I have waited with clammy palms in many doctors’ offices. I mentally prepare myself for all medical appointments, fighting against anxiety by listing out what I need to communicate to my care provider, rehearsing the most concise words to use to avoid being spoken over or having my needs assumed.
Accessing health care despite the fear of discrimination or misunderstanding has become a deliberate, strategic act for me.
There are specific wellness needs for queer and trans patients compared to those who are straight and cis. Proper sexual health resources and education, reproductive health access, mental-health support, and gender-affirming care are all services that queer folks struggle to access. Providers often overlook or are not educated on queer-competent care, leaving our needs unmet.
I have seen my queer and trans friends avoid accessing health care in fear of facing discrimination and a lack of accessible services. I have entered many medical appointments feeling as if I had to prove myself and my queerness.
Informed care providers are necessary to change this. Open conversations and education systems on queer and trans care are essential for all health-care providers. The approach that patients are cis and straight until proven otherwise needs to be abandoned.
There is incredible work taking place to aid gender- and sexuality-comprehensive health care. Here in Victoria, Foundry operates a clinic that has created an open, comfortable, and accessible space for queer health to thrive, providing health care, sexual-health resources, trans care, and youth counselling.
It’s the first clinic that I, as a queer woman, have felt met my wellness needs. There is an amazing community of providers working toward meeting what hasn’t been met within health care.
This growing culture of accessibility in the medical field is what excites and motivates me to pursue a medical career and to join a community of queer-comprehensive caregivers.
Still, it needs to be addressed that in the past, queer-comprehensive health care hasn’t existed. This lack of accessibility has a long and painful history, and it continues to hold queer individuals and families back from a human right they have been promised.
The systematic restraint that surrounds so much of our lives as queer people cuts deep into our access to health care.