The response from NOWHC
New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic has allowed me to post their response to my query about health care and their policy of excluding trans women. It’s pretty depressing reading all round – they’re not able to sustain care because of the difficult of finding non prejudiced doctors here, not only with trans women but women of color, women with disabilities, and GLBTI etc. This raises serious questions with me about the possibility of finding more than the odd good doctor on trans health care anywhere.
They’re currently evaluating the possibility of providing any health care at all. I have offered to work with them to educate any doctors on trans women specific care, and to work on fundraising to help achieve that, however we’ll have to see if that pans out.
ETA: NOWHC have requested I post the entire exchange, in the name of transparency. Because of privacy concerns, I have removed my email address from the exchange.
The email exchange in full:
Queen Emily —-
Hi y’all.
I’m a young trans woman moving to the area and I’m looking for good, safe health care (something that is almost an impossibility in many areas). Your website says you do not provide services for (“male” assigned) transgendered women. I’m wondering:
1. Is this still the case? (sometimes people can be slow on the website updating)
2. If so, why is this the case? I don’t understand how providing hormones (or the contraceptive pill to post GRS women) is any different from caring for menopausal cis women. This seems especially arbitrary given that you state you care for female assigned people with DSD who may have had similar operations.
and 3. If so, do you have any referrals for trans women friendly clinics?
Regards,
Emily.
NOWHC —-
Emily,
Thanks for emailing us your request. We apologize for the delay in getting back to you. We receive hundreds of emails a week about services, volunteer and internship opportunities, and tons of junk mail unfortunately. As a result, and due to our capacity, we have about a week-turn-around rate with email responses.
Currently, we are not providing medical services, as these services have been suspended since late last Fall. We are in transition as we seek a new Medical Director, while continuing all of our other programs. Unfortunately, we have not had an opportunity to update our website detailing all of our programs and our current list of services.
As you have accurately noted, few health care resources exist for trans women in general, and this is particularly true in New Orleans, despite the fact that New Orleans had the largest Black queer population in the country pre-Katrina, with trans women of color, almost exclusively working class and low-income New Orleans natives, struggling to get decent affordable health care in the city for decades. The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina took a terrible toll on our health care system and it has been very difficult for us to not be in a position to provide trans affirming medical services to women in our community who need them, despite our local efforts.
The following resources may be of some help to you as relocate to the area:
The Drop-in-Center Clinic ? located at 428 N. Rampart Street. The Drop-in-Center provides trans-affirming care. The Center provides medical and social services to youth between the ages of 13 and 24 years-old. Services at the Center are geared toward homeless, at-risk, and queer youth. They can be reached at 504-897-948-6701.
Planned Parenthood of Louisiana ? located at 4018 Magazine Street. Their number is 504-897-9200.
You may also consider contacting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of New Orleans, which is located at 212 Decatur Street in the French Quarter. The Center?s number is 504-945-1103. The St. Thomas Community Health Clinic is also a local resource to contact. St. Thomas is located Uptown in the Lower Garden District at 1020 St. Andrew Street, and they can be reached at 504-529-5558.
We agree that the questions and concerns you raise are very important. The priorities we hold in providing safe, accessible, and unbiased care to women regardless of their race, income, sexuality, gender identity, body type, citizenship status, work sector, legal history, ability, age, language, and family size and status are often regarded as a “risk” and “liability” by many medical professionals. This reality has delayed our efforts to hire a new Medical Director and created many barriers for many members of our community, including you, in seeking safe, quality, and respectful services.
In making the statements “we are currently not able to provide care to trans people who were male assigned at birth or who have had genital sex reassignment surgery. Please call for referrals,” we were referencing the lack of experience and training that our former medical staff had in providing trans affirmative care to all women regardless of their body types, and gender identities and expressions. We recognize that the current language on our website marginalizes trans women in particular, even though it says elsewhere that we provide services to “all women.” Although “services” provided at the Clinic are not restricted to our medical programs, we recognize that the way it is written implies that we offer no services at all to trans women, which is marginalizing and confusing. It would be more accurate to say that our goal is to provide medical services to all women, though we are having a difficult time reaching it. We take responsibility for this inaccurate representation, and for the ways in which the language is disrespectful, and we sincerely apologize.
Collectively and organizationally, we are committed to creating institutions and environments that challenge gender-policing and trans and homophobia by dismantling racist, heterosexist, patriarchal, classist, and xenophobic ideologies of exclusion, discrimination, hatred, and violence, which creates barriers for many members of our community, particularly those persons who are women of color, poor, LGBTQ, immigrant, differently-abled, homeless, heads of households, disabled, sex workers, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, young, and living in racially and economically segregated communities. Our website doesn’t reflect this politic effectively and we are currently in the process of modifying it.
Besides language, we share the concern about the core issue of offering safe, quality, and respectful services to all women. Since our founding, we have struggled to hire medical staff who don?t pathologize, demonize, and criminalize the bodies of undocumented women, women with disabilities, l/b/t/q/i women, women of color, low-income women, homeless women, and women working in the sex industry because of our sexuality, reproductive decisions, and gender expressions. Currently, we are evaluating if we can realistically find medical staff that meet this expectation, particularly given the current conditions of the city.
We hope the resources we have shared are helpful. If not, please contact us at 504-524-8255 or via email again and we will work with you and do our best to find the resources that you need.
New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic
1406 Esplanade Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70116
504-524-8255 (Office)
504-524-8285 (Fax)
www.nowhc.org
Queen Emily —
Hi, thanks for that. That’ll be very helpful.
I’m sorry to hear about the lack of medical services. I may have inadvertedly started a blog firestorm when I posted a rant on my blog (questioningtransphobia.wordpress.com) about it. I’m sorry about that, I should have waited for a response. Do you think I could let people online know about the situation? I don’t want to break confidentiality, but obviously there’s a lot of people online interested, and a good many trans women and/or women of color feeling hurt and angry about the policy.
About the situation, is there anything I can do to help? If medical services are to return (which I really hope that they do), I’d be happy to lend my time to educating medical personnel on trans women specific needs.
The second is, if there’s a need for more funds to pay doctors and nurses, I’d be happy to use my contacts in the trans and radical women of color blogospheres and organise through social media to conduct a fund-raising drive directing people to your website to donate. I’ve seen people raise thousands of dollars with just a little Paypal button, so that’s one option.
Regards,
Emily.
Queen Emily —
Oh, just to clarify, the fundraising drive offer is conditional on trans women inclusion if/when the medical services become available. No trans woman is likely to get behind that, otherwise.
NOWHC —
Emily,
Thank you for reaching out. There is a lot going on right now as we determine whether or not we can sustain the kind of clinic we want, so we will have to follow up with you about your offer of support in the future. In the meantime, it would be alright with us if you posted this entire e-mail exchange on your blog.
Queen Emily —
Ok. I hope you can work out something sustainable, and once again do keep me in mind for later.
Regards,
Emily.
NOWHC —
Emily,
Thank you for posting our email response to you on your blog. We also appreciate your apology and taking responsibility for not allowing us the opportunity to follow up with you before you posted your original blog post. Because of the nature of this matter and all of the blog posts that have circulated, we feel that it is important to communicate not just our response, but the entire email exchange as we confirmed below. We want to have an open process about this and we think it’s important to be transparent about all of the communication between us.
Queen Emily —
Oh ok, no problems. I’ll post the rest up now.
oh god, this is the answer that i did not want to hear, that there are so many forces arrayed against nowhc that they cannot provide any medical care at all.
i am glad that they acknowledged the effect of the language on the website.
if anybody from or involved with nowhc is reading here: i jumped on nowhc much too fast, w/o knowing the facts or understanding the situation that they find themselves in, and for that i apologize.
if there is any evil here in this story, it is the kyriarchy that crushes down so many groups of people in so many ways, not the least of which is how it sets us against each other.
GallingGalla
June 29, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I am completely unsurprised by this response. Its been amazing, but not really, to see the amount of vitriol heaped on the
peoplewomen of color involved in this organization by outsiders who have no clue about them, their services, their organizational process, or even the reality of New Orleans after Katrina.With a bridge on my back
June 29, 2009 at 2:28 pm
If they know the language is broken, why don’t they fix it?
z
June 29, 2009 at 4:18 pm
If they knew it was broken, why did they say it in the first place?
I’m not going to fall on my sword about this, sorry. The fact that the medical profession is that fucked up doesn’t excuse that they developed and defended a transphobic policy. It’d be as bad as saying that they treat everyone except Wolof women, and you know as well as i that that would’nt be cool. (Not just because i’m half Wolof or anything, but…) I know they face a struggle, but othering people for no good reason in the middle of your struggle is plain old not okay. It’s how you lose allies, actually.
algormortis
June 29, 2009 at 7:01 pm
OK, problem identified. What can we do to help them solve it?
Zoe Brain
June 30, 2009 at 4:43 am
Currently, we are not providing medical services, as these services have been suspended since late last Fall. We are in transition as we seek a new Medical Director, while continuing all of our other programs. Unfortunately, we have not had an opportunity to update our website detailing all of our programs and our current list of services.
Isn’t that part of the reason Emily contacted them directly? They didn’t “develop and defend” a transphobic policy; they set out to fill a need and gradually all of their resources to provide medical care to anyone fell away.
Emily, if you have any ideas about how to organize online to help NOWHC fundraise for trans affirmative care or how to do some kind of medical outreach to help sustain the clinic, please let me know and sign me up to help.
Sylvia/M
June 30, 2009 at 6:12 am
They did develop, though, otherwise how did it get onto their site? I do not believe it unreasonable to demand they account for that statement and I do see it as independent from assisting with the crisis they currently face.
Agent_J
June 30, 2009 at 7:31 am
This is so ironic. Because there are rules that the medical professionals have to adhere to (forgive me if I am wrong but I believe there are plenty of discriminative policies), trans health care seems to be limited and some non-inclusive. But in a muslim country like mine, because there is no information or regulation, trans health care is readily provided by the doctors here as means of a side income. There are also endo professionals here providing counselling on transitions with medications and injections. With such incredible prejudice and discrimination against us here, at least this is a silver lining on the clouds. Just a thought.
Yuki Choe
June 30, 2009 at 8:27 am
If they knew it was broken, why did they say it in the first place?
I’m not going to fall on my sword about this, sorry. The fact that the medical profession is that fucked up doesn’t excuse that they developed and defended a transphobic policy. It’d be as bad as saying that they treat everyone except Wolof women, and you know as well as i that that would’nt be cool. (Not just because i’m half Wolof or anything, but…) I know they face a struggle, but othering people for no good reason in the middle of your struggle is plain old not okay. It’s how you lose allies, actually.
Quoted for extreme truth.
Sylvia, you are treading perilously close to defending their planned, deliberate, chosen, and publicized exclusion of trans women as “acceptable losses,” please hold at the forefront of your thinking that some of us here do not have the luxury of defining OURSELVES as “acceptable losses.”
That was a highly privileged comment you made, and not the way to win and retain allies.
Meanwhile, something real is happening. Join us. Speak out.
voz
June 30, 2009 at 9:15 am
For Sylvia: cis woc are talking. I think listening to cis woc speak out about dismissing trans voices and lives might be easier for you to hear some very necessary words about emotional attachment to causes.
Follow, or not, your choice.
voz
June 30, 2009 at 9:29 am
I’m cosigning Emily and Zoe here. Sorry. Enough.
belledame222
June 30, 2009 at 12:51 pm
and Zoe, I meant to say.
belledame222
June 30, 2009 at 12:51 pm
and yeah, restarting it with a trans woman welcoming policy/-statement- would be grand, but from over here i’m having a hard time lecturing someone who doesn’t -exist-.
fuck.
belledame222
June 30, 2009 at 12:53 pm
and -Sylvia-, I meant to say.
belledame222
June 30, 2009 at 12:55 pm
@Sylvia I have ideas for sure, but at this stage it seems like NOWHC want some space to evaluate their goals. When they’ve made their needs clear, I hope they do take me up on my offers, or that another course of action is laid out that we can all get behind. But right now we wait to see what comes up.
queenemily
June 30, 2009 at 1:18 pm
My response referred to Emily’s post:
They’re currently evaluating the possibility of providing any health care at all. I have offered to work with them to educate any doctors on trans women specific care, and to work on fundraising to help achieve that, however we’ll have to see if that pans out.
It also referred to algormortis’s comment. I used the wrong language to respond. While it is true that NOWHC did in fact develop and defend a transphobic policy, I think that people are imputing a maliciousness on NOWHC’s part to implement the policy. I don’t agree with that. The effect of the policy was and is awful enough. So I don’t get the idea that anyone is asking anything about falling on a sword. I also don’t think it’s wise to casually dismiss the fact the medical profession is fucked up played a part in the exclusionary policy. I think it treats a lot of serious problems way too lightly, and I don’t think it’s treating health care for trans women as collateral to point that out.
A key part of holding NOWHC accountable for its exclusionary policy in my opinion is ensuring that if the clinic does reach a position to offer full health care services again, including medical services, then they offer full medical care to trans women affordably and accessibly — either on their own initiative and resources, through assistance from online aand offline participation and assistance (as Emily suggested) and/or through partnership with some of the four organizations in the vicinity to make that care a practical reality. As Agent_J said, accountability and assistance are not mutually exclusive propositions. I don’t think that it is throwing accountability under the bus to help NOWHC fulfill its ambitions to be a viable community health care resource for all women in New Orleans without disclaimers or ambiguities.
At this point I have to ask: what would be a demonstration from NOWHC, besides providing care to trans women and issuing an apology (as they did privately with Em but not necessarily publicly on their own initiative), that it is taking the health needs and care of trans women as seriously as it takes the health needs and care of cis women? What would that look like? I don’t know if I’m out of line as a cis woman to ask this question or not, and if I am feel free to ignore it and me.
Sylvia/M
June 30, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Argh, and I should refresh the page. That reply was directed at Voz, and point taken Emily. I hope they do follow through; but I’m willing to wait with you while they evaluate to see what happens.
Sylvia/M
June 30, 2009 at 1:22 pm
It wasn’t a casual dismissal.
algormortis
June 30, 2009 at 1:43 pm
@ Sylvia Thank you for clarifying. I still don’t know who you are directing your comment at, tho.
I could contribute an answer, but I seriously doubt I will be listened to at this point, however. That’s what prompted the TFHEMP. My current hope is to continue with TFHEMP, and give as much reach to as many transfemale voices as I can.
if you want to hear anything from that, or from me, you know where to find me.
voz
June 30, 2009 at 2:03 pm
At this point I have to ask: what would be a demonstration from NOWHC, besides providing care to trans women and issuing an apology (as they did privately with Em but not necessarily publicly on their own initiative), that it is taking the health needs and care of trans women as seriously as it takes the health needs and care of cis women? What would that look like?
I think that, within the limits they’re operating under, they already have.
Rebecca
June 30, 2009 at 2:27 pm
“OK, problem identified. What can we do to help them solve it?”
Go to medical school, see you in 5 years!
No, seriously. Education, ally-ing, blogging, media initiatives, are all great. It would be greater to see people who hold trans women lives, women of color lives, low income women lives, low income trans women of color lives…. dearly… become the medical professionals we can trust. Scholarship fund? I would love to have other TWOC as physicians, and to be a TWOC physician for other TWOC. As much as it sucks many of us rely on allopathic medicine at some point…
Blog & post comments about this on mainstream medical web sites and raise consciousness among doctors, instead of stagnating only among TWOC and “those in solidarity” blogosphere where everyone is basically preaching to the choir, more or less. Maybe we could put some effort into talking to a variety of actual DOCTORS and NURSES about this, not just railing at those already working at womens health clinics & inclined to try to do their best and fix their bigotries as they’re pointed out.
As if the uroboros-like 300 comment long threads regarding TWOC healthcare are doing anyone any good right now.
Unusual
July 2, 2009 at 4:33 am
@unusual
The media project of mine already has several health centers on board.
It WILL be distributed to the doctors and clinics who will treat us. Follow @TFHEMP on Twitter to see the list and stay up to date on mine. Remember there are other projects in the works too.
Also, medical students I know have pledged to do just what you described.
ppl are doing more than what you claim. Believe it or not, I am not just talking shit when I say real things are happening.
And the real beauty? I am not the only one doing this, so there are actually plenty of good choices out there, because trans people are making it happen now.
voz
July 2, 2009 at 12:20 pm