A human rights based approach to transgender and gender expansive health

Abstract

Trans and gender expansive (TGE) people can often be subject to an oppressive and abusive climate that consistently violates their human rights. This affects the availability, accessibility, quality, positioning, and relevance of healthcare services for TGE people, who report poor experiences and outcomes. Drawing upon the Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) to Applied Psychology developed by Patel (2019), we share a vision for a HRBA to TGE health. This approach encourages clinicians to take a ‘practitioner-activist’ position in relation to five principles: protecting the person, respecting the person, involving the person, balancing the rights of the person, and seeing the person. We consider for each of these principles how healthcare services are failing to uphold the human rights of TGE people, how clinicians may meet their obligation to ensure TGE human rights are respected and advocated for in their clinical practice, and how aligning clinical practice with human rights principles benefits everyone. The article concludes with reflections from the TGE members of our team who invite all clinicians to stand alongside the TGE community by committing to four key areas of development: allyship, training, clinical practice, and research.