Queer & Trans Health at UCSB

Tomorrow evening, Pacific Pride Foundation is hosting a community town hall featuring a panel of public health experts and community leaders to answer vital questions about MPX (Monkeypox). You can register at bit.ly/8mW4hd

Amazing news!

BILL PASSES CA SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO GENDER AFFIRMING CARE

SB 923, the Gender Affirming Care Act, would ensure trans, gender-non-conforming, & intersex (TGI) patients receive appropriate healthcare. It also requires health providers and staff who interact with TGI people to undergo cultural competency training to help them provide inclusive care.

SACRAMENTO - Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco)’s Senate Bill 923 passed the Senate Health Committee yesterday afternoon with a 8 -2 vote. SB 923, the Gender Affirming Care Act, would set California apart from states throughout the country, where that has been a wave of anti-transgender measures. The Gender Affirming Care Act would address the dire need for affirming care and place California at the cutting edge of inclusive health care policies for TGI people.

The bill employs multiple strategies to improve access to affirming care for transgender, gender nonconforming, and intersex (TGI) Californians. Specifically, SB 923 would:

* Require continuing medical education to incorporate evidence-based TGI cultural competency training.
* Require evidence-based TGI cultural competency training for health plan staff who directly work with enrollees.
* Track and monitor complaints and publicly post findings in health regulators’ annual reports or website.
* Require health plans to make available through their call center and webpage, a list of all in-network providers who offer gender-affirming services.
* Lastly, the Health & Human Services Agency will convene a working group comprised of various representatives to develop quality standards with input from at least 3 TGI-serving organizations who will recommend training curriculum.


SB 923 builds on the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund, administered by the Office of Health Equity within the State Department of Public Health, for the purpose of grant funding focused on coordinating trans-inclusive health care for individuals who identify as TGI.

Many TGI Californians encounter discrimination and difficulty accessing the health care they need. TGI Californians report discrimination including being refused treatment, verbally harassed, physically or sexually assaulted, or having to teach the provider about transgender people in order to receive appropriate care.

In a testimony provided by mental health professional Erin Pollard, M.A., LMFT, LPCC she stated, “My clients regularly bring me stories of their denial of treatment, harassment, and misinformation by medical and mental health clinicians. My TGI clients are often left reasonably fearful and avoidant of engagement with the medical community. We must establish better access to gender affirming trainings for clinicians and the ability for consumers to find and access the care they need.”

The Williams Institute estimates that in the state of California, at least 218,400 individuals identify as transgender. Despite making up a significant portion of the State’s population, TGI people often do not receive the health care they need. SB 923 would require an individual to complete a refresher course if a complaint has been filed, and a decision has been made in favor of the complainant, against that individual for not providing trans-inclusive health care, or on a more frequent basis if deemed necessary.

“Proper gender-affirming care can alleviate a patient’s mental and emotional distress and lead to significant improvements in the overall well-being of the TGI community. We are grateful that TGI people will be able to receive the health care they deserve as human beings.” stated Dannie Ceseña, the Transgender Health Equity Manager for the California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network.

SB 923 is another step towards achieving health equity for TGI people. Previously, Senator Wiener authored SB 225, known as the Bodily Autonomy, Dignity and Choice Act, last January with the hope of moving it out of the Legislature this session. Unfortunately, the legislation was not able to gain enough support to pass out of the Senate’s Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development, and was pulled from the hearing in early January, 2022. Evidently, there is still much advocacy and cultural humility training needed to ensure providers are able to properly care for TGI patients.

SB 923 is co-sponsored by Break The Binary LLC, California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network, California TRANScends, Equality California, Gender Justice LA, National Health Law Program, Orange County TransLatinas, Q***r Works, Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance, San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives, The TransPower Project, TransCanWork, Trans Community Project, Trans Family Support Services, Transgender Health and Wellness Center, Tranz of Anarchii INC, Unique Woman’s Coalition (UWC), Unity Hope, and Western Center on Law & Poverty.

July 14th is International Nonbinary People's Day. Pride in identity and community affirmation are strongly protective against negative health outcomes associated with stigma, so celebrate your nonbinary friends today and every day.

Happy International Nonbinary People's Day to all nonbinary students, staff, and faculty from the UCSB Student Affairs Health Equity Initiative.

Spring 2021 Point Foundation BIPOC Scholarship closes soon!

Point Foundation is proud to announce its new scholarship initiative for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities who identify as LGBTQ. In addition to identifying as BIPOC and LGBTQ, eligible students must be currently enrolled and attending community college, four-year colleges and universities, or graduate programs, or have been accepted to a program for summer or fall 2021 in the U.S., and also: Maintain a full-time or part-time course load; Demonstrate a proven commitment to furthering their education.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

[Image description: flyer for the Spring 2021 BIPOC Scholarship for LGBTQ Students from Point Foundation. Flyer shows a cartoon of five BIPOC students reading books and working on laptops, all smiling. They are sitting on and near giant books.

Text:
Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Scholarship for LGBTQ Students
April 15 2021-May 17 2021
Applications are now open!

Who should apply?
-Members of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities who identify as LGBTQ
-Students who are enrolled in community college, four-year-colleges & universities, or graduate programs who are also
-maintaining a full-time or part-time courseload
-demonstrating a proven commitment to furthering their education

How Point will support
-funding for tuition & other education-related expenses
-access to Point's Expert Coaching Panel
-Invitations to virtual leadership events & panel discussions
-Introduction to the Point Foundation network of LGBTQ scholars, more than 300 alumni, and many others dedicated to seeing LGBTQ students succeed

For more information, visis: pointfoundation.org/bipoc-scholarship]

We are excited to announce our MENASA Culture Week happening May 10-15! Join us as we explore Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian culture in our week of events. We're kicking off the week with our annual Bazaar on Monday 5/10, featuring the center's cultural orgs! Zoom links can be found in the linktree in our bio! See you all soon😆

Listos California

UCSB alum Teralyn Renea talks COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine hesitation, and anti-Black medical racism. https://youtu.be/qI9QDdjqOTM

www.youtube.com

The Health Equity program within UCSB health services was established in collaboration between students and staff following a 2017 Town Hall at the RCSGD, and staying in touch with students has remained an important priority in the years since.

A lot has changed over the last four years in terms of policy and staff at UCSB and in terms of the legal, political, and material circumstances of the community and the world. We're so excited to be holding listening sessions this month to check in on where we started, what we've done so far, and current priorities.

These listening sessions will start off with a brief history of the health equity program at UCSB and a discussion of both resolved issues and ongoing challenges. Then we'll open the floor to students to discuss what else we should know and what current priorities are for students.

Following these sessions, we'll meet with Student Health Leadership in a series of meetings to discuss what we learned and create an updated strategy, which we will report back to students within one month.

If you can't make it to these sessions but you'd still like to chat with us, feel free to reach out via FB or reach out through the UCSB Student Health patient feedback options listed here: https://studenthealth.sa.ucsb.edu/patient-feedback

The UCSB Trans Care Team is partnering with the Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity this month for two listening sessions on April 13 for undergraduates and April 20 for graduate students.

We know that universities often stay in a perpetual "first steps" mode that degrades accountability and trust, and that asking for feedback without concrete action steps does more harm than good. These listening sessions are NOT a first step, they are one stage of an ongoing accountability process that we know needs to be transparent.

We will be starting these sessions by giving a super-brief history of the Health Equity Initiative at UCSB and summarizing what we have heard from students already, what we have done so far, and what problems we know remain. Then we will open the floor to students. We want to make sure we're on the same page as students we may not have heard from previously, and stay clear on student priorities and expectations. The purpose of this listening session is not to get a "first" sense of what students experience but to facilitate ongoing clarity and collaboration between students and clinical providers and policy-makers.

As soon as possible after the listening session (scheduling is happening now), the Trans Care Team will meet with the executive director. Our first meeting will be a report back regarding the listening session, and subsequent meetings will address adjustments to strategy and priorities based on student feedback. We are taking full responsibility for this process, but these meetings are open to any students who wish to participate.

Within one month of our listening sessions, we will report back to students about how we plan to address the identified issues, including a clear timeline for action, as we did following similar listening sessions in 2017. The timeline will act as a living document to guide action and accountability as the projects are completed.

This structure was very effective in 2017 to address high-priority issues identified by students, and we know that accountability structures are needed to ensure that new priorities are also handled appropriately.

Check back soon for event posts about these listening sessions, and as always feel free to reach out directly to any of the Trans Care Team: https://studenthealth.sa.ucsb.edu/medical-services/lgbtqq-services/transgender-health-care