The Transgender Community
Excerpt from "Understanding the Transgender Community":
"Transgender people come from all walks of life. We are dads and moms, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. We are your coworkers, and your neighbors. We are 7-year-old children and 70-year-old grandparents. We are a diverse community, representing all racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as faith backgrounds.
The word “transgender” – or trans – is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned to us at birth. Although the word “transgender” and our modern definition of it only came into use in the late 20th century, people who would fit under this definition have existed in every culture throughout recorded history.
The transgender community is incredibly diverse. Some transgender people identify as male or female, and some identify as genderqueer, nonbinary, agender, or somewhere else on or outside of the spectrum of what we understand gender to be. Some of us take hormones and have surgery as part of our transition, and some don’t. Some choose to openly identify as transgender, while others simply identify as men or women.
While the visibility of transgender people is increasing in popular culture and daily life, we still face severe discrimination, stigma and systemic inequality. Some of the specific issues facing the transgender community are:
Lack of legal protection
Poverty
Harassment and stigma
Anti-transgender violence
Barriers to healthcare
Identity Documents
While advocates continue working to remedy these disparities, change cannot come too soon for transgender people. Visibility – especially positive images of transgender people in the media and society – continues to make a critical difference for us; but visibility is not enough and comes with real risks to our safety, especially for those of us who are part of other marginalized communities."
Trans Health Care Disparities
Until 2013, transgender status was included as a "gender identity disorder" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), when it was replaced as a more patient-centered term "gender dysphoria."
Data on HIV rates in transgender persons are sparse, but one systematic review estimated an HIV prevalence of approximately 28% in transgender women in the United States.
(Herbst JH, et al. Estimating HIV prevalence and risk behaviors of transgender persons in the United States: a systematic review. AIDS Behav. 2008;12(1):1-17)
Articles on Transgender Patients
- Health Care Experiences of Transgender AdultsThis integrated literature review, framed by the gender affirmation framework, sought to contextualize the experiences of transgender adults interfacing with health care after the release of Healthy People 2020. The study revealed numerous obstacles accessing health care, discrimination from health care professionals and clinicians, restricted health insurance benefits for medically necessary care, and barriers to medically necessary care, such as cross-sex hormones, as well as primary and preventative health care.
- Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Patient Experiences At A Family Medicine ClinicTransgender and gender nonconforming
(TGNC) patients have a wide array
of often negative experiences when
accessing health care, and may
encounter insensitive or subcompetent
care; thus, the authors conducted a
qualitative study with patients at one
family medicine residency clinic to assess
how primary care clinics can improve
care for TGNC patients. - Gender Dysphoria in AdultsWhile this article is aimed at practicing psychiatrists, the guidance and history of transgender mental health care provided in this article is useful to any health care practitioner.