My friend, Jessica (she has given permission for her story and name to be shared), was brutally attacked on July 13th when she went out with a friend to a local bar called the Beaver Tap in Lenexa, KS. It is a spot that Jessica and her friend Kay (both CIS women) liked to go dance and listen to the DJ on Wednesday nights. It’s even a favorite hangout of locally based rapper Tech9. And before this night, nothing like this had ever happened.

Here are the events in Kay’s own words.

…hate crime at Beaver Tap in Lenexa. 2 girls go into a bar, 1 is dancing “too close” to a group of 4 people who aren’t okay with the fact that we’re gay.

So instead of kicking them out for starting a physical altercation the first time because they couldn’t see a “sucker punch” directly on camera, this is what happens. You allow a group of people back into a bar who are full of hate and you want to call the police?

Lol please call them. Here starts your lawsuit for allowing a hate crime to continue to happen. You knew they were calling us faggots. You knew a 6’4″ white dude grabbed her glasses and hit her face because she’s sticking up for who she is. You were the cause of him punching a woman in the face because you decided to refuse to de-escalate the situation when the verbal and physical altercation first started.

‪#‎HateBecauseWereGay‬ ‪#‎Victims‬ ‪#‎HateCrime‬

The video of Jessica showing off the effects of the attack can be seen here.

You can find more of the story as related by Jessica herself here. However here is a brief snippet of the how things began to quickly escalate. (Please note that a few facts not pertaining to the actual attacks are incorrect per Jessica- however the events are exactly as unfolded).

Jessica went to the bathroom to pull herself together, and Kay noticed the two men get up and also head toward the restrooms. She became alarmed when the two women also got up and went toward the restrooms.

When Jessica saw the women, they were going in as she was coming out. As Jessica came out, one of the girls threw her drink on her and attacked her. Jessica tried to yet again defend herself against their attack. Kay had now arrived and tried to break it up, but one of the female attackers held her down.

When the men came out of restrooms, the same male assailant grabbed the glasses off of Jessica’s face and broke them. He then proceeded to once again punch Jessica in the face, while one of the women held onto her by her hair.

This is someone I know and someone I think very highly of. A kind person with a big heart. Someone who has been an ally to me. Not that anyone deserves to be a victim of an assault because of their sexuality, gender, race, religion, etc.

Ending Hate Crimes Is Not an Agenda

This is reality. You can claim an “LGBT Agenda” all you like. But the real “agenda” is safety and happiness. Something not afforded to people like Jessica Culp because she happened to be dancing with another woman at the Beaver Tap. (Who has taken down their facebook page to avoid as much bad publicity as possible).

I ask you to read this. I ask you to support Jessica and all of those that are attacked for being who they are.

Even if you don’t “agree” with their “choice”, do you agree it’s okay for a 6’4 male to beat down a woman for no other reason than her “lifestyle”?

We have allowed this attitude to go unchecked. You think it’s stupid to be talking about gay rights, hate crime, and bathroom bills when there is so many more “important things” going on. I dare say those talks are pretty important to people like Jessica and the rest of the LGBT community.

While dining out with friends, Kupec is depicted being denied access to the correct restroom until two women intervene. The minute-long ad dramatizes the predicament faced by many transgender people across the nation in the face of heated rhetoric in places like North Carolina and Mississippi as they pass discriminatory laws aimed at curbing transgender civil rights.

“Most Americans want to do the right thing, but they have never met a transgender person, so they have misconceptions,” said Ineke Mushovic, Executive Director of the Movement Advancement Project. “This ad cuts through the political rhetoric and simply asks people to consider the serious challenges and discrimination faced by transgender people—discrimination that is still legal in most states.”

“Transgender people desperately need laws that protect us from being unfairly fired from our jobs, kicked out of our homes, and denied access to public bathrooms, just because of who we are,” said Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

“Our newly released survey data shows that 59 percent of transgender people avoided bathrooms in the last year out of fear of harassment. A shocking one in ten (12%) transgender people reported being harassed, attacked, or sexually assaulted in a bathroom, and one third avoided drinking or eating so that they did not need to use the restroom. Eight percent have had medical problems like urinary or kidney infections from avoiding the restroom.”

The North Carolina legislature recently adjourned without repealing the state’s odious HB2, which nullified LGBT nondiscrimination protections statewide and requires transgender people to use the restroom that corresponds with the gender listed on their birth certificate. The fate of the law is currently in the hands of the federal courts, but activists and Democratic lawmakers say the Governor will be forced to call a special legislative session to take action. The NCAA recently doubled down on their pledge to move the 2017 All-Stars Game from Charlotte if the law isn’t repealed.

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The Equality House was created by non-profit Planting Peace when it purchased the home and painted it the colors of the rainbow flag in March 2013. Earlier this year, we brought you the news that Planting Peace was attempting to acquire the house next door to The Equality House and paint it the colors of the transgender flag — like The Equality House was painted on the Transgender Day of Remembrance in 2013.

Thanks to a man named Martin Dunn, this dream has become a reality.

When Dunn saw that Planting Peace was attempting to raise money to purchase the house, he stepped up to the plate.

Grace Phelps-Roper/Planting Peace

“I have three kids, and if one of my children were transgender I would want there to be places that accepted and celebrated them,” Dunn, President of Dun Development corp, told The Huffington Post. “I happen to live in a progressive neighborhood and my children go to a school that is open-minded and welcoming of transgender students, but I know that is not the reality for many young people around the country. Like the Equality House before it, a transgender house that makes people feel proud and safe and confident and supported is badly needed. Every city should have one. If an eight-year-old girl can stand up against hate and prejudice, the least we can do is stand behind her.”

Thanks to Dunn, the money to purchase the house next to the original Equality House was donated to Planting Peace, which now owns the property, and volunteers painted it the colors of the transgender flag on Sunday, June 26.

Grace Phelps-Roper/Planting Peace

“Beyond the individual incidents of violence, bullying and hateful messages that the transgender community faces already, we’ve seen a rise in discriminating legislation designed to restrict the basic, fundamental rights and human dignity of our transgender family,” Aaron Jackson, President of Planting Peace, told The Huffington Post. “As allies of the LGBT community, we hear the stories from countless transgender people who express the devastating impact this has on them, making them feel broken or ‘less than’. Repeated messages of hate and intolerance are contributing to shockingly high suicide rates within the transgender community. We have to stand up and be just as loud with messages of love, support and compassion. We need to fight for the right for ALL people to live freely and love freely without fear. We are painting the house today as a permanent reminder of our message to our transgender family: You are loved, valued, supported and beautiful. There is nothing wrong with you, and we will stand with you.”

Over the past several years, The Equality House has held a number of pro-queer initiatives and events — all essentially on the front lawn of the Westboro Baptist Church. One of its earliest efforts involved a child’s lemonade stand for peace. Other events have included a gay wedding, a drag show and a mock wedding between Dumbledore and Gandalf.

Planting Peace has also engaged in large-scale political activism over the past couple of years, including a billboard in North Carolina that called out the state’s anti-LGBT House Bill 2 and a billboard in anti-gay marriage clerk Kim Davis’ hometown calling out her hypocrisy.

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I truly came out to most everyone in my life early last fall. Some people are still learning, but most everyone I see regularly knows, and have been around me presenting as a female. See, I’m not quite full-time yet. But I have come out at work and I am working on that as well.

Having a lot of close friends who have been enlightened as to my nature has brought a lot of questions. I think that’s to be expected that people I care about want to know the who, what, where, when, why, and how. I’ve never thought much about it either. I’ve told them that they can ask anything they want. However, I also tell them that if they ask something I’m not comfortable with- I will not get mad, I will simply explain why it’s not a question I am willing to answer. Except my girlfriend- she gets to ask whatever she wants and deserves an answer. Occasionally they ask something a little personal, but for the most part they respect me enough to keep it fairly basic. To their credit they also generally always gender me correctly and use the right name depending on how I am presenting at the time. Occasionally they slip up and will let out a her or him at the wrong time, or use the wrong name. But I don’t get bent out of shape about it.

However, I’ve come to realize that this is not the norm in the transgender community.

Since becoming a part of the community, online and offline, I have found that a fairly large swath of transgender people are adamant about proper gendering at all times. And many do not like questions.

I’ve been called a unicorn, because I seem to buck the norm in that sense. Those around me have told me how scared they were to mess up or ask a question and how much they appreciate my patience. And I think that’s at the core of why I say transitioning is selfish.

When you transition, you are doing something positive that is just for you. You are becoming who you are inside, and showing your true self. And that is a wonderful thing. And hopefully, on a less selfish note, you are giving those around you a happier and more balanced person to have in their life.

Transitioning Doesn’t Just Affect You

What I think is often forgotten though, is the impact that our transition has on their life. It can seem out of the blue to those we love- suddenly they are expected to forget and break the habit of referring to us as our birth name or the pronouns that go with it. They are supposed to just accept that you are different now, and not ever be uncomfortable trying to adjust, or look at us a little too long taking it all in, and never EVER mess up by misgendering.

Having someone transition that is close to them can be a jarring experience, especially the first time it happens. They may know about Caitlyn Jenner or LaVerne Cox- but aside from that, they may barely know the difference between a crossdresser, drag queen, transvestite, or transgender person. Let alone know that transexual or transgendered is incorrect.

We put so much pressure on them to never mess up and instantly accept us, we often dismiss the effect it has on their life. Sure, you want your mom to accept their “new child” without question. And sometimes they do. But consider that they may have to go through a “mourning” period to get used to the idea that their child, as they knew you, is gone- or at least changing. Their memories of you running around as your birth gender get confusing as they suddenly see you presenting differently to the child they raised.

Friends that might have called you bro or dude- suddenly feel tongue-tied, unsure of how to refer to you or what is okay to say. They wonder if they should still talk to you the same way they used to.

Most impactful though, is a spouse or partner. Unless they are already bi-sexual or pan-sexual, you are presenting confusion in their life as to their sexuality. They wonder if it makes them gay or straight to be with you. They wonder how transitioning will change the person they fell in love with. It’s a whirlwind. Not to mention the betrayal that many partners experience from feeling they were lied to and a huge secret was kept from them.

Yes, transitioning is stressful and full of growing pains for transgender people. However, as allies or potential allies, it is our responsibility to be patient with those we love. If they are trying and supportive, forgive the occasional misgender or use of a “dead name”. Sure, it can hurt us to hear it- but scolding an ally for an honest mistake can make them skittish and fearful of how to talk around you. Terrified they will mess up. Understand that when they say, “you look even better than I do.” or “You are better at makeup than me.” or “You totally pass.” They don’t mean it as malicious. They are trying to compliment us, and they don’t know better. We don’t have to just accept it, but we can guide them and help them grow.

If we are to win hearts and minds and build a place in society for us, we have to often be the bigger person. We have to educate those we love when they stumble and tell them why something was incorrect, or insensitive.

Transitioning IS selfish. We are doing it solely for ourselves. However, with understanding and patience it can be a positive selfish act. Believe me, it will make your transition easier when you can make those around you more comfortable. You don’t have to hide who you are, but you also don’t have the right to expect perfection and immediate acceptance from a world that is still waking up to us.

When abuse is your first memory, it colors who you are.

I was molested when I was a preschooler, and it has rippled through my life ever since. The “predator” was a 17-year-old kid who lived across the street. And knew my family well. It didn’t happen in a public restroom, or at a park, or in a store. It happened in my own yard. The pink crepe myrtle desperately tried to make this scene pretty, or at least a little less horrific, but it failed miserably.

Now I’m a Dad, and it is my priority to guard the innocence of my two toddlers. I remember the fear that simmered, just underneath the surface, when my son was the same age I was when it happened. I could never find the words to explain how I felt, but I still begged God to let him get through the year unscathed. I couldn’t imagine raising a son with the same terrifying experience as me.

Then one day, we were in the car together, when he pointed out the window and asked, “What kind of bird is that, Dad?” I slowed down to look. As I glanced at him through the rearview mirror, what I saw was pure innocence. He’d made it. I felt myself breathe deep with relief. All at once I also felt something more: determination. I wanted to give him a different life. I want to cultivate and protect his innocence.

But none of that is Target’s business. Or their problem.

Target released this statement last week:

We welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity. Everyone deserves to feel like they belong.

People have expressed insanely strong opinions over their decision.

Here are a few Tweets:

Used the bathroom at @Target today and the most disgusting thing happened. Two people walked out without washing. #gross #targetbathroom

— Katie Boyle (@katieaboyle) April 25, 2016

I was born a female, but I now identify as a consumer who will never give @Target another red cent. #targetbathroom

— Katie (@Katie4372) April 21, 2016

Watch out, guys! @Target is trying to kill your kids with tolerance and common sense. #targetbathroom https://t.co/OhFOxYZpgn

— Alex Lilly (@alex_lilly) April 20, 2016

#Target is promoting equality; so naturally all the LGBT- phobes are losing their minds.#bigot #targetbathroom pic.twitter.com/Cu2jI2Bwbg

— Euterpe (@EuterpePDX) April 20, 2016

Are all the people boycotting #Target also boycotting church camps, team locker rooms and high school restrooms?#JustAskin

— bESS (@bESSoNDAKO) April 25, 2016

It’s not the job of a big box store with more inclusive bathroom policies than some people prefer to police my children as they use the restroom. Target isn’t the FBI or the local police department. They are a public retail store, open to people from all walks of life, including some who identify with gender in complex ways.

As a victim of childhood sexual abuse, urinals have always freaked me out. So I will awkwardly wait for a stall to open up in a men’s restroom, even if there is clearly a urinal or two available for use. I like my privacy.

I prefer a wall on each side of me and a door behind me. I don’t like the possibility of someone seeing me over the little half wall at the urinal. But that doesn’t mean I fear someone is going to rape me in the damn bathroom. My personal preference does not mean I’m in danger just because strangers are in the next stall.

And another thing, I don’t send my kids into any public bathroom alone. Mostly that’s because I don’t want them making a huge mess or pulling off half a roll of toilet paper just for fun. But I am also fully aware we live in a screwed up world with some screwed up people who do prey on weaker ones. It’s not Target’s job to protect my children. That’s my job. And until my kids are probably 10-years-old, they won’t be going into a public restroom alone.

Abuse happens. It is scary and horrific and life changing, and we victims are all terrified it will happen to our children the way it happened to us. I get the fear of my friends and acquaintances, I really do. But we have to be honest about where abuse happens. It is so very very rarely a stranger in a public restroom. It is much more commonly a grandfather, an uncle, a neighbor, a pastor, or a coach. Someone who knows the family intimately and is trusted.

I have safeguards in place for my family, no matter where we go or what their policies are. Because it’s not a business’s job to protect my family. It’s mine.

I never signed a contract with Target stating that they will uphold my moral, ethical, spiritual, or political values. We’re not in that kind of relationship. For me personally, as long as they keep selling cute clothes for my kids and good trail mix, I don’t care what their bathroom policies are.

I am not boycotting Target. If you choose to, it just means I won’t have to wait as long in line. And maybe I won’t have to wait for a bathroom stall to come open. I don’t care what kind of equipment you have. You can use the stall next to mine.

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“What about little boys, the vast majority of the little boys that get molested are preyed on by adult men, this law doesn’t affect them one way or the other”

Some really great points about a serious subject in a seriously funny rant.

You can go to Trae’s YouTube channel to see more of his comedy. Or check out his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter at @traecrowder.

We asked some trans men who have been through the process of transitioning while in a relationship for the best kind of support they would or could have been offered, and other helpful things to consider in a similar situation. (Note: Things are different for every person, situation and relationship. This is from the perspectives of four trans-identified people who offer up their own experiences as personal advice.)

Rudy is 25, Middle Eastern and identifies as a straight male. He had a girlfriend during his social transition at 22 (so no surgery or hormone usage at the time). They are no longer together but are still friends.

Evan is 27 and from Los Angeles. He realized he was trans* at 18, but didn’t start transitioning until he was 22. He is now married to a cisgender woman and identifies as queer, using male pronouns.

Leo is 26 and has been transitioning over the last eight months. He has been in a relationship with the same woman for four years, and she has been “extremely supportive.”

Simon* is 32 and began medically transitioning two years ago, although he identified as genderqueer/on the trans spectrum for the last 10 years. He identifies as a trans man. He was in a three-year, long-distance relationship at the beginning of his transition.

Q. When you came out and were beginning the transition process, what was your partner’s reaction and how did it make you feel? Was there something you would have liked for them to do better/different?

Rudy:  Well, she was very supportive—I was actually extremely transphobic before I came out. Of course, that was me internally not accepting myself.

Evan: I realized I was trans* when I was 18 while I was at college in San Francisco. My girlfriend at the time was really supportive with me becoming comfortable discovery what being trans. We broke up for a reason that had nothing to do with being trans*.

I lived in a gray area of genderqueer for four years too scared to transition mostly out of fear of the unknown. During that time I was in a on-again/off-again relationship with a girl that started off as a long distance thing but after two years she moved in with me. We broke up for many reasons one was she was very controlling and had problems with my genderqueer “stuff” i.e my deodorant or the fact that I wear boxers and men’s clothes. After we broke up I hit what I call the Trans Walls, where I needed to face the fact that was was not living and if I didn’t transition I was going to kill myself.

I met my wife about a year into my transition. When we met my wife identified as straight, I know that I am very lucky. When it comes to being with a trans person support is the most important thing. Also being realistic. With a transition all your relationship go though a transition, and sometimes lovers become friends. I understand why a lesbian  would not want to date me. I’m fabulous, but I look very, very much like a man. On the other hand I get why most straight woman would not want to date me.

Leo: Coming out to my partner wasn’t difficult at all. I kind of had one of those “thought out loud” type of moment. We were laying in bed about to go to sleep when I was thinking about how to tell her and it just came out. She turned and looked at me and told me that she was fine with it. She loved me for who I was, not my gender or what I had in between my legs.

Honestly, if I could go back and repeat that moment, I wouldn’t change a thing. In an awkward kind of way, it was perfect.

Simon: I began the transition process about six weeks before I told my girlfriend at the time. There were several reasons for this. First, I wanted to make sure that starting hormones felt “right” to me before I told a lot of people, particularly those with a much stronger vested interest in my gender/identity, like my girlfriend and my family. I had been debating about starting hormones for so long that I wanted to make it easy on myself to stop them if I didn’t like what happened, or if taking them didn’t make me feel any better. I was also a little worried about her reaction because I had a friend in college whose girlfriend broke up with him because she did not want to date “a man” and was a “lesbian.” I figured that because we were apart, dealing with that kind of reaction long-distance would be harder than if I could tell her in person.

Because my girlfriend and I lived apart, it was easy for her not to know. There aren’t many huge changes in the first few months, so there wasn’t too much physiologically for me to discuss, and anything I did want to chat about, I talked to my trans friends about. When I did tell my girlfriend, it was the first time we had seen each other in person in about four months. I told her over lunch while visiting her on the east coast. She took it well and didn’t seem too concerned at first. But she also is very much an internal processor, so even if she had been troubled, I’m not sure how much of that would have come out at first. She identified as queer as well, and had a history of dating cis men, so I think to her, the change was not threatening in any way.

I learned after we broke up that she was much more upset about my waiting to tell her than she initially let on. I was happy with her reaction, I suppose. She is not particularly outwardly-emotive, so I wasn’t expecting a lot of enthusiasm. She told me she supported me and that was what I wanted to hear. Had I known how upset she was that I had waited, I would have been able to better explain why I felt the stakes were so high and why I decided to wait.

“We hope to show people there’s another way to deal with the transgender community besides hate and bigotry.”

This is Zoe and Amanda Jette Knox, married mothers of three from Ottawa, Canada.

The couple has been together for 22 years, Amanda told BuzzFeed News, and are parents to Aerik, 19, Alexis, 13, and Jackson, 9.

Amanda writes about their family life on her blog, The Maven of Mayhem.

Two years ago, their daughter Alexis came out to them as transgender. The then-11-year-old told her parents in an email that “she was a girl trapped in a boy’s body,” Amanda said.

“She had always been anxious, depressed, and withdrawn,” Amanda said of her daughter. “We had done everything we could think of to help her and figure out what was going on with her, to no avail.”

When Alexis came out, her mothers immediately stood by her.

“[It] was the call for help we needed to finally be able to support her in the way she needed us to,” Amanda said.

But Amanda said she didn’t realize at the time that her wife knew what their daughter was going through. Zoe Knox was also transgender, but couldn’t vocalize it.

“Watching Alexis blossom into the girl she was always meant to be made it impossible to keep living the way I had been living,” Zoe Knox told BuzzFeed News.

Zoe Knox came out to her wife in July 2015. She has since been slowly coming out to their friends and family, but hadn’t yet come out at work.

“Once she had taken some of the steps she felt she needed to take — including living as her true self while at home and in the community for a while, as well as getting her name and gender marker changed on all her ID — she was ready to come out at work,” Amanda said.

Zoe said she was very nervous to come out to her co-workers, as she works in a predominately male environment. But, at the end of March she emailed everyone, told them what was happening, and said she would be taking a week off to work from home.

“Writing that email was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “After a clicked send, I thought, That’s it. There’s no going back, and I had no idea what the response would be.”

The response was immediately positive, she said, and she got more than 70 emails of support from her co-workers.

“That was the start of something incredible,” she said.

But the real surprise was yet to come. When Zoe Knox returned to work the Monday after Easter, she found her co-workers had decorated her cubicle.

They left her inspirational notes…

Made her a brand-new name plate…

And framed a beautiful inspirational quote.

After she got her surprises, the co-workers revealed that a meeting that had been put on her calendar was actually a party for her, with cupcakes and coffee.

Amanda shared the story on her blog, writing she had been prepared to step in if her wife had gotten a negative reaction to her news.

“I did go into my wife’s office that day. But instead of having my advocacy pants on, I had my hugging arms ready and some mascara in my purse in case I cried it off while thanking everyone,” she said.

Since sharing the story, the family have gotten many comments and heard from many people that the story had inspired them.

Zoe said she tends to be a private person, but she is happy that sharing her experience is helping so many other people.

“I’m just really happy to see that it seems to be inspiring a lot of people,” she said.

Amanda said that the family hopes that by sharing their story, they can provide a positive example of what it is like to be transgender.

“There are many people in the world who support and celebrate those who are brave enough to live authentically,” she said. “We hope to show people there’s another way to deal with the transgender community besides hate and bigotry.”

It is a good thing we have allies like John Oliver, who can help clear up the myths and misinformation spread by anti-trans groups. Last summer, as the marriage equality fight had ended and the trans backlash was just heating up, he released this video explaining the issue of transgender rights as only he could.

Spreading the Word of Transgender Rights

That is, it was as hilarious as if was accurate.This video made me feel good when I watched it, but it is also something I would like to share with friends and family when I suspect they don’t completely “get it.” Recommended for trans people and anyone who wants to be an ally.

Want to see more?

Checkout “Last Week Tonight” on HBO and HBO GO. For highlights go to their YouTube channel.

Transgender Services Come to Kansas City

Starting April 11th, at their Kansas City North location (Gladstone, MO), Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri will be offering comprehensive services specifically for the transgender community. They join the more than 27 Planned Parenthood locations offering similar services across the country. Currently finding some of the vital transgender services needed has been difficult. However, Planned Parenthood has made it easier to find them; and most importantly, in an environment that strives for safety and inclusive.

At launch the northland clinic will be offering counseling referrals and guidance, HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) for both trans men and women, as well as all of the blood tests and monitoring that are so important to HRT. However, there is one service that is critical but often overlooked. Many trans men fail to get yearly exams such as pap smears, for fear of embarrassment or body dysmorphia. Planned Parenthood understands those fears and has sought making this as comfortable as possible a paramount goal.

Part of their commitment to this goal is the approach they’ve taken with their own education. They have taken great pains to make sure their staff and doctors understand the particular needs of the transgender community. They have reached out to therapists in the area for guidance, seeking to understand and embrace the “standards of care” for transgender individuals. Additionally they are bringing in transgender men and women to talk to the staff so they can share their experiences and needs.

“We want to focus on caring for both physical and emotional needs in a safe place.” said Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, Director of Communications & Marketing for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, “We need to put health first.”

Reproductive Health for All

Part of this initiative is the growth of their PrEP (Pre Exposure Prophylaxis) services for HIV/AIDS. On March 14th, Planned Parenthood expanded those services with launches in midtown Kansas City, MO as well as Columbia, MO- with plans to expand to all six locations within six months to a year. In fact, this chapter of Planned Parenthood in particular finds itself in a state of great growth.

The reason for the expansion of these services is simple, women are the fastest growing segment of the population to contract HIV/AIDs. This includes the often overlooked menopausal and post-menopausal population.

Their treatment program is multi-faceted, covering risk factors as well as treatment. Not only do they handle the prescription of the drug Truvada, they also monitor kidney function, and over health with regular screenings and checkups.

However, most importantly, they seek to service the community with education. Bonyen Lee-Gilmore continued, “There is a great need for education about reproductive health and STI symptoms. We are seeking to change this by providing education and treatment for all regardless of gender, gender identity, or generation.”

For further information visit Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri online.

For transgender specific services you can reach out to the Gladstone office at 816-453-6000 or at their clinic page.

You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

(edit- Corrected proper name for mid-America branch. Added social media. Corrected start date for transgender services.)