Oprah expresses interest in Canadian sex-change surgery decision

EDMONTON — The Alberta government’s decision to stop funding sex-change surgery has attracted the attention of the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Edmonton resident Sarah King, who’s hoping to get the surgery next year in Montreal, said she was contacted through e-mail by the popular U.S. talk show when it got word Alberta was cutting funding.

A message from Harpo Studios in Chicago said the show wasn’t doing a story now, but would contact her for an interview if it does a segment on transsexuals in the future.

Kris Wells, a researcher at the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta, said if Oprah tells her audience about the funding cuts, Alberta’s $25-million attempt to boost its oilsands-tainted image would be a waste.

“Oprah would undo the reputation of Alberta,” Wells said. “Alberta is going to look like one of the most fundamental jurisdictions in the world.”

“There stands to be a lot of people who stand to lose a lot financially with the delisting,” said King, who’s meeting with lawyers to discuss filing a class-action lawsuit against the Alberta government. Even if the government decides to change its budget decision, King said she still wants to file an injunction preventing the government from ever delisting the service again.

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