TRANSGENDER HEALTHCARE

By: Clementina Canava

Good healthcare or healthcare in general I believe is a necessity for
everyone. No one should feel discriminated against. Unfortunately 30 to 40
percent of the Transgender population do not have a regular physician due to
discrimination or fear of discrimination. Through recent years more and more
LGBTQ issues have come into mainstream news, the biggest one being same sex
marriage. Many people associate the gay movement with the transgender movement, and they
are associated with each other, but when it comes to issues the transgender movement is way
behind the gay movement. It is important that bring other issues to the surface such as
Transgender Healthcare. Both the Transgender community and health care providers need to be
provided with more information on healthcare for the transgender community.

Of course with any issue there are several variables that feed into the issue.
Discrimination against transgender
people is one of those variables. In the
work place 8.90% of transgender persons
have experienced mistreatment,
harassment, and/or discrimination in the
work place. Transgender persons are
twice as likely to be unemployed. Some
trans people, transgender women mostly,
resort to the sex work force to provide for themselves. This starts to create a domino effect in
terms of being able to afford healthcare or any treatments that might be needed. Discrimination is
the majority part of the social part of the issue when it comes to getting healthcare in the
transgender community.
For many people going to the doctors office can be uncomfortable. While looking at
different documentaries and talking to a couple of friends one of the most frequent issue with
going to the doctors office is using the right pronouns and the preferred name for the individual.
This is where healthcare providers need to have more knowledge on how to make a transgender
patient feel more comfortable while in their care. In the documentary I made to help promote this
issue I interviewed Sebastian Arreola. In the interview he states how the clinic he goes to to get
hormone therapy is very good about using the proper pronouns and preferred name of the patient
and according to him it helped to make the experience a good one. Unfortunately not every
transgender person has had such a positive experience with healthcare. This is why this issue

needs to become mainstream news and needs to be pushed, so that we can have Healthcare
equality.
Transgender individuals just like any other individual deserve proper care in a healthcare
environment. This is the main problem when it comes to the medical part of the issue. Most
healthcare providers will eventually have a transgender patient in their years of practice.
Therefore they need to know what are the appropriate questions as well as the proper exams that
need to be done. There are many discrepancies when it comes to different healthcare providers.
Many transgender persons get their information off of the internet instead of from a credible
resource. This causes a lot of discrepancy in the transgender community.
Proper Healthcare is a right that every individual should have.

References
Webster, C., Elliott, A., (2013, January 5). Health Matters: Transgender Womens Health.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyg3EBbR5c0
New Internationalists (2015, Oct). TransgenderTHE FACTS. Retrieved from http://0search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=a9h&AN=109426379&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Canava, C., (2015, November 22). Transgender Healthcare. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adFdJE4NsvM