Health committee  That's a really good question. From my understanding, I don't know exactly what's happening. It's coming up in terms of what should be prescribed, but it's also coming up in terms of what lab values we should be looking for, because that's a little different, too, and it's ofte

Health committee  No, I was not 20. A lot of trans folks look a lot younger than they are because of having two puberties, so I'm in my late forties.

Health committee  It was twenty years ago, so I was about 30.

Health committee  Absolutely, I would strongly recommend that there be some earmarked funding and earmarked deliverables around that. Particularly around LGBT seniors, and also for younger folks who are dealing with disabilities, far more will interact with home care than will necessarily interact

Health committee  My understanding is that the U.K. census just this past year may have piloted asking questions around gender identity, so it may be worth looking at what they've done.

Health committee  My understanding is that in B.C. the Pride Education Network, which is a group of LGBT teachers, has been working with the BC Teachers’ Federation and, I think, also with the Ministry of Education to create some guidelines called SOGI 123, which are about how to do this in an age

Health committee  Maybe what I can do is broaden that a little bit. I'm just thinking about how best to get at some of the root questions and issues that people sometimes wonder about. I transitioned about 20 years ago, which was a very different time. I was very fortunate. When I transitioned a

Health committee  I think some universal component is needed, but if we're going to be most effective, you need to delve into the communities that are struggling the most in order to actually have the impact.

Health committee  In one province there was a physician who had been trained to do many transition-related surgeries who was affiliated with a Catholic hospital and was not allowed to perform those surgeries there.

Health committee  There's sometimes considerable fear in LGBT communities around accessing services provided by faith-based organizations, as also for addictions and in some other areas. There's a lot of fear and a lot of concern.

Health committee  I would talk to Dr. Alex Abramovich about that. Alex is one of the leading researchers on LGBT housing and homelessness.

Health committee  May I expand a little on that?

Health committee  Through Rainbow Health Ontario, we did a province-wide needs assessment about supporting gender-independent kids and their families. Part of what we did was to reach out to particular ethnocultural communities and make sure that we're really spanning the diversity of our communit

Health committee  Another piece of my understanding is there are sometimes federal, provincial and territorial committees struck. This might be something worth exploring there, but in that case I'd be sure to include folks who are active in LGBT communities in a range of ways in that, or in consul

Health committee  It may be worth trying something different, where you're having other stakeholders there in a way that works for the structure at the table as well.