Holistic Therapy & Birth Services with Shelly Varelli

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Inclusion statement

People within the LGBTQIA spectrum find it difficult to find pregnancy and birth care that is inclusive and accepting. Many LGBTQIA people have experienced stigma and discrimination throughout their lives within the healthcare system and specifically around the ideologies of childbirth and parenting.

It is important for healthcare and birth providers to understand the various pathways to parenthood for all people, to honor the lived experience and needs of this community, and be more inclusive in their practice. Unfortunately, to date, most healthcare providers have only been taught to recognize the heteronormative mainstream definitions of s*x and gender and the direction that leads in regard to birth and parenting. There is a lack of cultural competency which fails to include LGBTQIA people with respect and dignity in the birth world. Identifiable obstacles are lack of access to unbiased, fair and equitable care, inadequate insurance/healthcare coverage, anti-LGBTQIA violence, and systemic discrimination to name a few.

The National Transgender Discrimination Survey of 2011 reports, “ In the US, 1 in 3 trans people is a parent”. A 2013 Pew Research national survey found that "51% of LGBT adults would like to have children in the future." As more and more LGBTQIA individuals and couples seek to have children, many will turn to their health care providers for resources and guidance on what to do. Are we getting any better as providers? I want to think so... There are many, many resources available for those willing to educate themselves.

What can I do within my own community? I am becoming a midwife. The Midwives Model of Care™ holds the position that midwives care for people of all genders who are pregnant and will give birth. I feel it is important to start conversations with other midwives and birth workers about what it means to support transgender, gender q***r and inters*x people. As a birth worker, I will continue to educate myself and others to better understand the difference between s*x and gender, communicate my knowledge and understanding of the needs, identities, and barriers to care that many LGBTQIA people experience so that this community receives the most equitable care possible. It is our duty to openly acknowledge the disproportionate effects of racial disparities and trans phobia on those with other marginalized identities (people of color, low-income, or disabled), and to politely address if or when oversights or mistakes are made by people who lack an understanding of how to interact with LGBTQIA people.. This can also look like bringing awareness to the visual representation of information and images presently displayed in public spaces and recommending a change that would affirm and communicate acceptance and equality.

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