In recent years, several laws targeting transgender adults have been proposed or enacted. These laws eliminate Medicaid coverage for transgender healthcare, permit pharmacists and hospital systems to discriminate against transgender patients, and impose restrictions on providers in various ways. Until recently, little information was available on how these new statutes affect transgender adults. While their care is often not explicitly prohibited, they may still experience disruptions due to anti-transgender laws. Now, a just released Data for Progress poll reveals that 24% of transgender adults have had their healthcare disrupted or discontinued as a result of anti-transgender legislation.
The survey, focusing on transgender and LGBTQ+ respondents, specifically questioned transgender individuals about the impact of anti-transgender policies or rhetoric on their lives. Among the transgender respondents, 24% reported that their access to gender-affirming care was interrupted or discontinued in the past year. Considering the Williams Institute’s estimation of 1.6 million transgender Americans, this percentage translates to more than 380,000 transgender adults whose care has been disrupted by recent anti-transgender legislation or rhetoric.
You can see the results of this poll question here:
While the survey does not detail the specific disruptions to healthcare access, a range of recent legislative actions and policy amendments may play a role. Several laws and updates in state policy have barred Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care. For example, South Carolina has recently revised its policy to eliminate coverage of transgender healthcare for individuals of all ages. In addition, states such as Florida have introduced strict restrictions, effectively banning up to 80% of all gender-affirming care for transgender adults within the state. A number of states have also enacted laws allowing religious-based medical discrimination against transgender individuals, allowing doctors, pharmacists, and even receptionists and cashiers to decline the dispensation of hormone prescriptions to transgender people. Furthermore, Idaho has recently passed legislation that prohibits the use of public funds or facilities for providing any gender-affirming care, potentially causing significant disruptions to transgender healthcare within the state.
The findings are significant, and show that transgender youth are not the only ones impacted by recent anti-transgender legislation. In addition to the 50% of transgender youth that live in states that have barred or heavily restricted gender affirming care, transgender adults appear to also be impacted by recent anti-trans legislation and rhetoric.
The consequences of recent legislation and rhetoric extend beyond disruptions in medical care. The survey also inquired about the concerns transgender individuals have regarding discrimination and harassment. The findings are alarming: 68% of transgender adults express concern about facing discrimination and harassment in restrooms, 64% report similar apprehensions about nightclubs, and 62% fear engaging in public displays of affection with their partners. As a result of these concerns, 44% of transgender adults indicate they have contemplated relocating or have already relocated from their community or state due to anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
See this question of high levels of concern from transgender people over several basic activities:
Anti-transgender policies targeting adults seem to be increasingly prevalent. In several states, legislation has been proposed and passed to end all legal recognition of transgender individuals. Additionally, recent audio recordings from Republican legislators in Ohio and Michigan reveal an “endgame” aimed at ending transgender care “for everyone.” Before this latest poll, the extent of the disruption caused by these laws and policies on transgender adults was largely unclear. Many are now finding themselves forced to leave their states simply to access necessary care.
This piece was republished with permission from Erin In The Morning.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy