Taking Action for Trans* Rights: Our Favorite Tools, Resources, and Data

• Transgender and Nonbinary health is inextricably tied to gender, and health outcomes are deeply dependent on how TGNB people are accepted—both in their personal and professional lives, and by their communities and society as a whole:

[TGNB] health is dependent upon not only good clinical care but also social and political climates that provide and ensure social tolerance, equality, and the full rights of citizenship. Health is promoted through public policies and legal reforms that promote tolerance and equity. -World Professional Association for Transgender Health

• Transgender and Nonbinary people frequently grapple with increased mental health struggles (81.7% of Transgender people have seriously thought about suicide; 40% have had at least one suicide attempt) and difficulty accessing appropriate medical care, often due to under-educated physicians, insurance coverage complications, and discrimination

• Acknowledgement, acceptance, and belonging have direct positive impacts on trans and nonbinary peoples’ mental health and health outcomes. When the initial steps of trans and nonbinary individuals’ social transition are accepted by family, peers, and providers, health and mental health outcomes improve significantly

• Early acceptance and gender-affirming care is especially beneficial for children and youth: TGNB youth whose pronouns and chosen names are respected in key contexts (such as school, home, work, and with friends) experience significantly improved health outcomes, including:

• 71% fewer symptoms of severe depression

• 34% decrease in reported thoughts of suicide

• 65% decrease in suicidal attempts

• Advocates are deeply concerned about the impacts of the current national climate on the already rising suicide rates among transgender youth—especially Black transgender and nonbinary youth

• Many transgender and nonbinary people across the U.S.—especially TGNB youth—are looking for ways to leave their home states to find clinics still providing gender-affirming care

• Trans and nonbinary people taking hormones as part of their medical transition who live in states that have banned hormone therapy are being forced to detransition, unless they are able to safely travel to a nearby state to continue therapy

• Insurance coverage is disrupted for many transgender and nonbinary people, increasing barriers to care access and disproportionately high costs for TGNB people

• Bans on discussing gender or orientation in schools, using proper pronouns, and accessing public facilities all diminish TGNB peoples’ sense of belonging, widening health inequity

• Expand culturally-competent, gender-affirming health care and mental health care for LGBTQ+ people of all ages

• Learn more about how gender identity and expression impacts health and mental health outcomes

• Learn more about social transition and how the use of proper personal pronouns and chosen names improves health outcomes and saves lives, especially for trans youth

• Find and support states passing pro-trans legislation, like Washington’s new law protecting trans youth from estranged parents, and legislation “designed to shield transgender health care through legal protections, health care coverage and access”

• Advocate for better TGNB data, and for accurate, representative data to be used in decision-making processes

• Learn about, support, and amplify transgender and nonbinary leaders, activists, and content creators, as well as TGNB-lead organizations and initiatives

• Gender-affirming care (GAC) is accessed by people of all ages and genders, and includes a wide range of social and medical interventions. For cisgender people, this might look like a young woman seeking treatment for the removal of dark body hair, a 9-year-old girl beginning hormone blockers to pause early menstruation, or an adult man undergoing hormone therapy to boost low testosterone levels.
• For trans and nonbinary people, gender-affirming care is an often life-saving measure that prevents suicide and has helped reduce the disproportionately high rate of suicidal ideation, behaviors, and attempts among gender expansive people, especially children and youth
• GAC for TGNB youth includes using correct personal pronouns and names and adjusting clothing and outward gender expression to match a person’s true gender. It can also include hormone blockers, which pause hormonal development and give youth time to learn about themselves and their bodies, and a range of other non-surgical healthcare options.
• GAC does not include invasive surgeries for young children 
• Gender-affirming surgery for minors is uncommon (in 2020 only 203 minors received gender-affirming surgeries) and requires both prior therapy and parental consent. In contrast, cosmetic surgeries for minors do not require prior therapy and are significantly more common (in 2020, 3,200 girls ages 13 to 19 received cosmetic breast implants and another 4,700 had breast reductions.)

• Advocate for gender-affirming care for all people, especially trans and nonbinary youth
• Educate yourself, your community, and your organization on what gender-affirming care is, what it includes, and what it does not include
• Add protective policies and procedures in workplaces to support TGNB youth
• Fund, improve, and increase access to healthcare and mental healthcare for children and youth, regardless of gender or perceived gender
• Talk to children and youth in your life about allyship and acceptance
• Learn more about activism in schools and care facilities

• In the mid-1900s, doctors began routinely performing surgeries on intersex infants and children to make them appear more “normal” by binary gender standards. These surgeries are still happening today, despite not being medically necessary and being widely condemned by the Intersex community

• LGBTQ+ advocates have been working for decades to ban non-consensual, often irreversible surgeries on Intersex infants and children who are too young to understand information and decisions regarding their own bodies, medical care, gender, and needs

• All children—including intersex, transgender, nonbinary, and cisgender—deserve the opportunity to determine their own expression and identity, which includes the right to understand and consent to non-emergent medical procedures

• End involuntary, unnecessary gender reassignment and sterilization surgeries of intersex infants and children
• Include the Intersex community and Intersex voice in all discussions, policies, and programs related to gender, gender-affirming care, reproductive health, LGBTQ+ justice, cultural responsiveness, and care services in general
• Center intersectionality and coalition-building between the reproductive justice, disability justice, and LGBTQ+ justice movements

• Both social and medical transition have significant positive impacts on the health and mental health outcomes of transgender and nonbinary adults

• Hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries are two ways that TGNB people alleviate gender dysphoria and align their outward appearance with their true gender identity

• In general, very few adults regret having gender-affirming surgery (a study on regret after gender-affirming surgery found that 99.7% of trans individuals were satisfied with their surgery), while thousands of non-GAC cosmetic surgery patients are unhappy with their results (many doctors devote up to 50% of their practice to revision surgeries).

• Current research shows that 5-15% of people interested in cosmetic surgeries may have body dysmorphic disorder, yet no additional restrictions are being suggested to assess cisgender peoples’ mental health prior to undergoing cosmetic surgery

• Transgender and nonbinary adults should have the same rights, liberties, opportunities, and access that cisgender adults have, including the right to self-expression, self-determination, and full autonomy over their bodies and medical care

• Some states are working to ban care for transgender adults up to 26 years of age
• New restrictions on hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care is causing clinic closures, impacting trans and nonbinary people of all ages
• In contradiction with legislation based on the concept of preserving fertility, many states banning trans-affirming care still allow for coerced and nonconsensual sterilization of people who are disabled, incarcerated, and/or detained im/migrants
• Many of these states (including states banning gender-affirming care for trans people) still require transgender and nonbinary people to have proof of surgery for identification document updates

• Trans and nonbinary people are people! Advocate for equity, justice, and well-being for Transgender and Nonbinary people
• Reinstate the right for adults to make their own medical decisions regardless of their gender or perceived gender
• Advocate for all states to accept transgender and nonbinary peoples’ identification document updates without proof of surgeries
• Learn about moving beyond allyship and partnering with trans and nonbinary people to create positive change across critical systems, including places of work, education, and power