Republican politicians have been challenging transgender people’s exposure to gender-affirming health care for the past several years, and quickly half of the states will outlaw gender-affirming care for transgender children.
However, the policy is also having a negative impact on transgender adults because many of the laws even restrict their access to medical care. One in five transgender adults said they did n’t go to a doctor or the hospital when they needed to in the past year because they were concerned about discrimination or mistreatment, according to a new study from Data for Progress.
Recent changes in Florida, which made it harder to get gender-affirming care for grownups by passing a law that mandates that trans adults get treated by a doctor in person rather than by a nurse practitioner or via healthcare, have led to more states removing access to gender-affirming care for adults. Some state forbid the provision of gender-affirming attention in their Medicaid programs, and South Carolina recently outlawed this rule. Additionally, a proposed federal law may prohibit state-run Medicaid programs from covering it in any position and prohibit medical schools from teaching about gender-affirming care.
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Additionally, according to the study, 38 % of transgender individuals are considering quitting their communities or states as a result of anti-LGBT+ legislation. 47 % of transgender individuals are considering leaving their position due to such legislation, according to a different study conducted by the U.S. Transgender Survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality.
According to the Data for Progress survey, 34 % of cisgender gay and bisexual adults said the same thing, while 35 % of transgender adults said the quality of life had declined over the past year. Around the same small percentage of both parties, 17 % of transgender individuals and 18 % of trans gays and women, said that things had improved. However, the cis gay and lesbian people were more likely to say that things have stayed the same this past season.
These actions may be related to a different finding, which is that 50 % of cisgender gay and bisexual individuals and 79 % of transgender people have negative mental health effects as a result of anti-LGBT policies. In another getting, 67 % of transgender people say that they have heard extra- LGBTQ+ notes from a family member, friend, coworker, or neighbor in the past year, 40 % of cis queer and trans folks said the same.
The Data for Progress poll was conducted from March 8 to 14, 2024 and involved 873 LGBTQ+ respondents.