As advocates, we are asked frequently about the concrete steps we would like to see from our industry partners. Effective advocacy requires actionable items, clear direction, and tangible benefits for affected communities. With this in mind, we have established a few recommendations for our industry partners to consider when seeking to do “the next right thing” for Transgender populations. We chose to highlight Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming populations due to disparate impacts in health this population faces.
While reviewing, industry partners may notice certain common principles: leverage of positions of power in advocating for governmental recognition of personal dignity, protections of individual right to access to care, “centering” affected populations and population needs in funding and proposals, “filling” gaps in necessary medical knowledge with regard to the specific needs of affected population, partnership with smaller entities, more closely connected to or run by affected populations, and an introspective evaluation of our own operations. After all, leading by example empowers and invites other partners to join us in best practices.
Effective advocacy may require precision in action; it also requires broad understanding outside of traditional scope of one’s organization. In understanding the variety of socio-economic determinates in health, to effectively close the gaps of disparities, we must also work to affect change in areas outside of health.
Policy Recommendations and Action: Transgender Advocacy
While reviewing, industry partners may notice certain common principles: leverage of positions of power in advocating for governmental recognition of personal dignity, protections of individual right to access to care, “centering” affected populations and population needs in funding and proposals, “filling” gaps in necessary medical knowledge with regard to the specific needs of affected population, partnership with smaller entities, more closely connected to or run by affected populations, and an introspective evaluation of our own operations. After all, leading by example empowers and invites other partners to join us in best practices.
Effective advocacy may require precision in action; it also requires broad understanding outside of traditional scope of one’s organization. In understanding the variety of socio-economic determinates in health, to effectively close the gaps of disparities, we must also work to affect change in areas outside of health.
Policy Recommendations and Action: Transgender Advocacy
- Public comment on rulemaking:
- Religious Freedom/Conscience: “Religious freedom” is currently being used as a beacon call for restricting the rights and/or protections of LGBTQ persons. While not always specifically naming Transgender persons, the Trump Administration has preferred to use language regarding “medical sterilization”, a coded effort targeting transition related care such as cross-sex hormone replacement therapy and gender confirmation surgeries. Oppose these changes.
- Section 1557: The Trump Administration has chosen to not defend the reading of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act as interpreted by the Obama Administration. Government entities are enjoined from enforcing protections on the basis of gender identity and pregnancy history due to the Northern District of Texas ruling in December of 2016. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and U.S. Department of Justice has indicated the agencies will re-write the rule to exclude these protections. Oppose these changes.
- Amicus Briefs:
- Employment and other rights as described under the Civil Rights Act ("CRA")of 1964: Case law has begun to recognize the inclusion of gender identity as covered by the prohibition of sex based discrimination in the CRA. The Obama Administration adopted an interpretation stemming from the Price Waterhouse decision on sex stereotyping: “but for” the sex assigned at birth/biological anatomy of a person, entities would respect the rights and protections of a person as their self-identified gender. The Trump Administration is seeking to codify into case law a strict reading of the “sex” provisions of the as “anatomical sex” as opposed to gender identity. Oppose these arguments where possible via amicus briefs and sign-on letters.
- Funding and Programing:
- Transgender specific organizations are often in competition for grant funding with larger LGBTQ organizations: Prioritize “by/for” Community Based Organizations ("CBOs") and projects when issuing Requests For Proposals for Transgender specific grants.
- Expand funding in RFPs for Transgender-specific grants: Often, Transgender-specific grants are ambiguous in nature and limited in funding. Ensure each Transgender-specific grant RFP is large enough for 1 FTE and deliverables has measurable impact on Transgender populations. Consider seeking a Transgender consultant to help draft these grant RFP.
- Ad Hoc Funding: Seek out Transgender-specific CBOs and ask what services they lack funding for.
- Fully fund full-time and part-time internships: Transgender persons often lack formal education requirements for employment, most typically due to fears of harassment and increased poverty experiences. As a result, it is common for Transgender persons to seek “underground economy” work. Funding internships exempt from formal education requirements and accounting for previous work experience and lived experiences would provide an opportunity to reduce poverty among Transgender persons, ensure health insurance coverage, and position Transgender persons to build formal and meaningful work experience while also assisting funded entities on a variety of projects.
- Fund Transgender-specific depression coping skills programming.
- Internal Competencies:
- Ensure local offices receive Transgender cultural competency training annually: Hire “by/for” organizations local to each office. This is especially important for community liaisons and sales staff.
- Hire Transgender persons: Estimates show Transgender persons are 1-3% of the population. Perform an internal audit and ensure internal employment statistics reflect this population.
- Ensure company sponsored health insurance covers gender affirming care: Many insurance carriers impose burdensome bureaucratic barriers to coverage approval for gender affirming care; ie. Gender marker changes on government identification or name changes as evidence of “living as the desired gender”. To fulfill either of these, requires a court order. Making gender affirming care the only type of standard medical care that requires a court order on a consistent basis. Ensure employee plan offerings do not impose such barriers.
- Lobbying:
- Lobby on behalf of Transgender rights protections legislation: Both on the state and federal level.
- Lobby state insurance regulators to standardize policies for gender affirming care: Few states have a codified avenue for complaint when an insurance company refuses to cover or imposes burdensome requirements to gender affirming care coverage.
- Lobby for Federal Qualified Health Center ("FQHC") infrastructure funding: Many Transgender persons rely on FQHC’s for their gender affirming care. Unfortunately, the federal government has not issued physical infrastructure support funding for FQHCs in 4 years. Work to ensure FQHCs are appropriately funded.
- Lobby for mental health funding in schools: Limited to no funding is provided to include development of coping skills in children. Transgender children or children exploring their gender identity are prone to depression due to social and peer stigma. Work with education lobbying efforts to ensure funding and programmatic develop of effective empathy building and coping skills building.
- Invest and research:
- Invest in and include transgender persons in research for product development; including but not limited to clinical study, marketing, and Transgender-specific research. Develop research ethics protocols for including Transgender persons in clinical research. Ensure studies include socio-economic adherence barriers among Transgender populations and meaningful strategies to overcome.
- Areas of interest may include hormonal impacts on mental health, efficacy of products among Transgender populations, hormone replacement therapy impacts on efficacy of products, and more.
- Build Partnerships:
- With Transgender-specific CBOs and Transgender serving CBOs.
- With lobbying entities working on behalf of Transgender persons
- With patient advocacy organizations working at the intersections of health disparities affecting Transgender persons; ie. HIV, STIs, addiction, etc.
Disclaimer: Guest blogs do not necessarily reflect the views of the ADAP Advocacy Association, but rather they provide a neutral platform whereby the author serves to promote open, honest discussion about public health-related issues and updates.
