September 12, 2025

“I’m just providing evidence-based medical care”: experiences of distress in queer and queer-adjacent clinicians providing gender-affirming care

MIMilena E. InsalacoUniversity of Rochester Medical Center LSLaura StammUniversity of Rochester Medical Center

Key Points

Queer clinicians providing gender-affirming care experience significant distress due to restrictive policies affecting their patients.
Legislation banning gender-affirming care for TGD youth is linked to adverse mental health outcomes for both patients and providers.
The qualitative study explores the emotional impact of these policies on queer and queer-adjacent clinicians, underscoring the intersection of personal identity and professional responsibilities.
These findings suggest that supportive measures are critical for clinicians navigating the challenges posed by such legislation.

Abstract

Introduction In recent years there has been an extreme increase in legislation banning gender-affirming care (GAC) for transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth in the United States. GAC providers witness the consequences of these policies restricting GAC and recognize the likely negative effect on their TGD patients' health. Queer and queer-adjacent (e. g. parents of TGD youth) providers may be uniquely affected by these policies as they directly affect their personal life and identity.

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