Commentary: Providers of gender-affirming care need support, too

Wisteria Deng, Progressive Perspectives on Feb 26, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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When I began providing gender-affirming psychotherapy at a hospital in August 2022, I had years of graduate training and was well prepared to treat youth from diverse backgrounds, helping them to heal from wounds inflicted by past trauma and ongoing discrimination, explore self-identity and find social safety.

What graduate school did not teach me was how to handle threatening messages left on the hospital landline, how to reply to posts naming providers as “pedophiles,” or how to respond to young patients asking in fear if the clinic is safe from threats of violence.

Being a therapist who provides gender-affirming care in 2025 is frightening. I have made friends with the security guards at the hospital entrance. I check my phone regularly to make sure I still have the quick dial to the nearest police station, a number saved in 2022. I always go to the parking garage looking over my shoulders, and reach for my phone at a bird’s caw.

This is not right. Young people should not live in guilt and shame for being their authentic selves, nor should providers have to worry about their own safety while providing necessary medical care and alleviating patients’ pain.

Of the more than 500 bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community that were introduced in state legislatures in 2023, nearly half specifically targeted transgender and non-binary people. Many of these bills sought to prohibit health care providers from providing, assisting or making referrals for gender-affirming care. The majority would suspend or revoke medical license and carry prison sentences ranging from four years to life.

Many LGBTQ+ people despair at the anti-trans furor that’s being whipped up all around them. But we are not helpless. The fight has only just begun. What can others do to help?

Be an ally. Showing support doesn’t have to be a big gesture. You can add an online comment with words of encouragement, click the “like” button to make someone feel less alone and report derogatory languages on social media. Support can also look like wearing a rainbow pin on your bag, getting to know your local LGBTQ+ pride center or spreading the word about community events.

Use your voice. Local grassroot efforts and state-level support will be instrumental in the years to come. Contact your local elected officials to state your support for gender-diverse youth, their families and medical providers. Attend community events organized by local grassroot organizations.

Don’t look away. When there is an influx of information, we may feel as though we want to escape. The less time we spend on educating ourselves, the more likely we end up absorbing disinformation. “Erin in the Morning,” a trans news and discussion site produced by Erin Reed, is a great source for news on these issues. Another worthy read is “Combating Scientific Disinformation on Gender-Affirming Care,” a 2023 study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

President Donald Trump has sought to capitalize on anti-trans bias, signing executive orders banning federal funding or support for gender-affirming care for those under 19, barring trans women and girls from participating in female sports in federally funded schools, directing the military to draft a new policy targeting transgender service members, and declaring that the federal government would only recognize two sexes, male and female.

Recently, the National Park Service ordered the removal of the “T” and “Q” from references to “LGBTQ” at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City. Yet trans people played a big role in the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 and continue to resist even as the Trump administration seeks to negate their existence.

It may be true that we live in a world more divided than ever. Yet we can still find common ground and connect with one another in our shared humanity. People have the right to exist without justifications and to express their genuine selves without fear.

Health providers carving out such space for others also have the right to exist. A doctor has the right to start their morning without clicking through threatening voicemails. When a therapist leaves her work, she has the right to walk into the parking garage knowing she can get home safe.

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Wisteria Deng is a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at Yale University. This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.

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