ABSTRACT
While issues of being turned away from healthcare on the basis of being trans* appear to be on the decline, access to informed, competent care still remains a difficulty for many trans* people. Issues around practitioner knowledge and having to "train" one's doctors remain significant challenges. The issue of healthcare access is particularly pressing in light of scholarship that shows, for example, significantly higher rates of anxiety and depression within trans* population than the general population. Due to the growing numbers of older trans* people, a new set of doctors also now need training: those in geriatric medicine. Additionally, eldercare facilities are currently facing policy and procedural challenges around working with lesbian and gay clients due to the sex-segregation and heteronormative assumptions of many facilities, to which trans* people add complications. Because lesbian, gay, and trans* elders now entering later-life generally came out during this time, they are more heavily dependent on eldercare facilities than their heterosexual and cis* peers.
