Two-Thirds of Massachusetts Transgenders Experience Discrimination
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
The report – entitled Project VOICE (Voicing Our Individual and Community Experiences – was released by The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) and The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health. The survey was launched as a community-based statewide stress and health needs assessment.
“The initial findings of Project VOICE may be startling to those unaware of the persistent and ongoing discrimination faced by transgender and gender nonconforming people,” said Dr. Sari Reisner, ScD, transgender health researcher and LifeSkills Investigator at Fenway. “Unfortunately, those of us who work with gender minority communities know that mistreatment is all too common.”
The report states that the Gender Identity Nondisrimination Act – passed in 2011 and implemented in 2012 – does not cover public accommodations, which is any place open to the public that provides goods or services.
Key Findings
In addition to Massachusetts transgender residents reporting that they have experienced discrimination, the report also highlights that those who experienced discrimination were nearly twice as likely to report adverse physical and mental health outcomes.
Those who reported discrimination said that public transportation, retail businesses, restaurants, public gathering spaces, and health care facilities were the places that they were most frequently discriminated in.
Respondents also reported that they had to teach their healthcare provider about transgender health issues (29-percent) and that they had not seen a doctor in the past year (28-percent).
Equal Access
The report also highlights a Senate bill – S643, An Act relative to equal access in hospitals, public transportation, nursing homes, supermarkets, retail establishments, and all other places open to the public – as an important piece of legislation that would aid in implementing public accommodations protections left out of the 2011 bill.
“Passage and enforcement of a gender identity nondiscrimination law that provides protections in public accommodations, including health care settings, is a critical public health policy approach needed to address transgender health inequities,” said the executive summary of the report. “Furthermore, health care providers must become trained to provide clinically and culturally competent health care to transgender patients. By guaranteeing equal rights, health equality, and justice, we can work to make this happen—for the improvement of the transgender population and society as a whole.”
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