Assessing the HIV/AIDS prevention, education and support needs of trans people living in Toronto

It was also clear that the needs of these communities are great, ranging from issues of economic inequality, lack of access to appropriate and respectful health care, experiences of transphobia and isolation from the larger non-transsexual society in Toronto, as well as a general lack of support and advocacy. [...] Data Collection The first stage of the data collection involved interviews with staff from a cross section of ACT’s departments to discover what services and programming were currently happening at the agency, and to find out what staff saw as the current obstacles to improving trans access and ownership. [...] Meetings were scheduled with each ACT department to present relevant information and to determine short- and long-term program service and programming, with the understanding that the findings from the final report would be used by ACT staff in the development of future work plans. [...] For the purpose of this report, trans will refer to the spectrum of people who identify with the trans experience; specifically, people who exist outside the boundaries of the dominant binary system for defining gender (non- transsexual male/non-transsexual female). [...] Participants also listed these issues: Criminalization of sex work: The threat and reality of arrest and prosecution of sex workers contributes to unsafe working conditions, and, coupled with the lack of consistent labour standards, and the evidence of potentially being paid more to have high-risk sex, increases their risk of contracting HIV.