing pharmacists permits a pharmacy to deny its services to transgender people.

      But Lori DeCou, director of communications for the college, which licenses and regulates the profession in the province, told the Georgia Straight that the only way to know for sure is for someone to submit a complaint.

      “If you know of someone that has been told that they would not be treated because of something to do with their gender, they need to lodge a complaint with the college, and we would certainly pursue that complaint,” DeCou said by phone today (July 10).

      On July 7, the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective opened Lu’s: A Pharmacy for Women (29 West Hastings Street) in the Downtown Eastside.

      Caryn Duncan, the collective’s executive director, told the Straight on July 8 that the pharmacy’s services are available to “women born women”. She said the pharmacy does not have the expertise or capacity to serve transgender women.

      Transgender rights activists, including Jamie Lee Hamilton and Beth Marston, have criticized the collective’s policy. They plan to protest at the pharmacy tomorrow morning (July 11).

      Marston told the Straight by phone today that it’s discriminatory for a business to be “denying people access to health care on the basis of their gender identity”.

      DeCou said the college hasn’t received any complaints that she is aware of regarding the new pharmacy.

      The pharmacists’ code of ethics, available on the college’s Web site, states: “A pharmacist’s commitment to the patient’s care must be sensitive to, but not prejudiced by, factors such as the patient’s race, religion, ethnic origin, social or marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age, or health status.”

      Asked if the code of ethics would allow a women-only pharmacy to discriminate against transgender people, DeCou replied, “I don’t believe so. But I don’t know what it is that they’re doing, right? So, if they’re refusing to give treatment because of something to do with someone’s sexuality or their gender, then is that unethical behaviour? Potentially yes. And if we had a complaint to the college that said this is what XYZ pharmacy or someone was doing, then we would act on that. And one of things that we would certainly look at would be our code.”

      According to DeCou, a complaint must be filed in order for the college to interpret the code of ethics. She said that complaints must be submitted in writing, and a specific procedure must followed.

      The college’s Web site tells people interested in submitting a complaint to contact its complaints-resolution department at 604-733-2440.

      “If someone has come to you with a story and said, ”˜This is what’s happened to me,’ get them to tell that story to the people who can do something about it—if in fact that’s inappropriate behaviour—and that’s the regulatory college, which is ourselves,” DeCou said. “So, that’s very nice that they come to the media. That’s wonderful. But they need to go through the channel to come to us for us to act against something.”

      You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.

      Comments

      17 Comments

      Murdoch

      Jul 10, 2009 at 7:08pm

      Boycott VanCity! They funded this pharmacy.

      maybeuforgot

      Jul 11, 2009 at 8:44am

      The women's only pharmacy breaches a pharmacists code of conduct not only for transgnedered, but for men too. You know, half the population.

      Holly Black

      Jul 11, 2009 at 10:02am

      Let us hope that no-one files a complaint.

      No transwoman needs to be abused in court the way Kimberley Nixon was. And it is better than this case stands as an unresolved shame on the Vancouver women-only Pharmacy for their policy of hate and on the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia for their ineffective Ethics policy which tries to suppress the most vulnerable of people to expose themselves to hate filled newspaper publicity to try to have their human rights.

      C

      Jul 11, 2009 at 12:57pm

      I'm curious what the rationale for a women's only pharmacy is in the first place. I''m not suggesting there isn't one, but it isn't obvious. Doesn't this contravene the college's policy not to deny treatment on the basis of gender? I would think that if a pharmacy can refuse to treat someone who identifies as male, why couldn't they refuse treatment to transgendered people? I realize there are, of course, generally permissable exceptions to such rules, but I wonder what the reasoning here is.

      Van Resident

      Jul 13, 2009 at 12:28pm

      Wouldn't it have been better to serve everyone but say they specialize serving women by having specialized people who are sensative to women's needs serving women and other people serving everyone else?

      eastvandude

      Jul 13, 2009 at 2:19pm

      c, a pharmacy can not refuse anyone service based on their gender either transgendered, female or male. This is also a violation of the bc human rights code. I am male and will file a complaint with the college of pharmacists and the bc human rights tribunal if I am refused service at Lu's pharmacy when i go to fill my next prescription.

      feminist

      Jul 14, 2009 at 12:37pm

      Eastvandude, what part of "Women-only" are you not allowing yourself to understand?
      Your attitude is exactly why women-only spaces are needed. Check your privilege at the door, it's not wanted here.

      Angry Lesbian

      Jul 15, 2009 at 2:30am

      Feminist, what part of discrimination and violation of human rights don't you understand. No one should be denied access to health care. Period.

      Feminist

      Jul 15, 2009 at 1:53pm

      Angry Lesbian, there are literally hundreds of pharmacies in Vancouver. Only one is Women only. Nobody is denying eastvandude anything.

      The problem with Lu's is that they're denying women access to a women's space. Anybody signing himself as "eastvandude' is hardly likely to be a woman.

      D.

      Jul 16, 2009 at 12:14pm

      " no transwoman needs to be abused in court the was Kimberly Nixon was"

      I want to correct this assertion and a few others. I am a member of Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter, who Kimberly Nixon took to court. Here are some basic facts.

      First, the court concluded that we took all the steps necessary to ensure the dignity of Kimberly was protected. In other words the court ruled that we had acted in good faith and did not harm her dignity.

      Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter never took Ms Nixon to court we exercised our right to defend ourselves from a court based complaint brought on by Kimberly Nixon. Kimberly went to the state to demand access to our group. She had a trial in the court of her choosing.

      In the end the court upheld that as a political group with a genuine mission to further women's equality rights we were entitled to defend the group of women we chose to fight for and with.

      This case lasted 10 years, in which Ms. Nixon was entitled to public funding and we had to raise our defense money ourselves.

      Since the superior court decision reversed the decsion of the lower court the money that was supposed to come back to our 24hr rape crisis line and transition house has not been returned.

      What we were fighting for is for our group to have the right to define our own membership and those we as a political group fighting patriarchal forces that affect women from the time they are born until the day they die, and that those treated as girls and women from birth share similar expereinces that constitute a particular oppresssion ( not the only oppression and not identical experiences but similar).

      We argued that those expereinces of being born a girl and raised to womanhood is what we use to build our support work, analysis and strategies when working with raped and battered women.

      Since our case Aboriginal groups have used the argument ie the right for an oppressed group to define its membership, in their own struggle to defend themselves against white folks demanding entry into Aborginal only arenas.

      I want to acknowledge the work of the Women's Health Collective as one of the longest operating feminist women's groups in Vancouver. Who have been fighting patriarchal forces that force women to have substandard healthcare. Congratulations on the achievement of a woman only phramacy as part of the work of fighting for women's equality.

      If you want to read about the case and get accurate information we have most of the trial hearings on our website:
      www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca

      Daisy Kler