Transgender Health
Trying to Heal while Dealing with Disrespect
By Tracy Pace

Millions of Americans go about their daily lives without regular access to healthcare. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 43 million Americans don't have health insurance. As daunting as those numbers seem, it may be surprising that there are still subsections of the American population whose healthcare issues never make the healthcare policy debates.

Left out of the discussions, by both liberals and conservatives, are thousands of transgender individuals. Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS) of Washington, D.C. is changing that conversation.

Gigi Thomas, client advocate for HIPS, describes her primarily African American clientele as persons "who were born male but live their lives as females." Many people confuse transgender people with transsexuals, who are persons who have had a sex change.

It is the public health concern of violence that quite possibly distinguishes transgender health issues from mainstream health issues. Thomas cited a series of about five shootings and murders of transgender persons that took place this summer in Washington, D.C.

She explained that some men who are uncomfortable with having sex with other men, but do, often express greater discomfort after having sex with a man who live as woman. "It's because men do things with transgender persons that they wouldn't do with a gay man," she says. After having sex with a person who they know is transgender, Thomas says, "They act like they are in shock, stating such things like ‘I can't believe I've done this!'" The shock, she believes, often leads to violence.

After a violent event takes place, the police too often do more harm than good. "When the girls encounter the police after having been beaten up or raped, the girls don't tell them what's going on because they don't feel like they are going to be treated right. We've had the police to say, after they realize the person is transgender, ‘You're a man; how can you be raped?' So as long as they haven't been killed, the girls just continue,'" says Thomas.

They treat all persons fairly and with dignity at the hospital, right? Think again, says Thomas. "I have one client who has HIV and she told me how nasty the nurses were to her at one nearby university hospital. Just with them knowing that she's a transgender, they want to disrespect her. They go around the hospital saying, ‘That's a man; that's a man when a girl comes in. The client can't do anything about it because she needs the care."

With a mission to assist transgender individuals engaging in sex work lead healthy lives, HIPS has a mobile outreach and education program that distributes condoms and safer sex information. Their 24-hour hotline provides counseling and social service referrals and receives more than 300 calls a month. Their programs also address issues of poverty and drug use.

HIPS is beginning to work with the D.C. police on sensitivity training and the DC Mayor's office recently granted funds to HIPS which will allow them to access a variety of social services. Thomas added that the DC HIV/AIDS Administration continues to provide a wealth of services and information for her clients.

Thomas reminds us that transgender persons are part of our families, both literally and figuratively. A transgender person is someone's son, daughter, sister, or brother. After their families and society have terrorized them, she states that transgender people are just looking to be loved. "It's time to stop pretending like they don't exist. This is a part of life."

• 800-676-4477 HIPS Hotline
• 800-799-7233 Domestic Violence Hotline

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