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Their mission:
I AM: Trans People Speak COMMUNITY is a project to raise awareness
about the diversity that exists within transgender communities. It
gives a voice to transgender individuals, as well as their families,
friends, and allies.Together we can make our own media and continue to make a positive change in the representation of transgender people. We do this by
focusing on the full individual. Transgender people come from a range
of experiences and backgrounds, including age, race, ethnicity, gender
expression, and sexual orientation.This is the space to empower yourself and your community by sharing
your own experiences.
Manuel A. Eskildsen, MD writes:
Long after I had asked the paramedics to stop , I was more dejected and frustrated by this patient’s death than by almost any I had experienced as a physician.
Sure, performing CPR after cardiopulmonary arrest on a frail man in his late 90s was likely to be an exercise in futility. And, in retrospect, we should have been more aggressive at the nursing home about suggesting he change his status from “full code” to “do not resuscitate.” But that wasn’t the main reason this man’s death continued to gnaw at me.
My patient was gay, and as a gay geriatrician I had felt a connection with him unlike any I’d had with my other patients. We never directly discussed his sexuality; initially, I only knew that he was a lifelong bachelor and a retired history professor who had taught for many years at Emory University in Atlanta.
In time, as he let his guard down, I learned that what he considered his life’s work and true love was the restoration of the historic farmhouse he owned in rural Georgia, where he had an enormous garden that was his pride and joy. Eventually, this World War II veteran told me about his postwar years as a graduate student in Chicago, where he formed close relationships with a few other men.
(Follow the link to read more.)
PRIDE in Healthcare received a message from Michael Ioerger, a psychological researcher who studies LGBTQ healthcare at Colorado State University. He is currently working on collecting data for study investigating LGBT persons’ perceptions of their primary care providers and wishes to reach out to the broadest, most diverse group of LGBTQ people possible. He has asked PRIDE in Healthcare to pass along the study’s participant recruitment notice. Please read it below. If you self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender and have a primary care physician, do your part to help advance research in this historically neglected area.
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Participant Recruitment Notice:
Perceptions of GLBT Health Care
We are conducting an on-line study at Colorado State University to assess gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons’ perceptions of their primary care medical providers. The only requirements for participation in this study are that you are at least 18 years of age or older, self-identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, and currently have a primary care physician.
Participation in this research requires only that you complete a brief survey that asks questions about you and your perceptions of your primary care physician. We do not ask questions that require you to provide any personally identifying information, or to provide any information about the identity of your primary care physician. Your responses will be kept strictly confidential, and all data will be encrypted using the same standards that businesses use for handling credit card information.
If you are interested in participating in this research, please click on the link below for more information.
https://www.psychdata.com/s.asp?SID=143991
Principal Researcher: Dr. Jennifer J. Harman
Co-Investigators: Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller and Michael Ioerger
This project has been approved by the Colorado State University Institutional Review Board (Protocol #11-2944H).
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Alie arrived at our 1st-grade classroom wearing a sweatshirt with a hood. I asked her to take off her hood, and she refused. I thought she was just being difficult and ignored it. After breakfast we got in line for art, and I noticed that she still had not removed her hood. When we arrived at the art room, I said: “Allie, I’m not playing. It’s time for art. The rule is no hoods or hats in school.”
She looked up with tears in her eyes and I realized there was something wrong. Her classmates went into the art room and we moved to the art storage area so her classmates wouldn’t hear our conversation. I softened my tone and asked her if she’d like to tell me what was wrong.
“My ponytail,” she cried.
“Can I see?” I asked.
She nodded and pulled down her hood. Allie’s braids had come undone overnight and there hadn’t been time to redo them in the morning, so they had to be put back in a ponytail. It was high up on the back of her head like those of many girls in our class, but I could see that to Allie it just felt wrong. With Allie’s permission, I took the elastic out and re-braided her hair so it could hang down.
“How’s that?” I asked.
She smiled. “Good,” she said and skipped off to join her friends in art.
‘Why Do You Look Like a Boy?’
For over eight decades, rape was defined as forcible male penile penetration of a female. A vast number of sexual crimes were not counted, including oral and anal penetration, or instances when a victim was unable to give consent. The new definition makes up for these oversights. It also expands the definition to reflect that anyone—male, female, or transgender—can be a victim of rape.
This article is overall a nice story, with some good discussion of puberty-blockers and gender diversity in children. It mentions The Children’s Hospital Gender Management Services Clinic in Boston.
There are still some some issues of gender essentialism present (which may or may not be problematic), but feel free to discuss!
This links to some great resources from some tips on how to be an effective and engaged ally to transgender, genderqueer communities all the way to a list of recommended readings Medical and Mental Health Providers.
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has come out with a new statement for their members: it’s time to prepare to work with transgender patients.
To address the significant health care disparities of transgender individuals and to improve their access to care, ob-gyns should prepare to provide routine treatment and screening or refer them to other physicians, according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (The College). In a Committee Opinion published today, The College also states its opposition to gender identity discrimination and supports both public and private health insurance coverage for gender identity disorder treatment.
I have criticized ACOG in the past for their policies regarding home birth and midwifery care, but this statement is really good news and an important step for transgender health care.
Their statement specifically addresses the gynecological needs of transgender men, who may still require cervical and breast cancer screenings, as well as other gynecological (and even obstetric) care.
“We need to make our offices settings that treat all patients with respect,” said Dr. Buyers. The College offers ob-gyns suggestions on how to create an office environment that is welcoming to transgender patients. For instance, asking patients their preferred name and pronoun, posting non-discrimination policies, ensuring confidentiality, and offering sensitivity training for staff are all steps that signal acceptance and let patients know that they will be treated with dignity. “We want the transgender community to know that we, as ob-gyns, care about their health.”
I hope that their members follow this important advice.
(via lilylunastardust)


