Where to Go for Gender Affirming Care in Austin

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Hail and well met, fellow transgender travelers. Many of you are at the beginning of your medical transition journey, and I commend you for getting here. But a beginning is a difficult place to be, and Austin has a lot of care options. So where do you start?

An important first step is to reach out to other transgender people. An advantage of a bigger city like Austin is its ever-growing queer community. You can tap into knowledge from a wide array of folks who have already jumped through all the hoops and are excited to make the next queer person's path just a little easier. (Editor's Note: James refuses to toot his own horn, but reading the Qmmunity section he puts together every week is a great place to start. Find that at austinchronicle.com/qmmunity.)

Before choosing a provider, consider what you'll need in your own gender journey. Priority among those needs should be whether or not your provider works on an informed consent model. Informed consent means that rather than having to provide a note from a mental health professional approving your need for medical care, you and your health care provider have an informative discussion that results in you making the choice on whether to pursue medical treatment such as gender affirming hormone therapy. Know ahead of time that providers follow the World Professional Association for Transgender Health Standards of Care in determining whether to prescribe treatment. You can study these standards at wpath.org/publications/soc.

Most Austin-area clinics use an informed consent model, but should it happen that your provider needs a letter of approval, a low-cost, LGBTQ affirming therapist is good to have in your back pocket. Waterloo Counseling Center offers sliding scale fee therapy from therapists who have had experience with the queer community and are often queer themselves.

And which clinic should you go to? UT-Austin students have access to gender care resources through University Health Services. Insurance coverage of these services is available through the Student Health Insurance Plan. (If you've been receiving hormone treatment for less than a year and are looking to renew your prescription, be sure to confirm that your provider will renew hormone prescriptions less than a year old – not all UT doctors will.) Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas also offers hormone therapy, with telemedicine as an option. Expect first visit fees to be $120-$150 out of pocket. One of your greatest resources in Austin will be the Kind Clinic. They not only offer hormone therapy, but also do not charge for your visit or lab work. While there are costs associated with your actual hormone prescription, the Kind Medical Assistance Program is available to folks who qualify due to their financial situation.

Almost all of these clinics will have waiting lists, as gender affirming care is in high demand thanks to the threat of conservative attack dwindling the number of providers. Don't let the possibility of waiting scare you. The sooner you put your name down, the sooner you'll be able to access the lifesaving, gender affirming care you deserve.