Come join us at the ABC’s of Community Readiness! -- a Queer + BIPOC Centered Health, Safety & Leadership Event
Hosted by Queerolina’s Nurse Nikki in collaboration with One Day at a Time, EqualityNC, and Carolina Migrant Network, this event is a space for underrepresented communities to gather, learn, and strengthen collective care.
**Vending and volunteering details below the cut!**
Vendors
If you're an artist, business, non-profit, or other organization in NC with a focus on health, activism, or community, come vend with us!
Spaces are just $50, with outdoor (10' x 10' booths) and indoor (6' tables) options available.
We're looking for:
-Nonprofits & advocacy groups
-Healthcare providers
-Community educators
-Mutual aid networks
-Emergency preparedness instructors
-Grassroots organizations
-Artists and crafters whose work aligns with empowerment, safety, and healing
With a priority on:
-BIPOC activism
-Queer liberation
-Immigrant advocacy
-Healthcare equity
Space is limited, so don't wait to apply!
Volunteers
Queerolina events are community-powered, and we’re looking for kind, reliable folks to help make our event run smoothly. Volunteers help support our vendors, teachers, performers, speakers, and guests so everyone can focus on having a good time.
Roles vary in time commitment and responsibility. You’ll be able to choose what you’re most comfortable with when signing up, and roles that involve significant lifting, walking, or other strenuous activity will be marked clearly. Some roles are short shifts, some are ongoing throughout the day, and you can choose what you're available for.
Check out the details and sign up here! We appreciate you more than words can say. ❤️
A new Sex Designation Form replaces a former requirement for a surgeon’s letter.
This week, the N.C. Department of Transportation unveiled a new form for changing a gender designation on a driver's license or ID.
Previously, people who wanted to change their gender marker had to provide a surgeon's letter saying they had undergone gender reassignment surgery. The new form can be certified by more health providers, as well as therapists and social workers.
“We still have a long way to go before LGBTQ North Carolinians are seen as equal citizens in the eyes of the law, but this is one step in that direction,” Equality NC executive director Kendra R. Johnson said in a statement. “People of all genders shouldn’t have to face invasive questioning and surgical requirements just to have their government identification reflect their true identity. Trans men are men and trans women are women — period.”
The form asks applicants to circle either male or female as their sex designation and affirm they are requesting the change to reflect their gender identity, “not for any fraudulent or other unlawful purpose.” A health care or social service provider then has to affirm the applicant’s gender identity. The applicant has to bring in the form along with their old ID, pay for a new ID, and take a new picture. (U.S. passports, birth certificates, and court orders reflecting a person’s gender identity are also accepted. Name changes are a separate process.)
The new process is modeled after one recommended by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and in use in twenty-one states.
According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, only 10 percent of respondents in North Carolina reported that all of their IDs had the name and gender they preferred. About three-quarters said none of their IDs had the name and gender they preferred.
“We applaud this step the DMV has taken to modernize the process to update gender markers on driver’s licenses,” Sarah Gillooly, director of political strategy and advocacy for the ACLU of North Carolina said in a statement. “Driver’s licenses are basic forms of identification that many people use to participate in public life, and this policy update will help transgender North Carolinians do just that.”
Policies facilitating gender-marker changes were among many LGBTQ advocates had said the state — which infamously passed (and later repealed, mostly) HB 2 requiring people to use the bathroom that matches their birth certificate — is lacking. North Carolina, however, still doesn't provide transgender-inclusive health benefits to state employees, doesn't prohibit housing or employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and doesn’t have a law addressing hate crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
A Queer + BIPOC Centered Health, Safety & Leadership Event
Hosted by Queerolina’s Nurse Nikki in collaboration with One Day at a Time, EqualityNC, and Carolina Migrant Network, this event is a space for underrepresented communities to gather, learn, and strengthen collective care.
We are now seeking community-centered vendors, with a priority on:
-Nonprofits & advocacy groups
-Healthcare providers
-Community educators
-Mutual aid networks
-Emergency preparedness instructors
-Grassroots organizations
-Artists whose work aligns with empowerment, safety, and healing
We strongly encourage applications from BIPOC- and queer-focused organizations, immigrant advocacy groups, and healthcare equity advocates.
Despite a banner year for anti-transgender legislation, LGBTQ advocates laud Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina’s inclusion of facial surgery and voice therapy.
This story first published online at North Carolina Health News.
After what LGBTQ advocates say was a record-breaking year for anti-transgender legislation, they are celebrating a small victory in North Carolina.
Blue Cross NC, formerly known as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, will now include coverage for gender-affirming facial surgery and voice therapy for transgender and gender-nonconforming people as medically necessary care. The move follows advocacy from the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF), on behalf of Equality NC, the LGBTQ Center of Durham and two transgender women.
“Across the country, health insurance companies are increasingly recognizing the need to end systemic denials of lifesaving gender-affirming health care for transgender people,” said Noah Lewis, director of the Trans Health Project at TLDEF, in a press release.
The nationwide trend to remove the exclusion of gender-affirming care follows President Joe Biden’s May declaration that the Department of Health and Human Services will prohibit discrimination of LGBTQ people by health care organizations that receive federal funding. In addition, a June 2020 Supreme Court decision found that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity at work violated federal civil rights laws.
LGBTQ advocates in North Carolina say this is just the beginning.
Expanded coverage
Kathryn Vandegrift, a transgender woman from Asheville who was one of the two women TLDEF advocated for, scheduled her facial surgery for July 18, after about a year of waiting. She said it means that she “might finally actually be able to exist fully as myself,” in an interview with NC Health News.
“Having these repeated denials during the course of the last year was just a devastating process to endure,” Vandegrift said. “The lack of treatment makes my body really hard to live in, it’s uncomfortable. I’m happy about the opportunity to move past that.”
Vandegrift approached Equality NC, a statewide organization that advocates for LGBTQ rights, last year after she realized her Blue Cross NC insurance would not cover facial surgery.
It could have cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 out of pocket, according to Healthline, a consumer health and wellness website.
“It’s not that the surgery itself is unduly expensive,” Lewis said, in an interview. “It’s just that nobody can afford to pay for surgeries out of pocket.”
Since Equality NC uses Blue Cross NC as its insurer for employees, Equality NC used its status to pressure the company to expand its coverage, said Executive Director Kendra Johnson, in an interview. This victory is an example of how people and institutions can use their status as patrons or customers to advocate for changes, Johnson said.
“That is the role we would like everyone to play in terms of advocacy,” Johnson said. “To protect the folks who are most marginalized and ensure that they have access to critical, life-saving services.”
Blue Cross NC expanded its coverage on facial surgery, genital and chest procedures, tracheal shave, and voice lessons effective July 1, spokeswoman Jami Sowers said in a statement to NC Health News.
“Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has long recognized the importance of gender dysphoria as a medical condition and has covered treatments related to gender affirmation as a standard benefit on all plans,” Sowers said. “As part of an ongoing review process that includes practicing physicians both employed by and independent of Blue Cross NC, Blue Cross NC has made updates to its Gender Affirmation Surgery and Hormone Therapy Policy.”
A victory that counts
Advocates lauded the victory despite what they called a bad year for anti-LGBTQ legislation.
Nationwide, state legislatures introduced more than 100 bills to restrict transgender people’s rights, including a bill in North Carolina that would prevent doctors from performing gender-affirming surgery on people younger than 21, a bill to limit school sports participation for transgender athletes, and another bill which would allow medical providers to refuse to participate in a health care service that violates their conscience.
The change also comes as at least 30 transgender or gender-nonconforming people have been killed in the U.S. in 2021, according to the Human Rights Campaign — including at least three women killed in North Carolina.
This victory is much bigger than it seems because it helps transgender and gender-nonconforming people avoid discrimination, said Dana Cea, an online therapist from Wilson, North Carolina, who identifies as queer.
“If we look at what insurance covers,” Cea said, “it’s really looking at what is deemed medically necessary.”
Discrimination against transgender and gender-nonconforming people in the medical field can have an impact on their health — especially when it comes to preventative care, Johnson said. One-third of respondents in a 2015 report from the National Center for Transgender Equality reported at least one negative experience with a health care provider related to being transgender and one-quarter of respondents reported that they did not seek health care because they were worried about being discriminated against.
For this reason, Johnson said transgender people face barriers to accessing health care for anything from the common cold to cardiac problems to COVID-19.
The fight continues
The most recent change will allow Vandegrift to start the first part of surgically transitioning.
“If we get a positive outcome, people won’t be able to tell I’m trans just from looking at me,” she said.
But other North Carolinians in Vandegrift’s situation may still not be covered for some gender-affirming surgeries. TLDEF and Lambda Legal are currently suing the state of North Carolina for denying access to gender-affirming care to people on the North Carolina State Health Plan.
The process of actually qualifying for these surgeries is also riddled with barriers, Cea said.
People looking for gender-affirming surgery must first get a diagnosis of gender dysphoria — which Cea called a “Catch-22” — since it’s still classified as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). The World Health Organization moved “gender identity disorder” and “gender incongruence” from its list of mental illnesses in 2019 to its sexual health chapter, so transgender people can receive care without being considered mentally ill.
After their diagnoses, people looking for gender-affirming surgery may be required by their surgeon or insurance to provide a letter from their therapist affirming that they have an ongoing relationship in order to get the surgery.
All of those appointments cost money — and mental health services are often under-covered by insurance. A 2019 report by the governmental consulting agency Milliman found that 17.2 percent of behavioral office visits were to an out-of-network provider, compared to 3.2 percent for primary care office visits.
“I’ve received requests for letters, and this is requested by insurance, it’s also requested by surgeons or the medical providers, and sometimes it requires an ongoing relationship with the provider,” Cea said. “So I, for example, would have to put in the letter not only some of the personal details and background of this individual and their relationship to their gender, and then I’m also giving this diagnosis, which can be detrimental, considering that it’s considered a mental diagnosis instead of physical diagnosis.”
Johnson and Equality NC are working to broaden health care systems’ knowledge of the LGBTQ community through education, since “there’s very limited content that’s given specifically to the LGBTQ-plus population,” she said.
“Transgender health care is health care,” Vandegrift said, “and health care is a human right. I don’t think anyone should be denied medical care that they need.”
North Carolina Health News is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit, statewide news organization dedicated to covering all things health care in North Carolina.
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Editor's note: The folllowing is an op-ed submitted to the INDY following the introduction of three pro-LGBTQ equality bills in the NC House, including one to prohibit conversion therapy.
Every day in our work across North Carolina, we listen as people talk about what matters most in their lives. Over and over in these conversations, the same idea emerges: People want to be treated with dignity and respect and to do everything possible to protect our children and build a better future for them in the years to come.
We believe that every young person in North Carolina – including LGBTQ young people – should be treated with respect and dignity, loved for who they are, and encouraged to live as their authentic selves. That’s why we strongly oppose “conversion therapy,” a dangerous type of therapy that falsely promises to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Conversion therapy” techniques can be extreme and barbaric, including tactics like electroshock treatment or institutionalizing young people against their will. The emotional and psychological trauma inflicted on LGBTQ minors often follows them for the rest of their lives. Every leading professional medical and mental health association in the nation has rejected “conversion therapy” as a credible practice because it is unnecessary, ineffective, and dangerous to an individual's health and well-being.
In recent years, seventeen states, including Colorado and Massachusetts in the past month, have banned conversion therapy to protect LGBTQ youth. But in North Carolina, and a majority of states, this practice remains legal.
That’s why this week Equality North Carolina and the Campaign for Southern Equality have launched Born Perfect NC, a joint statewide campaign to protect LGBTQ young people and support the passage of the Mental Health Protection Act. This legislation will prohibit licensed professionals from using conversion therapy practices on minors and disabled adults and prevent clinicians or organizations who practice conversion therapy from receiving state funding.
Born Perfect NC aims to not only help pass the Mental Health Protection Act that will safeguard the health of LGBTQ young people but also send a message to queer people all across the state that they are #BornPerfect exactly as they are.
We live in a diverse state full of LGBTQ young people – many of whom are growing up in homes and churches that aren’t yet supportive of their identities. These queer youth need us to stand up for what’s right and protect them from harmful attempts to change innate parts of their identities.
Having conversations about the issues that matter to everyday North Carolinians is a vital part of our work as advocates for equity and social justice. This spring, we’re looking forward to a statewide conversation about the need to protect LGBTQ youth from “conversion therapy.”
But we can’t do it alone: Join us in the fight for the next generation of North Carolinians, the fight for a world where LGBTQ young people are free to live openly – and without fear. Learn more about Born Perfect NC and urge your representatives in North Carolina to take a stand and ensure our LGBTQ youth know that they are Born Perfect exactly as they are.
Kendra R. Johnson is the Executive Director of Equality NC. Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara is the Executive Director of Campaign for Southern Equality. Learn more about the Born Perfect NC campaign at www.BornPerfectNC.org.
A Historic Election for both State and National Republican Leaders
Raleigh, NC
As supporters gathered at Governor McCrory’s election night watch party, many were cheering on Donald Trump as the election night totals climbed steadily in his favor. But, that would not be the case for the State’s senior member of the Republican Party. Shortly after 12:00am, Pat & Ann McCrory took to the podium to tell supporters that he would be waiting for an accounting of provisional ballots and the state’s official canvas to determine the election’s Gubernatorial winner. “We’re going to check everything,” said McCrory. The contest is separated by an incredibly narrow margin of approximately 0.1%. However, Attorney General Roy Cooper has already declared victory, something McCrory was clearly not accepting.
The Impact of HB2
The Cooper-McCrory election quickly gained momentum in July of this year as the North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 2 (HB2) as an effort to block a February 2016 Charlotte City ordinance that mandated the public acceptance of mixed genders in public restrooms, showers, and changing facilities. The Charlotte provision was proverbial bait to lure legislators into a battle that was cleverly disguised as a non-discrimination ordinance. An issue that many in the Queen City doubt was ever needed.
True to its design, HB2 became a leverage issue that brought millions of dollars to Cooper’s campaign and was a rallying cry for progressive Democrats across the state. Organizations from New York, Washington DC, and elsewhere began to pour tremendous resources, hundreds of volunteers, and overwhelming media attention to the cause.
Under McCrory’s leadership, North Carolina has become one of the brightest economies in the nation. In just three short years the state has turned billions of debt into positive cash flow, dramatically reduced unemployment, and reduced taxes for taxpayers. It was a real success story that would require any opponent to focus the public’s attention away from a booming economy. Hello HB2.
HB2 also became a cause for Senator Josh Stein in his run for the vacant Attorney General’s race. Stein challenged Buck Newton and that race is currently too close to call. Stein repeatedly portrayed Newton as the pseudo-architect of HB2.
Other Races Around the State
The election was a boon for many other Republicans across the state. Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest became the first Republican in the State’s history to hold the office for two terms. The NC Council of State has a historic 5/3 split favoring Republicans (excluding the Governorship and the Attorney General’s race). Dale Folwell bested Dan Blue, III for State Treasurer; Mark Johnson beat June Atkinson for Superintendent of Education and Mike Causey won as the Commissioner of Insurance. As election results are updated, we will stay with the story. Stay tuned!
We just got this great book! Check it out and consider attending the Love Wins book discussion featuring author Jim Obergefell and journalist Steven Petrow at Cat’s Cradle on Friday, September 23rd.
