The online job search company Indeed offers transgender employees seeking gender-affirming care a $10,000 benefit to help cover the costs of moving to a place that offers “care” and “support.”
Indeed’s “gender-affirming care move benefit” initiative went into effect in July, the company told Axios in a statement last week.
“Our transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming colleagues are an integral part of our company and culture,” Misty Gaither, Indeed’s vice president of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, said in the statement.
“We know that employees thrive and do their best work when they can bring their authentic selves to work,” she added. “We also believe that everyone has the right to make the healthcare decisions that they believe are right for themselves and their families.”
The program is for U.S. employees and their immediate family members seeking gender-affirming care, but who currently live in a location where “state laws or government-issued guidelines criminalize or restrict access to such medical care.”
Indeed’s “gender-affirming care move advantage” initiative went into effect in July, the company told Axios in a statement last week
The states with bans, restrictions or restrictions on gender affirmative care include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia
Online job search company Indeed offers transgender employees who want to relocate for ‘care’ and ‘support’ a $10,000 benefit to cover costs
This includes families living in places where they try to limit support for children who are “gender nonconforming, transgender, or nonbinary,” and who want to move to a new state where children can be prescribed puberty blockers.
Employees approved for this benefit are expected to receive permission to relocate to a state or jurisdiction where they can access the care and support they need, as well as $10,000 to cover their relocation costs, Indeed told Axios .
Other companies also support their non-binary employees by offering various benefits to those who identify as transgender.
Meta, Netflix, Amazon, and Starbucks are just a few of the major companies providing gender-affirming care to trans workers.
More than twenty states have adopted policies restricting certain gender-affirmative care for transgender youth.
Some states are trying to enforce these laws, but they are not yet in effect or have been suspended by courts.
Just this week, the Texas Supreme Court allowed a new state law banning gender-affirming care for minors to go into effect Friday, making Texas the state with the largest population to impose such restrictions on transgender children.
The Texas ban was signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Abbott in June.
“Our transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming colleagues are an integral part of our company and culture,” Misty Gaither, Indeed’s vice president of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, said in the statement to Axios.
Employees approved for this benefit are expected to receive permission to relocate to a state or jurisdiction where they can access the care and support they need, as well as $10,000 to cover their relocation costs, Indeed told Axios
Some minors seeking care in states that have these restrictions, such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers and genital reconstruction, travel as much as nine hours to receive the treatments.
Until the wave of state bans began in 2020 and 2021, there were no federal restrictions on access to these treatments, which in some cases are irreversible.
As of May 2023, 20 states have passed legislation, executive orders, or other policies restricting or prohibiting health care for transgender youth, and more than 100 additional bills are pending.
All but one state is Republican or Republican-oriented, and all but one voted for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
The states with bans, restrictions or restrictions on gender affirmative care include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
These states follow party lines when it comes to the topic of transgender rights. Of the 25 states that went red in the 2020 election, 19 have implemented restrictions. Georgia is the only state to turn blue in 2020, but restrictions do apply.
Approximately 89,100 transgender minors ages 13 to 17 live in states with disabilities, representing 30 percent of all transgender minors in the U.S., and one in four gender-affirming clinics are located in states with disabilities.
However, additional states are considering legislation that would implement restrictions or bans, including states that now represent the nearest clinic for neighboring states with restrictions.
Following the implementation of anti-transgender laws, the number of transgender minors ages 10 to 17 who were more than an hour away from a clinic that was not providing care nearly doubled from 27 percent before the restrictions to 50 percent after. limits.
Before the restrictions came into effect, 1.4 percent of minors lived more than a day’s drive, classified as eight hours each way, away from a clinic. That number rose to 25 percent after restrictions.
Pro-LGBT+ protesters hold signs in support of transgender Texans outside a federal courthouse in downtown Houston
An anti-LGBT+ protester yells at pro-LGBT+ protesters in Glendale, California, after a school board discussed June’s recognition as Pride Month, sparking violent protests
The above map from a study published in JAMA shows the average travel time to the nearest gender-affirming clinic before several states imposed restrictions on medical care for transgender youth.
Gender-affirming care for minors has been at the center of political debate in recent years, due to concerns that patients receiving this care are vulnerable and not fully aware of the risks.
For example, research shows that transgender people are six times more likely to have autism, and that up to 70 percent of transgender youth are depressed.
Other studies, including one from the National Institutes of Health, suggest that patients are happier after surgery, further complicating the issue.
There are concerns among Republican lawmakers about the lack of long-term safety data on puberty blockers and hormone drugs, which has led other countries such as Britain and Scandinavia to restrict access for minors.
Thirty years ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved puberty blockers to treat children with precocious puberty — a condition that causes sexual development to begin much earlier than normal.
Sex hormones — synthetic forms of estrogen and testosterone — were approved decades ago to treat hormone disorders or as birth control pills.
The FDA has not specifically approved the drugs to treat youth who raise gender questions, but they have been used “off-label” for that purpose for years.