Thriving Through Adversity panel discusses health in transgender community
Panelists discussed gender affirming care, health in the transgender community and how to be an ally during Monday night’s Thriving Through Adversity panel. The event was hosted by the Intercultural Collective’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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Members of the local and campus communities gathered at Syracuse University to discuss physical and mental health in the transgender community during Monday evening’s Thriving Through Adversity panel. The event coincided with International Trans Day of Visibility.
Discussion frequently returned to President Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to limit rights and medical access for trans people, and methods for overcoming legal and economic barriers faced by the trans community. Panelists, including staff members from SU’s Barnes Center at the Arch, also discussed the definition and availability of gender affirming care, allyship and support systems for people impacted by changing federal policy.
“I think about (gender affirming care) as any type of service or healthcare that affirms who somebody is in a really holistic way and reduces barriers to affirmation, whatever that may be,” Tyler Sliker, the clinic director of marriage and family therapy at David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, said. “So there, in my mind, is a really expansive definition of that, even beyond what is defined in mainstream discourse currently this day and time.”
The event closed out programming for Trans Week of Liberation by SU’s Intercultural Collective’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center. It came roughly one month after the United States Senate blocked a bill that would ban trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports. Trump continues to threaten to undo policies protecting the confidentiality of trans students’ identities in public schools.
SU sophomore Brenne Sheehan explained the various legal barriers blocking people from transitioning, including name changes for official documents. She said the high cost of changing documentation — as well as the often tedious process of meeting the change requirements — places unnecessary obstacles on people during the transition process.
In New York, it can cost up to $210 to change your name, with added fees for new documentation such as a driver’s license.
“We have advanced so far as to understand that trans people who are going through changing their names or have some sort of way to prove so can bypass this anti-fraud bureaucracy,” Sheehan said. “It’s really important that we understand the scariness of deadnaming and dead names appearing like they do in these places.”
Amid the flurry of executive orders Trump signed on Inauguration Day, one order increased the rigidity of gender identification on official documents, including passports, by limiting the gender options to only male and female. An “X gender” option was previously available. The policy further suspended people from changing their registered sex.
With these new challenges, the panelists emphasized the role political leaders have in shaping both policy and discourse about the trans community and how this affects trans peoples’ daily lives and wellbeing.
“What can we also do to continue to make sure that we are voting in elections, even at the local level, for people who represent the things that are important to us, are going to uphold the legislations that we need and fight against the ones that are not helpful for our communities?” Dr. Carrie Brown, counseling director at the Barnes Center, said.
Panelists from the Barnes Center highlighted the support available for the trans community at SU and encouraged students to access it. Alena Anthony, associate director of fitness programs, said she aims to create a space where students feel comfortable in their bodies. She said fitness can build confidence.
The Barnes Center offers gender-affirming health and wellness, including hormone injections, nutritional counseling for hormone therapy, personal training for gender affirmation and reproductive and sexual care. All of these resources are available on campus and are covered in tuition fees and health insurance.
Jess Dennison, assistant director for health promotion at the Barnes Center, advocated for inclusive healthcare resources and programming for all gender identities. She said sexual and reproductive healthcare access is one of her team’s main priorities.
“Sexual health, historically, has been incredibly led from a very binary lens. It’s not something that, for most folks, experiences in the past were very inclusive,” she said. “What’s the language that we’re using when we’re educating, and what are the spaces that are set up in which this program is happening?”
Throughout Monday’s conversation, speakers examined the elements of allyship and support systems for people who are transitioning. The panelists shared personal stories and discussed their own experiences of coming out or responding to others coming out.
All participants emphasized the importance of making trans people feel safe and supported in their transition, while acknowledging how difficult it can be for friends and family to ease into recognizing their loved one’s new identity. Counselors and staff panelists underscored their role in being allies on behalf of the university to trans students and staff on campus.
“It’s incredibly important to look at allyship without an endpoint in sight, and I think especially talking about it from an institutional perspective, it’s constant… staying open to relearning and learning new again and again and again, because people and the world are dynamic,” Dennison said.
Disclaimer: Brenne Sheehan is a contributing writer for The Daily Orange. She did not influence the editorial content of this article.
