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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, APR. 22-28, 2022 BXR
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Access to adequate and
comprehensive health care
has been an evergreen
struggle for transgender
Americans, with nearly 670
anti-LGBTQ bills filed since
2018, according to analysis
of data from the American
Civil Liberties Union and
LGBTQ advocacy group
Freedom for All Americans.
For Black transgender
women like Heaven, who
declined to share her last
name for security reasons,
they don’t have time for the
rest of America to recognize
trans rights or identities.
For Heaven — diagnosed
with HIV in 2020 — equitable
access to HIV testing is
paramount, as a reported
42% of transgender women
are living with HIV in the
U.S.
“There is a war on transgender
women and much of
it is being fought at the state
level through regressive
and discriminatory policies
that say I’m not a woman
and I don’t deserve equal
health care,” Heaven told
the Bronx Times. “I’ve been
assaulted in the city. I’ve
been called names. But to
me, the most hurtful thing
imaginable is that a state
would forgo its onus to protect
its citizen by restricting
their right to health.”
At a press conference in
Van Nest on Monday, which
is recognized as National
Transgender HIV Testing
Day, Bronx Borough President
Vanessa Gibson encouraged
New York’s transgender
community to get
tested to learn their HIV
status and learn more about
HIV prevention and treatment.
Among the five boroughs
of New York City,
the Bronx had the secondhighest
number of new HIV
diagnoses in 2020, and the
highest percentage of HIV
deaths. Over that same time
frame, HIV testing dropped
sharply due to the COVID
pandemic.
HIV testing in New York
conducted through AIDS
Institute-funded sites averaged
more than 2,500 tests
per month in 2019. But according
to Amida Care, that
rate dipped below 500 tests
per month in April 2020 and
did not reach 2,000 tests in
any given month through
June 2021.
The Bronx beep also
highlighted the disparities
of an ongoing health and social
epidemic of transphobia
that is affecting New
York’s trans community.
Her main message on Monday:
“testing saves lives.”
Additionally, Gibson
announced the redeployment
of a Bronx-focused
HIV task force, an initiative
that started under her predecessor
Ruben Diaz Jr. in
2011, that will look to handle
equity outreach for the
Bronx’s LGTBQ+ community.
At Destination Tomorrow:
HIV testing in New York conducted through AIDS Institute-funded sites averaged more than 2,500
tests per month in 2019. But according to Amida Care, that rate dipped below 500 tests per month in
April 2020 and did not reach 2,000 tests in any given month through June 2021. Photo Getty Images
The Bronx LGBT Center,
located on 2134 Barnes
Ave., testing was available
for HIV and COVID-19, as
well as COVID vaccinations.
Trans rights advocates
point to regressive policies
passed by states such
as Arkansas and Arizona
that ban gender-affirming
care for youth as an exacerbative
public and social
health detriment.
Approximately 1.4 million
people across the
country identify as transgender,
and transgender
women of color are particularly
at risk for high exposure
to HIV, according
to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
Mimi D. Shelton, a
trans woman who serves
as director of Trans Initiatives
and Services at Destination
Tomorrow noted
that in the plight of discrimination
against the
queer and trans community
— they deserve the
right to receive equal access
to care and the tolerance
of others.
Most recently, Alabama’s
governor signed
into law a bill that makes
it a felony for medical
providers to administer
gender-affirming care to
trans youth and more than
a dozen other states are
considering similar legislation
banning gender-affirming
care for youth.
After Texas failed to advance
similar legislation,
the state’s governor, Greg
Abbott, issued a directive
requiring the state’s child
protective services department
to investigate for
child abuse parents who
help their children access
gender-affirming care.
The directive also designates
medical providers
and teachers as mandatory
reporters, making
them subject to penalties
for a failure to report.
“What it meant to be
gay or trans (growing up
in Virginia) was that you
were a disease and not
worthy,” Shelton said. “It
took me 28 years, but I can
say this now: We’re not
diseased … and that we’re
worthy. I am enough. You
are enough. We’re worthy
of proper care and preventive
access for HIV.”
Bronx’s transgender community
fights for equal medical access
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