WashBlade.com – Elizabeth Perry
Trans activists question widely circulated news story
Transgender activists are alleging that media reports that circulated widely this year about a man using Hurricane Katrina relief funds to pay for a sex-change operation were a hoax perpetrated by conservatives looking to divert attention from the Bush administration’s handling of the hurricane recovery effort.
Unraveling the reports has raised more questions than answers about whether or not a man jailed in Houston for fraud relating to Katrina relief funds really attempted to use money distributed by FEMA for a sex-change procedure.
“The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition is now publicly calling the media and authorities on this claim, demanding proof that this occurred and calling the press on this claim ‘fabricated’ and ‘fraudulent,'” according to a media release from the trans rights group.
The Washington-based NTEA claims neither the House subcommittee testimony nor the Government Accountability Office report cited by the media includes any reference to a sex change nor “surgery of any type being paid for by FEMA funds.”
The story’s origin remains murky, but it appears to have evolved from a congressional hearing held June 14 on waste, fraud and abuse of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita relief funds.
Officials with GAO, an investigative arm of Congress, detailed some $1.4 billion in goods and services allegedly obtained from FEMA through fraudulent means, including expensive vacations, season tickets for football games, champagne and adult entertainment.