TRANS HEALTH CARE REFORM It's About Life and Death

[Butterfly]

TRANS HEALTH CARE REFORM It's About Life and Death
Conductive
By Eleanor J. Bader
03 October 2009


http://www.conducivemag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91:trans-health-care-reform-its-about-life-and-death829


Controversy over the "true" sex of South African 800-meter world champion Caster Semenya displays the anxiety many still have over gender. People that do not line up neatly as male or female face social ostracization, as well as outright hostility or violence. This can become a matter of life and death for those that decide to physically transgress the gender binary, not just due to physical attacks, but from the need for basic medical care. For transsexuals, trying to access health care can be an impossible ordeal, as it can result in being denied assistance by medical professionals, or being written off as having psychological issues. Writer Eleanor Bader looks at one facility, the Feminist Women's Health Center in Atlanta, that decided to break this trend. The Center offers a model for other medical facilities to proactively care for the trans community and prevent any more needless deaths due to ignorance and fear.