Wellness for our Communities

Cross-site report of key findings from a 2018 needs assessment of transgender
and gender nonconforming people living with HIV across three communities:
Detroit, Michigan; New Orleans, Louisiana; and South Florida (Miami and
Fort Lauderdale areas).

About this document

Chung, Cecilia; Kass, Sophia; Lesesne, Catherine; Boyce, Lorin; Carver, Lisa. (2019). Wellness for Our Communities: Cross-site report of key findings from a 2018 needs assessment of transgender and gender nonconforming people living with HIV across three communities: Detroit, Michigan; New Orleans, Louisiana; and South Florida Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas). Transgender Law Center, Oakland, California.

This report was produced by ICF under contract with the Transgender Law Center.

About Transgender Law Center

Founded in 2002, Transgender Law Center has grown into the largest trans-specific, trans-led organization in the United States, changing law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression. As a multidisciplinary national organization, Transgender Law Center advances the movement for transgender and gender nonconforming people using an integrated set of approaches, including strategic litigation, policy advocacy, educational efforts, movement-building, and the creation of programs that meet the needs of transgender and gender nonconforming people and communities.

About Positively Trans

Positively Trans (T+), developed and directed by Transgender Law Center Senior Strategist Cecilia Chung, is a constituent-led project grounded on the principle that we are all capable of forming our own network, telling our own stories, and developing our own advocacy strategies in response to inequities, stigma, and discrimination over punitive laws and lack of legal protections in our local communities.

With the support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Transgender Law Center launched T+ as a response to the structural inequalities that drive the high rate of HIV/AIDS and poor health outcomes. By partnering with a National Advisory Board of community leaders, T+ seeks to mobilize and promote resilience of trans people most impacted by or living with HIV/ AIDS, particularly trans women of color, through research, policy advocacy, legal advocacy, and leadership-strengthening.

Introduction and Background

Transgender Law Center launched Positively Trans in 2015 as a project focused on developing self-empowerment and advocacy by and for transgender people living with HIV. Positively Trans operates under the guidance of a National Advisory Board of transgender people living with HIV from across the United States; the board is primarily composed of trans women of color who are already engaged in advocacy and leadership roles in their local communities.

Recent studies indicate that transgender people, especially trans women of color, experience disproportionate economic marginalization,⁽¹⁾ homelessness, stigma, discrimination in health care access and provision,⁽²⁾ harassment and violence at school,⁽³⁾ police abuse,⁽⁴⁾ and physical and sexual violence.⁽⁵⁾ In the face of these systemic threats and barriers to autonomy and well-being, the impact of HIV on the transgender community cannot simply be addressed by programs that work to affect individual behaviors. We must address the systemic barriers our community members face—and the complex interactions of these systems—to reduce HIV risk and increase access to care and other resources for trans people living with HIV (TPLHIV). We believe that effective HIV responses for transgender people must include a combination of leadership development, community mobilization and strengthening, access to quality health care and services, and policy and legal advocacy aimed to advance the human rights of the community. Furthermore, we believe that an effective HIV response for trans people must center around the leadership, voices, and experience of TPLHIV, particularly trans women of color.

We use data-driven advocacy led by the community for the community. Our objective is to support grassroots movement-building by producing tools that our community (transgender people living with HIV) can own and use in order to advocate for their own needs by connecting data with personal stories, and by highlighting disparities and injustices. As a community, we are working to eliminate poor health outcomes driven by other social determinants such as income, violence, employment, criminalization, social support systems, wellness, access to gender-affirming health care and services, and discriminations and stigma that TPLHIV face.

Toward this aim, in 2018 we conducted a needs assessment with transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people living with HIV across three communities—Detroit, Michigan, New Orleans, Louisiana, and South Florida (Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas)—to identify community needs and advocacy priorities. The needs assessment was conducted using SurveyMonkey and was fielded using local tablets and laptops made available for use for respondents. In each city, a partner from the Positively Trans National Advisory Board assisted with survey recruitment and logistics. Recruitment partners were Bré Anne Rivera of Trans Sistas of Color Project in Detroit, Jada Cardona of Transitions Louisiana in New Orleans, and Arianna Lint and the staff of Arianna’s Center in South Florida. Recruitment was limited to people living with HIV and whose sex at birth was different from their current gender identity. As an incentive, respondents were invited to be entered into a drawing for a $50, $75, or $100 gift card. Three winners from each community were randomly selected from the respondents who consented to being in the drawing, and the gift cards were sent to the winning participants.

Key questions in the needs assessment focused on barriers to health and well-being for transgender people living with HIV and on their legal and health priorities. This report describes the responses to a small subset of those questions. The survey was offered in English only, due to budget constraints.

The survey mostly attracted respondents who already have access to medical care; 85% of respondents are currently getting medical care for HIV. As a result, the responses may underrepresent the experiences of those who are more isolated and/or not in care. Because respondents were recruited through existing networks and not randomly selected, the results cannot be interpreted as representative of all transgender people living with HIV in Detroit, New Orleans, and South Florida. Instead, the results should be understood as illustrating the experiences and priorities of transgender people living with HIV and as providing a starting point for further engagement.

Respondent Demographics

A total of 155 people participated in the needs assessment, with 67% of respondents identifying as African American and 27% identifying as Latinx. The majority of survey respondents were TGNC people of color (94%), identified as trans women (76%), and about 80% were age 44 or younger. U.S. citizens made up 84% of respondents. Nearly half of the respondents were unemployed and 72% have health insurance. Over half of the respondents had experienced incarceration in their lifetime. Table 1 contains a summary of demographic information for needs assessment respondents. Findings should not be generalized to the entire community of TGNC people living with HIV in Detroit, New Orleans, and South Florida.

Cross-site Respondents

The following results compare responses from people who identify as Latinx n=37 to African American n=93

Summary of Respondent Demographics (N = 155)

Table 1.A Gender Identity

Demographic Item	Total % (N=155)	Detroit % (N=46)	South Florida % (N=51)	New Orleans % (N=58)
Female/male-to-female	75.7% (106)	72.7% (32)	84.1% (37)	71.2% (37)
Male/female-to-male	16.4% (23)	11.4% (5)	13.6% (6)	23.1% (12)
Genderqueer	2.1% (3)	4.5% (2)	2.3% (1)	N/A
Gender non-binary	5.7% (8)	11.4% (5)	N/A	5.8% (3)

Table 1.B Sex at Birth

Demographic Item	Total % (N=155)	Detroit % (N=46)	South Florida % (N=51)	New Orleans % (N=58)
Male	80.7% (113)	77.3% (34)	93.2% (41)	73.1% (38)
Female	17.9% (25)	20.5% (9)	6.8% (3)	25.0% (13)

Table 1.C Race and Ethnicity

Demographic Item	Total % (N=155)	Detroit % (N=46)	South Florida % (N=51)	New Orleans % (N=58)
Male	80.7% (113)	77.3% (34)	93.2% (41)	73.1% (38)
Female	17.9% (25)	20.5% (9)	6.8% (3)	25.0% (13)

Table 1.D Citicenship

Demographic Item	Total % (N=155)	Detroit % (N=46)	South Florida % (N=51)	New Orleans % (N=58)
U.S	84.3% (118)	97.7% (43)	59.1% (26)	94.2% (49)
Female	17.9% (25)	20.5% (9)	6.8% (3)	25.0% (13)