PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
Victoria Schneps-Yunis
CEO & CO-PUBLISHER
Joshua Schneps
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Matt Tracy
matt@gaycitynews.com
DIGITAL EDITOR
Tat Bellamy-Walker
tat@gaycitynews.com
FOUNDING EDITOR
Paul Schindler
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Duncan Osborne (News)
Donna Aceto (Photography)
Christopher Byrne (Theater)
Susie Day (Perspective)
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Nicholas Boston, Kelly Jean Cogswell,
Steve Erickson, Andy Humm,
Eli Jacobson, David Kennerley,
Gary M. Kramer, Arthur S. Leonard,
Michael T. Luongo, Lawrence D. Mass,
Brian McCormick, Eileen McDermott,
Mick Meenan, Donna Minkowitz,
Christopher Murray, David Noh,
Sam Oglesby, Nathan Riley,
David Shengold, Ed Sikov, Yoav Sivan,
Kathleen Warnock, Benjamin Weinthal,
Nicole Akoukou Thompson
ART DIRECTOR
Leah Mitch
ADVERTISING
Ralph D’Onofrio
718-260-2524
rdonofrio@schnepsmedia.com
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Gayle Greenberg
Andrew Mark
Julio Tumbaco
Miriam Nieto
Laura Cangiano
Kathy Wenk
Jeannie Eisenhardt
Lenny Vigliotti
Elizabeth Polly
Please call 718-260-2524 for
advertising rates and availability.
CO-FOUNDERS EMERITUS
Troy Masters
John Sutter
Gay City News, The Newspaper Serving Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender NYC, is
published by Schneps Media. Send all inquiries to:
Gay City News, One Metrotech North, Third Floor,
Brooklyn, NY 15201 Phone: 212-22-1890
Written permission of the publisher must be
obtained before any of the contents of this paper, in
part or whole, can be reproduced or redistributed.
All contents © 2021 Schneps Media
Gay City News is a registered trademark
of Schneps Media
Fax: 212-22-2790
© 2021 Schneps Media
All rights reserved.
FOUNDING MEMBER
G U E S T P E R S P E C T I V E
COVID Vaccines Need an Advocate for
Trans Healthcare
Micha Dugan shares his journey to vaccination and the important factors to keep in mind.
BY MICHA DUGAN
At fi rst, I wasn’t sure about
getting vaccinated.
As someone who was
able to work remotely for
the last year, I’ve had the privilege of
watching the pandemic from afar. It
was important to me that folks living
“on the front line” — colleagues,
friends, family, my partner, and other
loved ones — would have access fi rst.
Although I am at high risk as an immunocompromised
person, I worried
that my appointment would be at the
expense of someone who is forced to
continue to go out in the world and
work. Hearing stories about the extremely
privileged using their wealth
and whiteness to “steal” shots, up to
and including faking their eligibility,
scared me further away from scheduling
an appointment. Would I look
back on this choice as an equitable
and kind one?
The choice was initially made for
me: I was not eligible at fi rst. This
gave me time to research the vaccine
and its side effects, as well as the
moral and just arguments for taking,
or not taking, the vaccine. Along with
my own personal research, The Jewish
Board, the New York City-based
health and human services nonprofi t
where I work, provided educational
materials and held informative talks
with leading epidemiologists. Ultimately,
it is a very personal choice,
JAHLEEL SHAHEED
but so is actively choosing to live equitably
in a way that is mindful of my
own privileges.
I signed up for an appointment after
my father, a late-stage cancer patient,
received his shot. We are both
disabled and immunocompromised.
Strangely, what helped me make the
choice was not the massive amounts
of educational materials and informative
talks shared by my workplace
or my own personal research. It was
a text from my father asking me when
I was going to be vaccinated, because
he wanted to go to a baseball game
before he started an experimental
trial this summer.
After a few weeks on a waiting list, a
neighbor sent me a link from the nonprofi
t where she worked. I was scheduled
in minutes, around the corner
from my house. This is when my
second wave of research began. I’m a
transgender person who has been on
testosterone for Hormone Replacement
Therapy, or HRT, administering my
own intramuscular shots every other
week for approximately six months.
As someone who is both disabled
and transgender, I have often had to
be my own health advocate; in this
instance, it turned out to be important
to my vaccination journey. I had
read a study that said some doctors
have noticed that women and other
people Assigned Female at Birth
had more severe side effects. Being a
scholar of my own body, I wondered
if it was due to a hormonal variation
and sent a quick message a medical
professional who specializes in hormones
and knew about my disability.
He was happy to answer my question:
we’re not sure, but let’s play it safe.
I’m grateful to know a provider who
was thoughtful about allaspects of
myself: my chronic pain and disability,
my weakened immune system,
my transition plan, and my need for
a vaccine. Without his sensitivity, my
reaction to the vaccine could have
been much worse. I waited two days
after getting vaccinated to take my
testosterone shot. Although between
the side effects and missing my shot I
was very disoriented and in pain, I’m
grateful that I was cautious. My partner,
who is on estrogen, also had her
hormones on a separate day than her
vaccine. So far, neither of us have noticed
any signifi cant side effects other
than those normally associated with
the COVID vaccine and messing with
our hormone schedule.
I’d encourage providers to check
in with trans clients who are on hormones
when promoting the vaccine,
along with any other populations
whose medical concerns are often
minimized or who may be at a greater
risk. Ask them if they’ve had the
chat with a physician, and if they feel
they have all the knowledge necessary
to make a decision. Due to the
lack of literature on trans health in
general, neither myself or the doctor I
spoke to are completely sure our caution
was important. Lack of meaningful
research is a perpetual risk of
being marginalized: many medical
studies aren’t made with everybody
in mind. However, I think providers
and advocates have the power to
support others by asking, being cautious,
and responding to concerns in
a meaningful way. Without the advice
I received, I may have gone into this
with more anxiety than necessary, or
worse — not gone at all.
Micha Dugan(he/they/we) is the
Digital Content Associate at The Jewish
Board, member of the National
Child Traumatic Stress Network’s
SOGIE group, former web designer
for Arcanum Magazine, and LGBTQ+
teacher/advocate of 10 years. He also
enjoys deconstructing racist systems
and trying to recreate their obaachan’s
cooking
MAY 6 - MAY 19, 2 20 021 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
link
link
link
link
link
link
