Montgomery County’s Office of Legislative Oversight released a report Tuesday that calls transgender healthcare in the county lacking in many areas.
According to the 57-page report, “There are limited services for transgender individuals in Montgomery County. The County Government does not provide trans-specific services.”
The report included numerous comments from members of the transgender community, including one that called the county “a desert” when it came to healthcare services for transgender individuals.
The county’s health services use inclusive LGBTQ+ language on most intake forms and health records, has funded events such as the MDTrans Resilience Conference and County Pride Festival and launched a website with events and resources for the LGBTQ+ community, according to the report.
Some services can be obtained within the county at Planned Parenthood in Gaithersburg, Mary’s Center in Silver Spring and CCI Health Services in Takoma Park. According to the report, many transgender county residents go to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. for services.
Transgender, according to the report, refers to people whose gender identity, expression or behavior does not conform to the sex they were assigned at birth.
According to a survey cited in the report, there are 24,000 adults and 8,000 youth in Maryland who identify as transgender.
The report lists several recommendations, including a discussion to mandate training for healthcare providers for that community as part of being licensed in Maryland. Another recommendation is for the county executive’s office to create a list of healthcare providers “who affirmatively provide healthcare services for transgender individuals.”
A dedicated safe space for the LGBTQ+ community should be established in the county, according to the report’s recommendations. That space should also be a space for people to learn about resources and service providers.
“There is little investment in the transgender community in Montgomery County. Stakeholders report there are no resources (funding, space, etc.) provided for the community and there is little to no support for community organizations that work with the transgender population,” it stated in the report.
In the summer of 2022, a county LGBTQIA+ advisory group and the Department of Health and Human Services conducted a survey within that community. It included 842 respondents, of whom 258 identified as transgender or nonbinary.
“Overall, the study found most respondents feel that the County is a safe place to live openly as a member of the LGBTQ+ community (74% of all respondents and 72% of transgender respondents).”
However, transgender individuals were more likely to be homeless, experience difficulty finding a place to live and have more negative experiences when interacting with law enforcement than the entire LGBQ+ community according to results of the survey.
