China to test Olympic Athletes' Gender

Hey Folks. This is an older article that I'd originally sent out to the GLAAM listserv. Krista asked me to post it to the blog, but for some reason I've had excessive amounts of difficulty getting logged into the blog. Eventually it worked out for me, but if anyone else is having trouble, please email either Krista or me. Here's the link:

Sports / Olympics

A Lab Is Set to Test the Gender of Some Female Athletes

By KATIE THOMAS

Published: July 30, 2008

Olympic organizers have set up a sex-determination laboratory to evaluate the external appearance, hormones and genes of “suspect” female athletes.

I'd be interested to see what the IOC, or national Olympic committees might do in the case of an athlete who identified as a trans person or who was in transition/post-transition. Thoughts?

<3 PW.

Project Update: LGBTQ Medical Student Life Survey

Thanks to Pojen, Makini, Sarah and Pat for your contributions to this project!

GLAAM members are working with the AMSA Gender and Sexuality Committee to design an LGBTQ and ally student life survey to be distributed to medical students across the country. Data collected from completed surveys will be compiled in an online student guide accessible on the AMSA website. This guidebook will allow medical school and residency applicants to have a clearer picture of the social, educational and advocacy-related opportunities for queer students at the schools they are considering. The survey includes multiple choice questions that will yield statistical interpretations of LGBTQ and ally student life at individual schools, in regions of the country, and among LGBTQ medical students as a whole. Open-ended questions in the survey invite anecdotes, opinions and explanations clarifying answers selected in previous multiple choice questions. These responses will give life and personality to descriptions of individual medical schools.

The survey explores a number of topics. Some examples:

Comfort with being “out” to other medical students and to faculty
Size of LGBTQ medical, graduate and undergraduate communities
Social opportunities – dating and friendship
Presence of an LGBTQ medical student organization
Opportunities for LGBTQ advocacy and volunteerism
Availability of faculty mentorship
LGBTQ-relevant curriculum lectures/guest speakers
Support from student allies
Presence of LGBTQ community in the local town/city – social and cultural venues
Comfort and sense of safety during clinical rotations – culture of hospital environment
Medical field/specialty of interest: is the perceived level of acceptance/tolerance within fields of interest
a factor LGBTQ students strongly consider when applying for residency?
Attitudes toward including LGBTQ activities on residency applications/resumes

The survey is currently being reviewed by the AMSA Gender and Sexuality Committee. We hope to start distributing surveys and collecting information this fall.

-KH

The Burden of HIV
Among Transgender and Transexual Men and Women

"Transgender individuals often face stigma and discrimination, which increases their HIV risk while at the same time makes it more difficult for them to access HIV prevention and treatment services. Few transgender sensitive prevention and treatment programs exist."

"Data from needs assesesment and risk behavioral studies have found HIV prevalence in transgender and transsexual women as ranging from:
- 14% in San Juan
- 19% in Philadelphia
- 20% in Chicago
- 22% in Los Angeles
- 21-30% in New York
- 26% in Boston
- 27% in Houston

"In a Washington DC Survey of the transgender community, 25% of all participants self-reported as HIV positive, including 32% of the male-to-females and 3% of the famles-to-males, with another 22% not knowing their HIV status."

"Transgender women sex workers are at particularly high risk, since they are often financially induced to engage in barrier-free sex."

http://www.soros.org/initiatives/health/focus/sharp/articles_publications/publications/transgender_20071109/transgender_20071109.pdf

“In 1994, Minnesota's transgender community participated in the state-wide HIV community planning process. Focus groups identified several risk factors: Invisibility, poverty, shame, low self esteem, loneliness, and sharing needles for hormone or silicone injection. Many saw acceptance, even for one night, as worth the risk of infection. The chronic lack of HIV prevention efforts targeting the transgender community was seen as supporting a denial of risk already widespread in the community. Myths about HIV that predominate in society as a whole are reflected in the transgender community in unique ways. For example, some transexuals believe a change from a gay or lesbian to a heterosexual role, or a change from male to female, provides them with protection from HIV, without any concomitant behavior change (Minnesota Department of Health, 1994).”

http://www.symposion.com/ijt/hiv_risk/preface.htm

“Unfortunately, there's not a lot of information about how HIV and anti-HIV meds affect trans people specifically. Some anti-HIV meds are known to interact with the female sex hormones that some MTF trans people take to promote body changes. And, points out Travers, little research has been done on the long-term effects of hormones on HIV-negative trans people, never mind those who are positive.”

“And though there is little in the way of trans-specific statistics gathering, the trans community also appears to be more vulnerable to HIV than the general population. Some U.S. studies indicate that rates of HIV may be as high as 20 percent among trans women in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and as high as 30 percent among trans women in San Francisco and Washington. Another study, of trans women sex workers in Atlanta, found HIV rates soaring to 68 percent.”

http://www.thebody.com/content/art46730.html

_______________________________________


In light of the realities described in resources like those cited above, I wondered if setting up an HIV testing day with the help of Lifelines Rhode Island could be an effective way of beginning to assess and provide for the HIV testing and counseling needs of trans people in RI. Early in the summer, Sarah Bowman, Brown alumna currently working at Community Access, expressed to me her long-standing interest in organizing a rapid HIV test day specifically for local trans folks and has been my mentor for this project. I felt that advertising the event specifically to this population would communicate to them that health providers at the event understand the unique sexual health concerns and approaches to discussing sexuality that are relevant to people of trans experience.

Logistics are coming together, and several GLAAM members are interested in helping out during the event. If the testing day goes well on Aug. 21st and folks feel comfortable showing up and getting tested, I think it would be worthwhile to plan another event during the school year. GLAAM could help organize rapid test training sessions (with the help of trained professionals) for students at the medical school and then students could plan a test day and also do some counseling if they feel comfortable and prepared.


-KH

FREE, ANONYMOUS RAPID HIV TESTING

Thursday, August 21st, 4-7pm
Sarah Doyle Women's Center
26 Benevolent Street
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912

Service provided for: transgender, transsexual, Two Spirit, gender variant, and intersex (TGI) people in Rhode Island and surrounding regions.
Sponsored by: Lifelines Rhode Island and The Miriam Hospital

Interested? Please RSVP to Krista_Hachey@brown.edu with a preferred appointment time between 4 and 7pm.

To preserve anonymity, you may use any name of your choosing when scheduling an appointment. We will try to accommodate walk-ins.

HIV is an infectious disease that is transmitted through contact with blood or sexual fluids. Individuals who engage in unprotected sex or have shared needles for any purpose should strongly consider scheduling an appointment.

During your appointment: an experienced provider will administer a painless oral test, you will receive your result and have an opportunity to discuss your questions and concerns. Your appointment will be about thirty minutes.

See http://www.hivtest.org/faq.cfm#tested for general information about getting tested.