Columbia Health and Transgender and Gender Expansive Team (TGET) welcome the U.S. Department of Education’s June 2021 confirmation that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is prohibited under Title IX and encourage governmental efforts that would facilitate the ability for LGBTQ individuals facing bias-fueled violence in their home countries to be granted asylum in the United States. In addition, Columbia Health and TGET oppose recently proposed, and in some cases passed, anti-trans legislation prohibiting the ability of medical providers to provide gender-affirming care to transgender and gender expansive children and adolescents.
In addition, TGET at Columbia Health stands in solidarity with activists across the United States and beyond in response to anti-Black violence. Black Lives Matter and Black Trans Lives Matter and we honor the lives of those we’ve lost including Nina Pop, Riah Martin, Tony McDade, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Oluwatoyin Salah, Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others.
TGET, an interdisciplinary group of clinicians and health professionals at Columbia Health, remains committed to working collaboratively with and providing gender-affirming resources, services, and support to Columbia’s transgender and gender expansive students. Further, this commitment is inclusive of continual self-reflection, evaluation, and advocacy on the part of our staff to work towards the highest standard of care.
The following resources may be helpful to students seeking support around some of these concerns (note: this is not an exhaustive list; please contact TGET for more resources and support):
LGBTQ@Columbia
Counseling and Psychological Services Support Groups
Sylvia Rivera Law Project
Transgender Law Center
Lambda Legal
Immigration Equality
Transgender Legal Defense Fund
