Out Today: Robust Directory of Transgender-Friendly Medical and Legal Services Fills Critical Need for Trans Southerners
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2018
Adam Polaski | 610.306.7956 | adam@southernequality.org
Out Today: Robust Directory of Transgender-Friendly Medical
and Legal Services Fills Critical Need for Trans Southerners
ASHEVILLE, NC – Today the Campaign for Southern Equality released an updated and expanded version of Trans in the South: A Guide to Resources and Services to help transgender Southerners access the medical and legal services they need. The new edition of Trans in the South features an independently-vetted directory of more than 400 trans-friendly service providers – including primary care doctors, attorneys, counselors, endocrinologists, and more – across 13 Southern states. The guide is available in English and Spanish at www.southernequality.org/TransInTheSouth.
According to 2016 data published by the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, approximately 500,000 trans people live in the South. But many transgender Southerners report experiencing barriers to accessing basic services and a lack of respect, dignity, and understanding in medical settings. Nationally, data suggests that approximately 25 percent of transgender people do not seek health care at all because of a fear of discrimination.
Ivy Gibson-Hill, Community Health Program Director at the Campaign for Southern Equality, said today: “We know that trans folks face disparities in nearly every sphere of life, but in health care particularly. Finding a doctor or attorney who will treat you with dignity and respect can be a really overwhelming task as a Southern trans person. The Trans in the South guide is a joint effort by trans leaders across the South to increase our community’s access to competent care and make it easier to find friendly providers and resources.”
Last month the Southern LGBTQ Health Initiative, a collaboration between the Campaign for Southern Equality and Western North Carolina Community Health Services (WNCCHS), released a report that captured trans and nonbinary Southerners’ experiences accessing health care. The groundbreaking report featured conclusions from the Trans Health Focus Group Project, which included the voices of nearly 50 trans and nonbinary people from six Southern states. The report, available here, provides qualitative data on the many roadblocks trans Southerners face when seeking health care.
Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, said: “We are working toward a South where transgender people can access their basic human rights – including their rights to health care and legal protections – without leaving their hometowns, no matter where they live. Our recommendations from the Trans Health Focus Group can create long-term, desperately needed change for trans Southerners. Until that day comes, we’ll keep creating resources like the Trans in the South guide to create bridges into the care, services and support people need and deserve.”
The guide can be accessed at www.southernequality.org/TransInTheSouth
### Based in Asheville, NC, the Campaign for Southern Equality works for full LGBTQ equality across the South. Our work is rooted in commitments to equity in race, gender and class. http://www.southernequality.org