XVII Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium
31 October - 4 November 2001, Galveston, Texas, U.S.A.

A Community-based Approach to HIV Risk Assessment and Prevention Education for People of Transgender Experience

WARREN, BARBARA U.S.A.
Co-authors: R. Burns, K. McGowan & R. Blumenstein (U.S.A.)
E-mail: BarbaraW@gaycenter.org

Issues: Over the past decade, people of transgender experience, including drag queens/kings, crossdressers, bi-genders and transsexuals, have become more visible, more organized and emerged as communities in need of effective HIV/AIDS prevention strategies. However, the lack of adequate knowledge and systematic study regarding risk factors, needs and interventions that work, for transgender populations, has hampered efforts to fund and to implement effective HIV prevention for these communities.

Description: Through linking community-based transgender peer education and empowerment programs, transgender activists, HIV prevention community planners and researchers, from New York and several other US cities, a working group with multiple resources was established that was able to begin to collect more reliable data on risk, seroprevalence, and the service and educational needs of diverse transgender people. These findings are being used to design and test HIV prevention strategies targeted specifically at transgender people.

Conclusion: This presentation will summarize and review the latest data collected from NYC’s community-based transgender needs assessment and behavioral survey, describe the process of building the team that includes these communities in the design and implementation of these efforts, and the implications of the data gathered for improving HIV prevention to the transgender communities. The lead presenter is the founder of the Gender Identity Project at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, in New York City and represents a team of community members, peer educators, and researchers working together on this effort.