Credit: The JOLT staff via Zoom
International Transgender Visibility Day recognized by the Board of Health in Thurston County
‘An annual day to celebrate the accomplishments and victories of transgender and gender nonconforming people’
Excerpt from The JOLT News:
To acknowledge the significant contributions of transgender people to the community and recognize the hardship facing transgender people in healthcare settings, the Board of Health (BOH) proclaimed March 31, 2023, International Transgender Visibility Day in Thurston County.
At the Tuesday [March 14] BOH meeting, Board Member and Lacey councilmember Robin Vazquez cited statistics that one in five members of the transgender community were refused health care.
“About 28% of the transgender community responding to the survey experienced harassment when seeking health care. That is a pertinent issue for the BOH to address,” Vazquez said.
Board of County Commissioners chair and BOH member Carolina Mejia said the proclamation is their way of acknowledging that transgender people are welcome in the community.
“We are seeing suicide rates go up for our trans[gender] community as they are facing a lot of bullying in our very own communities…it goes against you as a human as a person. As a BOH, we find this issue very important,” Mejia said.
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