{"id":26858,"date":"2023-06-07T12:17:25","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T19:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=26858"},"modified":"2023-06-07T12:17:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T19:17:26","slug":"for-pride-month-trans-and-non-binary-nurses-share-the-power-of-solidarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/06\/07\/for-pride-month-trans-and-non-binary-nurses-share-the-power-of-solidarity\/","title":{"rendered":"For Pride Month, trans and non-binary nurses share the power of solidarity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"National<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

National Nurses United<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Pride Month, National Nurses United is honored to celebrate the history of organized, collective resistance embodied in the LGBTQIA+ liberation movement. Marking the anniversary of the legendary Stonewall uprising in New York City in 1969, Pride has become an annual tradition with deep connections to the radical roots of the gay liberation movement that took shape in the late \u201960s and early \u201870s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, LGBTQIA+ communities have benefited from the immense progress made since the days of police raids on mafia-run bars. But, as is so often the case, with progress comes backlash. As visibility increases, those made visible can become clearer targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most alarming forms of this backlash today is the campaign in state legislatures nationwide to criminalize gender-affirming care for transgender patients. To get an understanding of what this all means for trans and gender non-conforming people, nurses, and our patients, we talked with union nurse members \u2014 one who\u2019s trans and one who\u2019s non-binary \u2014 about what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dara Tep, RN, is a nurse at Keck Medicine University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Recently, Tep waged and won a campaign<\/a> with her coworkers to get her gender-affirming care covered under their insurance plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though it was just one paragraph that was changed in the policy, it\u2019s a life-changing thing and something I\u2019m really proud of,\u201d Tep told NNU. \u201cAnd it\u2019s something my coworkers are proud of, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tep said the solidarity she felt with her coworkers was instrumental in making her story a success, as their allyship showed management she wasn\u2019t alone, forcing them to be more responsive to the strength of the nurses\u2019 numbers. Before that, she had jumped through every hoop for gender-affirming care that had been put before her, but their support helped her cross the finish line on some key pieces of her health care. That was especially meaningful to her given the broader conversations happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s already a stigma against our community,\u201d she said. \u201cHealth care really hasn\u2019t been inclusive of the trans community in the past couple of years. So, it\u2019s nice to be able to start a change or create a change that makes health care more inclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tep has since talked with other folks at her facility about the policy change her campaign has created, which covers not just employees but their family members. She said, \u201cIt\u2019s rewarding to know that it\u2019s not only going to help me, but it\u2019s going to help everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tep\u2019s story is an inspiring story of the power of solidarity, but she\u2019s not alone as a trans nurse feeling that power. For another NNU nurse across the country, the fight is for gender-affirming care and against efforts to restrict or criminalize it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zo Schmidt, RN, works at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri. On the state line with Kansas, Schmidt said that, while their city has been declared a sanctuary for people seeking gender-affirming care<\/a>, the local gender non-conforming community has to worry about draconian policies being enacted by two different states, both of which have recently targeted trans and gender non-conforming people. Kansas lawmakers recently overrode a gubernatorial veto to enact a sweeping bathroom bill<\/a> threatening access to public restrooms. In Missouri, a recent judge\u2019s ruling blocked expansive restrictions on gender-affirming care<\/a> the state\u2019s attorney general sought to impose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust having that legislation targeting the existence of me and my loved ones, just knowing there are this many people in positions of power trying to eliminate us is scary,\u201d Schmidt, who uses they\/them pronouns, shared. Through it all, Schmidt said they feel lucky their coworkers have had their back and work together to ensure Schmidt feels safe and affirmed at work, which is especially important at a time like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a medical provider, Schmidt also sees potential health implications of these policies, pointing out that forcing patients off of medications like hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can have health implications beyond gender presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf patients are forced to suddenly go off their hormone therapy, that can have major physical and mental health repercussions,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cIf things go through, you could see patients resorting to off-label or black-market HRT.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are going to resort to it, even if there are risks. I don\u2019t blame them \u2014 it\u2019s health care,\u201d they said. \u201cSame sort of thing with the abortion laws: Patients are still going to need abortions and seek them out. Whether or not they are legally, medically supervised is another matter altogether. But it\u2019s still going to happen regardless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a non-binary nurse like Schmidt, there\u2019s a special irony to the concerns about gender-affirming care. They know firsthand the benefits it brings and find it odd that there\u2019s so much attention focused on forms of health care that have lower rates of patient regret than knee replacement surgeries<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s so important that medical professionals are very outspoken in their advocacy for trans patients,\u201d Schmidt said, advising that pronoun pins and rainbow badge buddies can be a boon to patients. \u201cAnything anyone can do to make folks feel safe is important.\u201d<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"National<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Written by\u00a0National Nurses United<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Nurses United, with nearly 225,000 members nationwide, is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in U.S. history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National Nurses United This Pride Month, National Nurses United is honored to celebrate the history of organized, collective resistance embodied in the LGBTQIA+ liberation movement. Marking the anniversary of the legendary Stonewall uprising in New York City in 1969, Pride has become an annual tradition with deep connections to the… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26858"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26859,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26858\/revisions\/26859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}