What does gender-affirming care for minors actually entail?
Protesters of Kentucky Senate bill SB150, known as the Transgender Health Bill, cheer on speakers during a rally on the lawn of the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., March 29, 2023. Several families on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, challenged Kentucky's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youths, claiming the prohibition interferes with parental rights to seek established medical treatment for their children. Timothy D. Easley/AP, file
Many of the states around Illinois have enacted laws that not only prevent trans youth from accessing that care but also take those who are already getting that care off of it. Major medical associations have recognized the role and importance of gender-affirming care, but that care has still come under fire, and misinformation and even disinformation about it run rampant.
Next week, we’ll be talking with some trans adults and healthcare providers here in Illinois about what care for them can and does look like, as well as the difference that makes, but today, for the entire program, we unpacked gender-affirming care for trans youth – what it is, and what it isn’t.
GUESTS:
Dr. Diane Alexander
Psychologist in Champaign-Urbana, trans woman
Dr. Sue Jordan
Director of the Gender Pathways Program, Northwestern Medicine | Assistant Professor, Plastic Surgery, Northwestern Medicine
Jaeden Seaman-Kesler
Trans man in Champaign-Urbana
Meighan Hopper
Parent of an 18-year-old trans man
alithia zamantakis
Postdoctoral fellow in LGBT Health, Northwestern University
Prepared for web by Owen Henderson
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