Maine legislature rallies for gender-affirming care with a new bill

Under the Radar Podcast

This year 21 anti-transgender laws have passed nationwide with hundreds more under consideration. But Maine’s legislature has gone against the trend, instead approving a new “shield law” protecting health care workers who provide gender-affirming care. It is headed to the desk of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.

It is incredibly important “to protect states where care is legal because providers are worried,” said Polly Crozier, director of family advocacy for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders. “There's really a lot of disinformation and misinformation out there. And we want to make sure that in states where care is legal, that providers are able to provide best practice medical care.”

Plus, Massachusetts U.S Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren successfully fought for $850,000 in federal funds for an LGBTQ+ Senior Housing Development known as The Pryde.

This is a big win, says Janson Wu, senior director of state advocacy and government relations at The Trevor Project, but the battle for funding like this shouldn't be so difficult.

“$850,000 is a big deal for this project. But when you think about it in the context of an appropriation bill, it's a fraction of a fraction of a percent,” Wu said. “And so the other story here is that it shows the extent that extreme conservatives in Congress have used the budgeting process as a way to attack the LGBTQ community. And that's a disturbing trend to have.”

And while the South End once held the crown, many now claim Dorchester to be Boston’s star “gayborhood.” But trends come and go, says Grace Sterling Stowell, executive director of the Boston Alliance of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Youth.

“I'm so old that I could tell you that back in the day, the Fenway was considered the gay neighborhood and Somerville was the lesbian neighborhood. And so, all of it, JP, Dorchester, South End were all up and coming since then,” said Sterling Stowell. “But I think it's important to acknowledge that, certainly historically, before the days of legal protections, and at least a relative greater level of public acceptance, the LGBTQ folks were not economically a group that could afford higher rents. And so historically, we were living in areas where rents were lower.”

It's all on Under the Radar's LGBTQ News Roundtable.

GUESTS

Grace Sterling Stowell, executive director of the Boston Alliance of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Youth, or BAGLY

Janson Wu, senior director of state advocacy and government relations at The Trevor Project

Polly Crozier, director of family advocacy for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD