The Current State Of Transgender Health Care

The folks at Fenway Health have given us a useful infographic that provides disturbing--though, sadly, not surprising--information about the state of transgender health care.

One of the most startling facts it presents is that a transgender person is more than four times as likely as anyone else to be HIV-infected, while a black trans person is more than six times as likely.

One of the facts that most resonated with me is this : 62 percent of trans people have experienced depression.  And, among the 41 percent who have attempted suicide are several trans people I know, including two who took their lives over their gender identity issues.

Finally, I am among the 25 percent who have been harassed by the police and 29 percent who have received disrespectful treatment in health care settings.

And I'm one of the lucky ones.

Coloring My World

We're often advised to "stop and smell the roses."

Well, I stopped for flowers of some sort, but they weren't exactly roses.  I didn't mind:  They were flowers I'd never seen before.

I've seen other plants with buds that were bigger than those flowers.  Still, I assure you that they are indeed flowers, petals and all.

My cell phone camera didn't quite capture what I saw:  a kind of pointillist scrim of purple in the garden of St. Luke in the Fields.  I have no idea of what they're called, but whatever their name, they made me happier today.