Elective Surgery? Trans Healthcare and COVID-19

Photo courtesy of the host

Overview

Transgender health care is precarious at anytime, but the COVID-19 crisis has stretched the delivery of healthcare to transgender and gender non-conforming people to the breaking point.

From trans people avoiding providers during this emergency out of fear of discrimination, to the cancellation of gender-affirming surgeries, trans people are delaying potentially life-saving care. Moreover the handful of trans-specific healthcare providers which do exist are facing financial hardship, due to the coronavirus epidemic. All of these trends are taking place against the backdrop of the Trump Administration’s drive to deny trans people equal access to healthcare and a movement in twenty states to deny healthcare to trans teens.

Watch live at 7pm ET:

Imara talks with Dr. Asa Radix, Senior Director of Research and Education at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, Evan Urquhart, Contributor at Slate Magazine and Tati Bellamy-Walker, Senior Fellow at Business Insider. Artist Mojo Disco will also discuss their latest film short about their experience with hormone therapy.

The trans community, allies and those who wish to learn more are all welcome to join us to share experiences, insights, questions and celebrations by tweeting @TheGreeneSpace and using the hashtags #translash #livesatstake.

Tati Bellamy Walker is a recent graduate of the Craig Newmark School of Journalism. Currently, he covers strategy and the future of work at Business Insider. His work has appeared in Inc., The Daily Beast, NBC, and CNN.

Mojo Disco is a multi-talented Personality, Curator, Designer, Poet, +Model, and Artist from NYC. She is the creator of the popular underground event Paint And Poetry, NYFW show producer and runway coach, motivational speaker, writer, and teaching artist for the City of New York. Mojo is an activist for the Arts, Equality, and Love.

Evan Urquhart is a freelance writer living in northern California. You can find him on Twitter @e_urq.

Dr. Asa Radix is a clinician, educator, and researcher whose main area of expertise is in transgender health and HIV. Asa is the Senior Director of Research and Education at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, and an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at New York University. Asa completed a residency in internal medicine and fellowship in infectious disease at the University of Connecticut, obtained postgraduate qualifications in tropical medicine and public health in the United Kingdom and a doctorate in epidemiology at Columbia University. Asa has presented both nationally and internationally on LGBTQ health issues, has published widely in the field of transgender health and has assisted in developing national and regional guidelines in transgender health, including as the Co-Chair of the 8th Revision of the WPATH Standards of Care.

An Emmy and Peabody Award winner, Imara Jones’ work has appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, BBC News, Mic, The Grio, Salon, and The Root, as well as broadcast on MSNBC, CNBC, PBS, NPR, BBC, and The Takeaway. She is the creator of TransLash, a cross-platform media journalism and personal story project which produces content to end the culture of hostility and save trans lives. Imara previously held economic policy positions in the Clinton White House and was named a 2018 Champion of Pride by The Advocate. She is currently a Soros Equality Fellow.

Lives at Stake is a new monthly IRL & livestream/virtual event series featuring frank and urgent conversations by and for trans people about issues affecting their communities this Election Season and beyond, produced in partnership with TransLash Media, hosted by Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Imara Jones.

TransLash tells trans stories to save trans lives during this pivotal moment in history. Beginning in 2018 as a series of video shorts which focus on what it is like to be trans–-especially a trans person of color–-at a time of social backlash, it has evolved into a cross-platform media effort led by founder and creator Imara Jones.

Through the lens of journalism and personal narrative, TransLash creates and curates content, events, and resources in collaboration with our partners, as well as in community with trans individuals and allies. Through our work we center the humanity of the most marginalized of the marginalized.

Find out more at www.translash.org.