What if you could trust in getting the health care you need in ways that felt good and helped you thrive? What if the health system honoured and valued queer and trans people's lives, bodies, and expertise? What if LGBTQ+ communities led and organized our own health care as a form of mutual aid? What if every aspect of our health care was rooted in a commitment to our healing, pleasure, and liberation? Chapter in Zena Sharman’s anthology The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory and Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health.

I’m not saying this isn’t an authentic narrative for some, possibly many, trans people. It’s just that the people for whom this narrative does not apply are often excluded from gender-affirming health care—care that could provide them a better quality of life or even save their lives. These people are not members of the slam dunk club.