It is not uncommon for people who are transgender or gender nonconforming to experience widespread discrimination and health inequities, according to a report published in The Milbank Quarterly.
Researchers examined how often gender minority adults in Massachusetts experience public accommodations discrimination and how it affects their health. They focused their study specifically on discrimination in healthcare settings.
Since 2012, Massachusetts has had laws that provided legal protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity in employment, housing, credit, public education and hate crimes, The law fails, however, to include discrimination in public accommodations settings such as transportation, retail stores, restaurants, bathrooms and healthcare facilities.
In 2013, the researchers conducted a one-time, electronic survey assessing demographics, health, healthcare utilization and discrimination in public accommodations venues people experienced in the previous 12 months. Highlighted below are four findings from the surveys.
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1. Overall, 65 percent of the respondents reported public accommodations discrimination in the past 12 months.
2. Healthcare ranked No. 5 among the most prevalent discrimination settings with a reporting rate of 24 percent, behind transportation (36 percent), retail (28 percent), restaurants (26 percent) and public gatherings (25 percent).
3. Public accommodations discrimination in the past 12 months in healthcare settings was independently associated with a 31 percent to 81 percent increased risk of adverse emotional and physical symptoms.
4. Individuals who faced discrimination in healthcare were also two to three times more likely to postpone needed care when sick or injured, as well as preventive or routine healthcare.
"Discrimination in healthcare settings creates a unique health risk for gender minority people," concluded the study authors. "The passage and enforcement of transgender rights laws that include protections against discrimination in public accommodations — inclusive of healthcare — are a public health policy approach critically needed to address transgender health inequities."
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