Unfilled prescriptions, missed checkups and loneliness: Experts worry about health consequences from states' anti-LGBTQ+ moves
https://19thnews.org/2024/03/anti-trans-bills-health-worry/
Story by Orion Rummler (19 March 2024)
This year, states have tried to prevent transgender people from using public bathrooms and from being able to update identity documents like driver's licenses. Legislators in multiple states are attempting to rewrite state code to define sex based on reproductive capacity, and to exclude gender identity from discrimination protections.
So far, these bills that aim to weaken civil rights protections for trans people, and to bar them from public facilities, aren't getting very far. Only five anti-LGBTQ+ bills have passed into law this year, according to the ACLU, and several states that have become notorious for advancing such legislation — like Florida, Utah and West Virginia — have ended their legislative sessions for the year.
Still, these efforts would have a disastrous impact on the lives of trans adults, and medical health professionals are worried about the long-term physical and mental health effects of the ongoing political effort to restrict LGBTQ+ rights. What's more, many of the active bills would create gaps in medical care for trans people during a time of heightened anxiety.
What do those worse health outcomes look like? Increased isolation, and not being able to participate in public life and engage in-person with community, leads to worse cardiovascular fitness and a higher likelihood of high cholesterol and hypertension. That, in turn, creates a higher risk for heart attacks and strokes. Isolation is also associated with worse cognitive function and decreased memory.
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