#learn data about queers

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Learn Data About Queers: Electronic Medical Records and Transgender People

A lot of change and improvement has happened in terms of patient information and medical records in health care offices and other medical settings. Some of this was spurred on by federal requirements that encouraged health providers to make the move to electronic medical records if they hadn’t already done so.

This posed some opportunities for better providing and coordinating care for some people – and could also pose some challenges in terms of respecting the needs and the privacy particularly of transgender patients. One study to take a look at this issue, through the entry point most patient’s first experience this – the intake form - found important results.

The study provided two different intake forms for participants to review and discuss. (If you’re interested in intake forms, there are some great online resources that can guide you in general, or particularly for those in health care settings!)

One form asked about gender identity using one question, the other form used a two-step question to do this. (Again, if you’re not sure what a one question or two-step question is, be sure to read the study, and some of the other outstanding best-practice resources out there on this topic!) Respondents noted that the two-part question might be more accurate and respectful, and allow for patients to more authentically indicate their lived gender experience. At the same time, many also raised concerns about how the privacy of their responses would be protected. Additionally, respondents who were HIV-positive, black trans feminine, and/or immigrants would be more likely to be subject to a greater degree of harm or risk from having their confidentiality violated by information they shared on such forms than white respondents. The research also goes on to briefly describe some ways to ensure better confidentiality while also providing access to services.

The relatively new and evolving ways of practice regarding electronic medical records and forms is an area we here at LDAQ hope to see more research interest in, in the future, since it impacts anyone seeking to access healthcare, and since it has the potential for promise but also pitfalls especially for transgender people.

Learn Data About Queers is a post for QueerTips by Luca Maurer about interesting, pertinent, and cool data about queers that we likely don’t get info about but should!

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 Learn Data About Queers: Binding and Health

A quick search for information about chest binding will turn up a lot of information – much of it first hand, some of it accurate, and until recently, little of it based on research. A new study changes all this, as it’s one of the first to look empirically at this practice.

The study charts participants’ experiences with binding, and finds twenty eight different negative health outcomes that binding might cause or exacerbate. This is significant in and of itself, but when combined with additional findings that more than half the participants reported binding every day with few or no days off, these possible health risks take on additional importance.

The results will help healthcare providers to become more knowledgeable about the practice of binding in their trans patients, as well as provide them important information that will help them assist their patients in reducing health risks it might cause. The study also reminds health care providers that each patient must balance not just negative health outcomes binding might cause, but also positive effects like improving their quality of life and mental health.

Learn Data About Queers is our column by Luca Maurer about interesting, pertinent, and cool data about queers that we likely don’t get info about but should!

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Learn Data About Queers: Is it possible to reduce anti-transgender prejudice with a 10 minute conversation? New research says yes

As you can probably guess, we here at QueerTips are pretty invested in reducing anti-transgender prejudice. It’s good for transgender people, good for the people who care about them, and ultimately (since transgender people are everywhere – in our families, schools, workplaces, and communities), good for everyone. Anti-transgender prejudice can fuel everything from everyday slights and microaggressions, to discrimination, stigma, and violence. It’s a driving force in health, educational, and economic disparities facing transgender people.

Increasingly, it’s also being used as a smokescreen or distraction by some government officials, too, to try to distract from the very real issues at hand that affect people’s lives, and instead focus on fear and misunderstanding of transgender people to try to enact harmful, mean-spirited, unnecessary laws and policies that restrict the rights of transgender people in society.

So, we are pretty excited to be reading the most recent research that focuses on one effective strategy that has been shown to reduce anti-transgender prejudice.

Though “Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing,”might not at first glance seem to be the kind of study that is directly related to the health, rights, and lives of trans people, it is.

The study found that one brief, face to face conversation with a stranger could reduce anti-transgender prejudice, and the effect lasted for 3 months. In the study, trained volunteers went door to door, striking up conversations with voters at their homes. During the course of the conversation, the volunteer helped the listener understand what the word transgender means (since many people still don’t, or may labor under false information about what this really means). As part of the interaction, they also invited the listener to think about a time when they themselves were judged because of some way they are different. Then they invited the listener to consider how this experience might be similar to ways transgender people experience the world. During the talk, the volunteer also explained that voters might soon see something in the voting booth about whether existing rights for transgender people should be repealed, and were shown a video presenting arguments on each side of this issue.

The volunteers who canvassed door to door as a part of this survey design were cisgender and transgender, and the gender of the canvasser did not impact the effect – that is, both those who interacted with a cisgender person and those who did so with a transgender person each experienced reductions in anti-transgender prejudice. The conversations only lasted about 10 minutes, so these were brief, focused, conversations that included factual information (defining transgender), considering different sides of the possible ballot initiative (both pro and con), and then putting oneself in the shoes, as it were, of a transgender person or another person who experiences being judged because of an aspect of themselves that is different than other people.

Previous research into interventions that effectively reduced anti-transgender prejudice have shown that longer, sustained effort is necessary for such change to occur. This new study demonstrates that there may be other, much shorter interactions that may be both effective and long-lasting, which is great news. For readers who are very interested in the topic of reducing anti-transgender prejudice, or in communication and campaigns when it comes to moving people’s hearts, minds, and voting behaviors, be sure to read the full journal article for much more on the thought behind the research design, specific information about the findings, and more.

Learn Data About Queers is our column by Luca Maurer about interesting, pertinent, and cool data about queers that we likely don’t get info about but should!

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Learn Data About Queers: Transgender People’s Health Care Needs and Interest in Having Them Met at A Planned Parenthood Health Center

Transgender people can experience a lot of barriers to getting the health care they need. From access issues, to experiencing discrimination, to getting insurance or finding insurance that actually includes transgender specific healthcare services, to time spent locating trans-affirming, knowledgeable providers, it can be a daunting task.

Planned Parenthood is pretty proud to be one of the largest providers of preventive healthcare and hormone therapy for transgender people across the country. You can find a list of many of the Planned Parenthood health centers that offer these services here.

In addition, newly published research takes a look into some of these issues. This new study focused on the sexual and reproductive health needs of transgender people, barriers and access issues, and gauged interest in considering one local Planned Parenthood health center as a place that could meet their needs.

This study found that nearly three quarters of participants had delayed or avoided seeking healthcare in the last year, but that most had gotten important screenings related to sexual/reproductive health like Pap tests, STD and HIV testing, and breast/chest exams. Less than a fifth of the respondents reported having ever visited a Planned Parenthood health center. Additional questions invited respondents to rate what factors would influence whether they would consider Planned Parenthood for their health care needs. Factors ranked highest were whether transgender sensitivity training had been provided to staff, whether there were nondiscrimination policies in place that included gender identity, and whether transgender health care services like hormone therapy were available.

Although this study was specific to one health center in one large city, it offers some important insight and information for health care providers (and anyone – family members, colleagues or friends, and others) seeking to learn more about the barriers and needs of transgender peoples when it comes to health; as well as those specifically working in health care who would like to make their own health care offices and agencies more effective and culturally competent when it comes to serving the needs of transgender patients.

Learn Data About Queers is our bi-weekly post by Luca Maurer about interesting, pertinent, and cool data about queers that we likely don’t get info about but should!

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Learn Data About Queers: Understanding the Range of Plurisexual Experience

The process of naming one’s identity, and defining it, is powerful and important. Having others understand, acknowledge, and respect it is also key to obtaining and receiving information and services that meet one’s needs, and being treated with respect. New research just out explores the various ways non-monosexual people – people who identify as bisexual, pansexual, and sometimes queer, among other identities – describe their sexual identities.

From the responses collected from participants, researchers found four central themes that arose across bisexual, pansexual, and queer identifying respondents when describing their identities–

labeling sexual identity

explicit use of binary/nonbinary language

distinctions of attraction, and

identity transcendence.

Both similarities and differences were found in each theme, across the identity groups. These findings also inform the authors, and others who engage in future research, in further exploring when generalizing or grouping the experiences of people who identify as one of these three identities may be helpful. In addition, the findings also help clarify when doing so may instead cause misunderstandings in grasping the range of experience of folks who identity in ways that are non-monosexual. (We’re not gonna lie – we also want to put in a word to encourage you to read all the research the lead author and on this study and her colleagues do. We’re big fans of her work and the work of the Sexual and Gender Identity Research Lab at Towson University! They are champions of respectfully, carefully and sensitively exploring research areas that are often overlooked, ignored, or conflated when it comes to orientation, identity, attraction, behavior, and relationships!)

Learn Data About Queers is our bi-weekly post by Luca Maurer about interesting, pertinent, and cool data about queers that we likely don’t get info about but should!

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Learn Data About Queers: Preserving Fertility for Transgender and Intersex Youth

It’s becoming more common for transgender youth and their loved ones to proactively ask about options that can preserve their fertility if they medically transition. This is a good thing as in the past folks were sometimes not able to get clear and accurate information. It has also led to more discussion and information sharing among health care providers.

This new paper details the research and information available to date on this often ignored topic, discusses where additional knowledge is needed, and lists action items for the future. In it, fertility preservation options for transgender young people, and also for young people who are intersex (also sometimes termed Difference of Sex Development, or DSD, in medical literature) are explored. The authors note that although these are different groups, the medical expertise needed to treat people from either group has some overlap, and in addition, young people from both groups share the risk of infertility due to medical or surgical treatment related to their gender or sex.

Though the paper is relatively short, it packs a lot of information into only a few pages. It also includes a variety of different scenarios and options in each case, because there is a lot of diversity across the population of transgender and intersex young people (including some who have been able to access pubertal blockers or hormones, varying levels of personal support and financial resources from their parents or caregivers, as well as the varying stages of pubertal development a person may be in when they first become aware of, or interested in, steps to preserve their fertility.)

Against this backdrop of increased attention to this important topic, still today, procedures that result in sterility are required in some states in order for one to have the gender marker on their state issued identity documents changed to match their gender identity. This paper is very important, as it outlines all the known information, considerations and options to date, as well as setting goals to keep this field moving forward.

Learn Data About Queers is our bi-weekly post by Luca Maurer about interesting, pertinent, and cool data about queers that we likely don’t get info about but should!

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Learn Data About Queers: Transgender Youth and Pregnancy

We here at QueerTips have always followed academic research about LGBTQ youth and unintended pregnancy involvement (becoming pregnant, or causing a pregnancy) very closely. From the first few studies that were released more than a decade ago, to contemporary studies that further confirm and expand previous research, this is definitely our jam.

We want to know about the factors that put LGBTQ young people at higher risk than their heterosexual, cisgender peers, and do something about it. LGBTQ youth already face many negative health outcomes in disparate amounts as compared to their cisgender straight peers.

Now, an additional study sheds light on an often ignored experience — that of transgender and gender diverse youth when it comes to pregnancy.

Sometimes it’s assumed that gender dysphoria causes trans people to not engage in sexual behavior that can lead to pregnancy. But, transgender people are interested in having children at similar rates as cisgender people.

This can be further complicated by existing requirements in some states that require sterilizing or reproduction-compromising medical procedures like surgery or hormones in order for a trans person to be able to obtain identity documents that reflect their true gender. (Requirements for identity documents like driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and benefits cards are decided by each state, so in some places this is not required, while in others a person can’t get accurate documents without undergoing surgery or starting hormones. Find out what’s required where you live from the identity document info center of the National Center for Transgender Equality, OR, if you live in New York State we put all the info you need in this handy booklet full of Know How).

In this new study, a similar rate of pregnancy involvement (becoming pregnant, or getting someone pregnant) was found in transgender youth and cisgender youth. And, contrary to another common assumption, this finding also held true for youth who were on hormones and living in their true gender, as well as those not using hormones or not able to live in their authentic gender.

The study also reinforces the need for more inclusive sex education, and knowledgeable, affirming sexual and reproductive education and health care for transgender young people — as behaviors leading to pregnancy can also transmit STDs.

Learn Data About Queers is our bi-weekly post by Luca Maurer about interesting, pertinent, and cool data about queers that we likely don’t get info about but should!

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Learn Data About Queers: New Videos Featuring Transgender People and Themes

Every once in a while, we here at LDAQ like to try to take a few moments to not just survey all the great information and research that’s out there, but also acknowledge that progress – while incredibly slow – can and does happen. In between reading research papers, professional journals, and issues briefs, yes, it’s true – sometimes we watch videos. Over the last couple of months, three – count ‘em ,THREE! Commercials have aired featuring transgender people and themes. We thought it might be nice to give you a handy list, next time you’re looking for a 30 second or 60 second change of pace, check out

Dylan, a transgender construction worker and his coworker Steven, from Equality Texas, about the timeless values they share with everyone else, like hard work, treating each other fairly, teamwork, punctuality, and being respectful to others

The nationwide transgender equality campaign ad by Fairness USA that debuted during both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in July that’s about the challenges faced by transgender people in accessing public restrooms and the lack of state and federal nondiscrimination protections for transgender people

And Nike’s commercial that aired in primetime during the Olympic Games in Rio about triathlete and duathlete Chris Mosier, the first trans athlete to make the men's national team 

Yes, even Research Nerds sometimes need to take a moment and appreciate how some of the very research we’ve highlighted here in these columns over the years is sometimes translated into effective national media campaigns to advance respect and equality.

What’s that you say? You have more than 30 seconds to spare? Then check these out too!

An Introduction To Transgender People

Dads for Transgender Equality (Um, you might cry. For reals.)

Moms for Transgender Equality (also. crying, perhaps.)

Learn Data About Queers is our bi-weekly post by Luca Maurer about interesting, pertinent, and cool data about queers that we likely don’t get info about but should!