Transgender people face significant discrimination in all areas; for those in the BIPOC community, this can be doubled or even tripled, especially when it comes to medical health and hormone therapies. Folx Health, a digital healthcare service provider for the LGBTQ+ community, is stepping up and relaunching its Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) Care Fund and a new partnership with the National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition (BTAC).
The fund launched March 31, Trans Day of Visibility, in the hopes of counteracting recent anti-trans legislation coming out of Texas and Florida. The two organizations are bringing free HRT to transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive people. The HRT Care Fund grants cover virtual care and messaging, laboratory services and prescription medication.
“We are the North Star for innovation in the broader ecosystem by creating joyful, affirming healthcare on one's own terms and building community and access around those needs,” Folx Health CEO Liana Douillet Guzmán said.
According to Douillet Guzmán, 85% of trans people are either receiving or want to start hormone replacement therapy. However, 1 in 3 transgender people live in poverty and can’t afford healthcare.
The fund originally launched last year, raising over $225,000, with $100,000 coming from the group’s corporate partner Nordstrom. Through this funding, Folx provided more than 100 grants to individuals for 12 months worth of no-cost hormone care.
This year, the focus with the BTAC is to address the additional stresses the Black trans community faces. Folx has expanded its communications by releasing more information through its social channels and on the Folx library, a resource for questions regarding gender-affirming healthcare, profiles of members of the community as well as information on sexual health.
The applications for the grants will be available in the coming weeks and are available to anyone 18 and older living in 29 states and D.C. (with plans to add more states in the future) through the Folx HRT Care Fund.
“The outpouring of support and thanks from the community has been outstanding. It shows a dire need for services like Folx and offerings like the HRT Care Fund,” Douillet Guzmán said.
One recipient of the micro grant wrote, “I thought I was never going to be able to transition, but the HRT Microgrant has finally broken down that barrier to let me begin my journey after years of waiting. Words cannot overstate how much it means to be able to transition with nothing standing in my way.”