Johns Hopkins University expanded its “gender-affirming” healthcare offerings last month to include things like voice therapy and facial reconstructive procedures, but some trans students remain dissatisfied.
According to The News-Letter, one student complaint is the university still has “some major flaws in [its] naming systems,” such as “deadnames” remaining in university computer records.
A “deadname” is a transgender person’s name which corresponds to their biological sex at birth.
Systems such as MyChart and JHED IDs use deadnames and (dead)initials which result in “inaccessible” medical care for trans students.
Other issues include “short timelines to access procedures,” a “lack of streamlined resources for requesting and tracking care” and the “limited time” by which JHU trans students are covered under the school health plan. One student said trans students getting care and procedures often “exceed the timeline that [they] actually have access to these insurance benefits.”
The university also hasn’t addressed other student demands such as revoking German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s honorary degree “and expos[ing] her transphobic policies,” and “guarantee[ing] equal numbers of cis and trans people on every committee that decides on trans matters.”
MORE: Johns Hopkins hires academic who wants to ‘destigmatize’ pedophilia
Merkel, according to a demand letter, allegedly “has ignored constitutional court rulings that demand alterations to Germany’s discriminating gender- and name-change laws.” This “inaction” supposedly is related to an Iranian trans individual setting himself on fire in Berlin.
Another demand is renaming the Johns Hopkins’ Paul McHugh Program for Human Flourishing. McHugh, a prominent critic of how medical and psychiatric fields deal with transgenderism, closed down JHU’s trans heath clinic 43 years ago. He remains JHU’s University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry.
Moreover, [Junior Eirnin] Mahoney asserted that introducing pronouns should be universally recommended to faculty and staff to counter the narrative that pronouns can be assumed by physical appearances.
While [JHU Vice President for Communications Andrew] Green noted that staff at the Student Health and Wellness Center receive regular training on gender-affirming care practices, Mahoney highlighted some of the issues that they faced.
“The diversity and inclusion training provided to faculty and staff seems to be insufficient for them to effectively support trans students,” they wrote. “Though most faculty and staff have good intentions, they often use incorrect language that, according to one professor I spoke to, is actually being taught during staff trainings.”
According to [doctoral student Ryan] Warwick, activists also demand compensation for their work in advocating for trans issues.
Prior to July, JHU’s health plan already had offered “gender-affirming” surgeries and hormone therapy.
MORE: Johns Hopkins professor on child transgender trend: ‘Many will regret this’
IMAGE: Andrii Zastrozhnov / Shutterstock.com
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