For some trans and nonbinary people seeking gender-affirming health care in New Hampshire, cost can be a barrier. A new fund is trying to help.
The Queer Care Fund is a collaboration between the LGBTQ+ advocacy group 603 Equality and the Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire, which provides financial aid for people seeking abortions.
Since its launch in January, organizers say the new fund has already helped more than 50 people pay for hormone therapy, mental health services and transportation to appointments. They’ve done this through partnerships with two independent clinics, Equality Health Center in Concord and Lovering Health Center in Greenland, which are using the money to help patients as needed.
The fund’s organizers say they have steered $10,000 to the two health centers so far, with plans to keep fundraising. The Reproductive Freedom Fund contributed half of that; the rest comes from individual donations, which will support the fund going forward. Eventually, they hope to cover additional expenses, including surgeries and gender-affirming clothing.
“The LGBTQ community is a historically marginalized community,” said Josie Pinto, who leads the Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire and helped to launch the Queer Care Fund. “A lot of us are young. A lot of us, you know, might not have the support of parents or family members in doing this. A lot of us work lower-wage jobs.”
Pinto said the idea grew out of conversations with members of the local LGBTQ+ community, many of whom expressed interest in mutual aid programs that would help people meet their basic needs.
“Affording medication — you know, on top of affording life, rent, food, all of those basic necessities — is definitely a barrier for a lot of LGBTQ people,” she said.
Equality Health Center has helped people pay for gender-affirming hormone treatments and bought gas cards for patients who have to travel long distances, Executive Director Jinelle Hobson said. Some of the money also went to paying for appointments with a new mental health clinician who wasn’t immediately covered by all insurance carriers.
Coming in for an appointment can make people anxious enough, Hobson said, without the added stress of figuring out how to pay for it.
“For us to be able to say, ‘We’ll figure it out’ — you see it in their shoulders when they come in, and you hear a sigh of relief on the phone,” Hobson said.
A number of states have moved to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ youth in recent years, including passing bans on gender-affirming care for minors. In New Hampshire, such a measure stalled in committee this spring, but could resurface next year.
That backdrop was on organizers’ minds as they launched the fund, said Linds Jakows, a founder of 603 Equality.
Helping trans people access medical care “is, first and foremost, something that we're morally obligated to do, especially in this urgent time,” they said during a recent Instagram Live discussion. “And it can also strengthen our advocacy efforts long-term, because people are going to be more able to engage when they first have their direct needs met.”
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England has a similar fund to help patients access gender-affirming care at its health centers in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, regardless of ability to pay.
