Keith BieryGolick

kbierygolick@enquirer.com

LEBANON - Jaiowyn Robinson doesn’t give out the name on her birth certificate.

She keeps a scrapbook of discrimination, as she calls it. In it, she scribbled out her given name on all of the documents: medical reports, honor roll certificates and school expulsion explanations.

“I don’t give that out,” said Robinson. “It can only be used against me.”

Robinson is a 35-year-old transgender woman living in Franklin Township.

On Monday, she appealed a denial of food stamps because the county doesn’t recognize her gender as female.On Tuesday, she appeared before the Warren County Board of Commissioners with a plea: reconsider your stance on health care.

County commissioners took steps recently to ensure gender reassignment surgery is not covered for county employees. The three Republican commissioners signed a letter on Oct. 25 directing UnitedHealthcare to remove gender dysphoria coverage from the county’s plan. The move drew criticism from some civil rights attorneys and experts on health insurance regulations.

Robinson is not a county employee. But she still felt the sting of Commissioner Dave Young’s words when he argued gender dysphoria procedures are a choice and should not be covered by taxpayers.

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Robinson attended the commissioners' meeting and challenged them to rethink their position. It was the first time someone publicly questioned the decision.

“Fighting these systems gives me purpose,” she told The Enquirer in an interview before the meeting.

Robinson read a prepared speech to the commissioners. She spoke about Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old from Kings Mills who killed herself by stepping in front of a truck. The transgender teen left a suicide note filled with anguished words about gender identity and parental rejection.

Robinson's hands shook throughout.

When she was done, Commissioner Tom Grossmann immediately thanked her for coming.

"I really appreciate you coming forward," he said. "You shouldn’t be nervous at all. We appreciate you."

The encounter was mostly cordial, but didn't appear to change anyone's opinion.

Commissioner Young said the problem was not about transgender issues but the federal government's overreach.

"We're not trying to pick a fight with you or anyone else," he told Robinson. "We picked a fight with the federal government."

Last year, the county joined a lawsuit with other Ohio universities to fight the Affordable Care Act's method of funding a transition program for people signing up for coverage. That case is still pending.

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Young explained on Tuesday that gender reassignment surgery is not written into the health care act, but is nonetheless being mandated.

"It's in the last six months someone is telling us what we do have to do, which we don’t like," Young said.

Robinson responded: "Maybe someone needs to tell you to treat people like a (expletive) human being."

It was the most explosive moment of the meeting, one born out of Robinson's frustration for being misunderstood most of her life.

As early as Robinson can remember, she wanted to be a girl. She borrowed dresses from her sister. Then, her mom would find out and they would argue.

They moved to a new school district when Robinson was in kindergarten or first grade. Robinson wanted to use it as a fresh start, and present herself as a girl. Her parents refused, Robinson said, and her mom told her this was the final time they would talk about it.

Robinson then threw herself out of the van she was riding around the neighborhood in with her mom.

From then on, she conformed to what her parents wanted. But at Carlisle High School, she and her friends went through radical changes in appearance. First, they grew their hair out to look like hippies. Then, they became Goth and painted their nails.

For Robinson, it was a way to be herself when it wasn’t Halloween.

On Tuesday, Robinson wore earrings and a necklace. She passed out packets of information to the commissioners about transgender-related issues. She asked for a follow-up meeting.

The commissioners agreed to review the materials.