Serving The University Of Texas At Austin Community Since 1900 @thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Volume 120, Issue 115
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
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Jesta’ Pizza re-opens after closing for renovations, offers customizable pizzas.
The Multicultural Engagement Center needs a larger space to best serve students.
Pokémon card unboxer says goodbye to YouTube to pursue business.
Women’s basketball looks for first win over No. 2 Baylor since upset victory in 2016.
COLLAB
‘I’m so immensely proud of my transness’ How Sloan Touchet found health care built for him
Editor’s note: This is the first installment of The Daily Texan’s semester-long collaborative series, The Waiting Room, which explores stories of how health care coverage is impacted by identity. Stories will be produced in partnership with UT’s chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Hispanic Journalists Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, as well as other organizations.
By Emily Hernandez @emilylhernandez
s
loan Touchet said he is the only transgender person he knows with a mostly positive health care experience. “I have been so lucky to have great health care,” said Touchet, a transmasculine queer person. “Every other trans person I know has some horror stories about doctors being very invalidating of gender.” Touchet, a Plan II and philosophy sophomore, said his queer parents ensured he received gender-related care from a trans-specific clinic at the
Children’s Medical Center Dallas, one of a handful of gender-affirming health care facilities in Texas. “Because my parents have been supportive, I think doctors don’t want to f--- with me, because if they f--- with me, my parents will stop taking me to them,” Touchet said. “When I first came out … I could tell (my pediatrician) didn’t super like it, but by the time I turned 18, she was cool.” For transgender people across the United States, accessible and gender-affirming health care is difficult to come by due to stigmas and financial barriers. One barrier is health insurance — 19% of transgender people don’t have
any form, according to GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Touchet said he considers himself unique due to his supportive family and health insurance. According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey report, 23% reported not visiting a doctor due to fear of mistreatment. Of those who did see a doctor, a third reported at least one negative interaction, including refusal of treatment and having to teach providers about being transgender to receive proper care. Amanda Pollitt, a postdoctoral research fellow at UT, said LGBTQ+ people face higher risks for mental and physical health
issues because of their gender and sexual identities, citing the minority stress model. The model, developed by Ilan Meyer in 2003, explains how lesbian, gay and bisexual people experience greater stressors including discrimination, internalized homophobia, expectation of rejection and concealment. Pollitt said this theory also includes gender minority people, or people who do not identify with their gender assigned at birth. Touchet said he has been in therapy since sixth grade for general mental health, and he began gender-related therapy in high school with a therapist who works primarily with transgender people.
“Again, very lucky in terms of therapy,” Touchet said. “Everybody needs (therapy), but especially if you’re trans, because there’s a lot of trauma that comes with being trans, and you need to cope with that.” When transgender people receive gender-affirming treatment, GLAAD reports that suicide rates drop from 19%-29% to 0.8%6% after treatment. Pollitt, who is a bisexual woman, said LGBTQ+ youth face potential negative health impacts because of familial rejection. “Kids before college (are) dependent on their families for food (and) health care,” Pollitt said. R O O M PAGE 3
eddie gaspar
/ the daily texan staff
Transgender students such as Sloan Touchet, a Plan II sophomore and Jester West resident assistant, have issues accessing health care and can face discrimination based on their identity.
CITY
COUNTY
City implements new citation for failure to yield
Travis County voter turnout breaks records for Super Tuesday election
By Austin Martinez @austinmxrtinez
With drivers often failing to yield while turning at busy roadways, Noah Vaughan said they were hit by cars various times while bicycling. Vaughan, a UT alumni, said while bicycling around the crowded spaces of Austin is convenient, it is unsafe. With cyclists like Vaughan in mind, the city of Austin is now enforcing court appearances for drivers who fail to yield and cause crashes which result in bodily injury, according to a Feb. 25 press release. Now, Austin Police Department officers will document citations as failure to yield, failure to yield causing bodily injury
or failure to yield causing serious bodily injury. Jay Blazek Crossley, director of Vision Zero ATX, said the previous process for failure to yield citations allowed drivers to pay their citations online. The Austin Transportation Department, APD and Austin Municipal Court are partnering to enforce this new process for failure to yield citations. The process aligns with the city’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and injuries, said David Gray, a community engagement specialist for Vision Zero. “The new process ensures that cases where drivers fail to yield C I T A T I O N PAGE 2
By Hannah Williford @HannahWillifor2
The primary elections brought record turnouts in Travis County as a majority of people voted on Super Tuesday rather than during the early voting period. Travis County totaled over 267,000 votes for Republicans and Democrats, according to the Travis County Clerk cumulative results. While only 5% of registered Republicans turned out for the election, 27% of registered Democrats attended. V O T E PAGE 2
christina ke
/ the daily texan staff
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