That's a really good question.
Talking about gender-affirming care and gender-affirming gear is really interesting and really important. I think one challenge is that over the last few years we've seen a real rise in misinformation and disinformation about what gender-affirming care is and means, especially as it relates to gender-affirming care for people who are under 18.
There's this idea that youth are maybe coming out as trans and immediately accessing gender-affirming care that's irreversible, which is not true. First of all, the reality is that the waiting lists for gender-affirming care in this country are very long and are getting longer. That goes for gender-affirming care at children's hospitals, in youth clinics and for adults. I think there's a lack of understanding that sometimes gender-affirming care can be having support and changing the gender marker on your passport or on your driver's licence, or having support in a legal name change. It's not health care per se, but it's still something that impacts your mental health, not having to see a name or a gender marker that could be difficult.
Going back to what I was talking about before with regard to mental health care, it's having access to providers who understand what it means to be gender-affirming so that youth aren't coming out and then either having to do research online or having to advocate for themselves to providers, who maybe have an outdated understanding of what it means to be trans.