Policy Work: Gender-Affirming Care in Michigan
Ensuring everyone has full access to medical care, despite authoritarian orders
Despite scrambling to replace potentially-threatened federal grant funding and the various attacks on science, public health, and healthcare from the current administration, we’ve been doing the work and getting a few wins in. Namely, through my work at OutCenter Southwest Michigan, we’ve been able to protect gender-affirming care in our state.
Here’s the brief:
On February 8th, Corewell Health announced a policy to pause gender-affirming care to new patients under 19 years old. OutCenter Southwest Michigan confirmed on February 12th that Corewell has since rescinded their decision, following a statement from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and an outpouring of community advocacy supporting healthcare access for LGBTQ+ people. A coalition of organizations across the state, including OutCenter, poured many hours into networking, research, and protest, leading to this significant policy reversal.
The excellent LGBTQ+ journalist
covered the situation here:
You can see the full press release at the OutCenter website: https://www.outcenter.org/articles/outcenter-southwest-michigan-responds-to-corewell-health-reinstatement-of-gender-affirming-care-for-new-lgbtq-youth-patients
I’m very glad that my work isn’t contained just to research and writing, but the ground game of policy, advocacy, and more. Hoping to see more victories like this in the days to come.