I’m going to start a series of blog posts here, hopefully with contributors to show the extent of the problems faced for transgender people in New Zealand. It’s far from the worst place in the world to transition, but we could do so much better.

I intend to cover:

• Lack of access to medications with low risk profiles such as bio-identical progesterone.
• Refusal to consider injected oestrogen even in the face of shortage of oestrogen patches.
• Incorrect dosing of medications with high risk profiles at inappropriate doses, like prescribing 100mg of cyproterone acetate for over a year.
• Requiring people to go on extended periods with no sex hormones.
• Gatekeeping transition with mental health requirements.
• Dismissal of non-binary transition goals.
• Extended wait times for consultations.
• The lack of medical autonomy granted to transgender people.

And what ever else comes my way.

Why?

Hopefully I can get enough voices to get some attention. It’s very hard to find out who makes the policies or give them feedback, so shaking the tree a bit might get us heard. My goal is to improve access to medication options so people aren’t forced to DIY to get the transition they desire.

Contributing to this series

I can’t just tell my own story - that would be boring. I would like to hear from others in the New Zealand community about the problems they’ve faced, or if they’ve opted out of the medical system and are doing DIY hormone therapy. All contributions will be held in confidence, I don’t need your real name if you don’t want to share it.

You can contact me via Mastodon (or other activitypub platforms), @sitharus@cloudisland.nz or @blog@thea.hutchings.gen.nz, via email at transgendernz at thea.hutchings.gen.nz, or via the comment form on this blog (just between you and me, it doesn’t check the name or email fields).