A New Brunswicker who identifies as transgender has raised enough money through crowdfunding to pay for gender-confirming surgery.
A.J. Ripley’s says the surgery will remove his breasts, which he says he was born with, but doesn’t identify with.
Ripley calls the surgery life-saving.
"For me, top surgery will just sort of form a more masculine contour on my chest, my silhouette will look more masculine," said Ripley.
It took Ripley eight months to raise the required $7,500. He received the last of what he needed Monday morning.
“Just sort of started screaming with joy to my partner, like ‘I can't believe it – I finally did it," said Ripley.
Ripley turned to crowdfunding as the surgery is not funded by the New Brunswick government. It’s the one province in Canada where that’s the case.
Over the past year, New Brunswick’s transgender population has been calling on the province to cover gender-confirming surgeries, saying they're critical, especially for a population more likely to experience depression and suicide.
"We had looked at what was being done in other jurisdictions, trying to find something that would be reasonable for New Brunswick you know, not the Cadillac but not the Chevet either, considering all the other challenges that our system has," said New Brunswick Health Minister Victor Boudreau in March on International Transgender Day of Visibility.
Boudreau has met with members of the transgender community over the past year and has called it one of his priorities. But no moves have been made so far.
While Monday was joyous for Ripley, he says he’s also frustrated with waiting for something to happen.
"We've been constantly calling the office, but we've been given the same response over and over again,” said Ripley. “(They tell us) to be patient, that they're working on it, but it's not enough – show us exactly how you've been working on it, give us updates on what you've been doing. "
Ripley will be heading to Toronto to undergo the day surgery in July.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.
