Trans Mutual Aid Fund Helps Trans People in Iowa Travel for Gender-Affirming Care
All over America, Trans people have been faced with numerous legislative bills and new laws targeting the rights of transgender people. While some states support gender-affirming care, both adults and minors in states like Iowa have been targeted by laws that are seeking to ban gender-affirming care. It has left many Trans people and families with Trans children in these states searching for answers to these injustices, especially when the only other options bring them the added out-of-state financial cost.
Now, the Trans Mutual Aid Fund is here to help residents of Iowa. Trans Mutual Aid Fund, which provides financial assistance to transgender, gender diverse, and nonbinary individuals in Iowa as they access gender-affirming care.
Trans Mutual Fund board member Max Mowitz, program director at One Iowa, Iowa’s statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization, says in an interview with The Gazette: “The fund was started in 2021, ‘because of the amazing mutual aid networks that were developed in 2020’ in the Twin Cities and across the country in the wake of protests over the killing of George Floyd by a former Minneapolis police officer, who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed.
He continues: “So alongside the George Floyd protests, we saw huge outbursts of amazing mutual aid organizations in the city of Des Moines and statewide. And my thought was, ‘Let’s do this for trans folks,’” Mowitz said. “We’re neighbors taking care of neighbors. Iowans taking care of Iowans. … It’s solidarity; not charity.”
The Trans Mutual Aid Fund is definitely doing what it set out to do. “In the past 18 months, we’ve been able to disperse over $18,000 in aid. The average grant amount is about $200,” Mowitz said.
In order to apply to the fund, applicants must live in the state of Iowa, be Trans, nonbinary, or gender diverse, and must be currently attempting to access gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care includes:
- Transition-specific clothing (binders/tucking garments)
- Hormone replacement therapy
- Therapy copays related to receiving gender-affirming care/referral letters
- Doctor visits for gender-affirming care
- Gender-affirming surgeries
- Name change fees
- Laser hair removal
“Applications are open during the first week of every month,” says Mowitz. “In the second week, phone calls are completed with intake committee members. In the third week, an application review committee anonymously reviews applications, and in the fourth-week dispersal takes place to approve applicants.”
Applications for the fund are now open for April. More information is included on the application form on their website: www.iowatransmutualaidfund.org.
When asked to explain to those who may be unfamiliar with what’s going on why the fight for gender-affirming is so important, Mowitz explained: “Gender-affirming care is medically necessary care. It is because we know it saves lives.”
He continues: Major medical groups in the United States — including the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics — say gender-affirming care is safe and encourage it as a treatment for gender dysphoria, which is when people feel like they are a different gender than their birth gender. And the vast majority of studies show that the care leads to better mental health outcomes, Mowitz said.
“We know that when folks access their care, it improves their lives in so many ways,” Mowitz concluded. “Trans people deserve to do more than just survive. We deserve to thrive, right? And gender-affirming care is part of that.”
For Max Mowitz’s full interview with The Gazette, visit thegazette.com/news/.
To find out more about the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund, visit iowamutualaid.org/iowa-trans-mutual-aid.
