Be Ur Self was started with trans men Elliott and Mom Gayle where they offer solutions for the overlapping between transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming community, and the cosplay community.
They offer two things:
- Some accessories for the specific cosplay needs of trans
- A blog with opinions and resources for trans and their families
Specifically, they have amazing lists of state-by-state health care resources and HRT clinics.
States covered so far: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Utah.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has a great locator for Clinical Care Programs for Gender-Expansive Children and Adolescences here (and they are willing to update/ add new or missing locations if you report to them).
The states without one are Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Delaware, and New Hampshire.
The states with most are California (9), New York (5), Pennsylvania (5), Ohio (5), Massachusetts (4), Maryland (3).
The cities with most are San Francisco (5), Los Angeles-Irvine (3), New York City (3), Boston (3), Cleveland (2), Philly (2), Amherst (2).
Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. But bills in statehouses across the country aim to take away access to gender-affirming care while this medically necessary, safe, life-saving healthcare has been backed by decades of research and supported by every major medical association representing totally over 1.3 million American doctors.
- Parents, kids, and doctors make decisions together, and no medical interventions with permanent consequences happen until a transgender person is old enough to give truly informed consent.
- Every credible medical organization - representing over 1.3 million American doctors in the United States - calls for age-appropriate gender-affirming care for transgender and non-binary people.
- Gender transition is a personal process that can include changing clothes, names, and hairstyles to fit a person's gender identity.
- In most young children, this can be entirely social, such as new name, new hairstyle, new clothing, and none of these cares are irreversible.
- Being transgender is now new - transgender people have always existed and will continue to exist regardless of the bills.
- All gender-affirming care is age-appropriate, medically necessary, supported by all major medical organizations, and made in consultation with medical and mental health professionals, and parents.
- In many cases, this care is lifesaving! A recent study from the Trevor Project provides the data - transgender youth with access to gender-affirming hormone therapy have lower rates of depression or suicide.
Clinics should have collaborations with local legal practices to support the overwhelmingly increasing number of patients who have to deal with legal issues that negatively impact their health.
Some examples of legal services may be an attorney working on-site at the clinic, providing legal assistance and representation for patients on a variety of issues, including public benefits (Social Security and disability, Medicare/ Medicaid, TANF, SNAP, etc.); housing (Section 8, subsidized housing, habitability, etc.); advanced directives (powers of attorney, wills, and living wills); guardianship and kinship care; and immigration.
Examples of such doctor-lawyer partnership:
- People's Community Clinic (PCC) in Central Texas and Texas Legal Services Center (TLSC).