Second-year UF medical student Ansley Schulte revamped HealthQueer Alliance last year with two goals in mind: to educate the health science community on LGBTQ+ health and to create safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community.
After the organization was inactive for several years, Schulte, 23, said she will see those goals become a reality through its Trans Health Month events in October.
The first event is a cultural competency workshop Monday, she said. Schulte said the events will educate health science students on how to properly treat transgender patients.
"If you ask pretty much every trans person who has been to a doctor, they’ll say that the doctor asked them very inappropriate questions that were not medically necessary," she said.
The month’s workshops and panels lead up to the main event, Trans Health Night, Schulte said. On Oct. 29 at 6 p.m., the Equal Access Clinic at 1707 N. Main St. will become a safe space for trans patients to receive care.
HealthQueer Alliance treasurer Jeffrey Ferrell said Trans Health Night is a step in the right direction to changing the way transgender patients are treated.
"We need providers in the community who are willing to step out and say, ‘I’m friendly and willing to take care of trans people,’" the 23-year-old said.
Contact Alexandra Fernandez at afernandez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @alexmfern
