LGBTQIA+ Health

Vaden Health Services offers specialized services for folx exploring their gender and gender affirming care. Some people who identify as transgender, non-binary or gender expansive choose to go through a process of transitioning from the gender they were assigned at birth to the gender that is congruent with their identity.  

There are many physical, emotional, social, and legal challenges that transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive folx experience while in transition(s), and Stanford students are no different.  The providers at Vaden Health Center recognize both the challenges and the joys of transitioning and are here to support you.  Some people who transition choose to change their name and pronouns, so please let our providers know the name you prefer and the pronoun that is appropriate for you, and ask that they note this information in your file.

The process of transitioning involves many aspects of a person’s social, emotional, and physical life.  In terms of physically transitioning (hormones and/or surgery), there are many options. The transgender/gender-expansive experience lies on a spectrum, and many individuals can choose from a variety of options to reflect a gender expression that best aligns with their identity.  Some transgender/gender-expansive people decide to take hormones but don’t do surgery, while others do surgery but not hormones.  Some do both.  Some do neither.

Regardless of how one identifies their gender, the decision to physically transition lies with the individual.  It’s your decision what you want to do with your body within the time frame that is comfortable for you.  It is the doctor’s or counselor’s job to support your process and guide you along the way. Access our FAQ on gender affiriming surgery and more here. 

We are in the process of shifting our language to Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy (GAHT) from Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). This link takes you to a quick Instagram gallery explaining why. 

Note: Visits to Vaden Health Center for the purposes of obtaining HRT are covered under your Health Fee although your insurance (Cardinal Care or other Insurance Provider) will determine how much you pay for the hormones/medications (which will be filled at your local pharmacy).

For some people, sexual orientation and desire are not rigid or continuous throughout their lives; rather, they can be fluid and change over time. Mass media and mainstream LGBTQ+ movements and organizations often define sexual orientation identity as one (but no more than one) of the following: heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual and pansexual. More niche, often online, communities add other identities: demisexual, sapiosexual, lithosexual, and many others. And while sexual orientation and gender identity are not the same thing, the concept of a sexual orientation is typically based on the sameness or difference of genders among two or more people. A framework of sexual identity based on static, binary gender categories leaves no space for those whose gender identities transcend the gender binary, nor for anyone attracted to them.

Unfortunately, what many communities share in conceptualizing sexual identity, is a belief in its fixed nature. From the “born this way” rhetoric of the mainstream gay rights movement seeking to root gay and lesbian identity as established at birth, or the search for a “gay gene” seeking to legitimate gay and lesbian identity through biology, sexual identity – more colloquially described as ‘sexuality’ – is cast as a characteristic or trait that does not change. Mainstream LGBTQ discourse subscribes to a model of identity formation and development that assumes an early discovery of same-gender attraction, a period of hiding that attraction (being “in the closet”), an explosive coming-out process by which that attraction becomes a publicly held identity, and finally a stabilizing of that identity over the long-term – typically, the remainder of an individual’s lifetime. For some people, sexual orientation and attraction are very fixed; however, this is not the case for all.

This depiction of fixed sexuality is often established in opposition to the conservative argument that sexuality is both “unnatural” and “a choice” – an argument that seeks to delegitimize same-gender relationships and orientations by virtue of them being non-normative, and by virtue of them not fitting into a prescribed perception of “appropriate” human sexuality often informed by religious beliefs. Countering this argument, then, often involves arguing that human same-gender relationships are both “natural” and “not a choice” – through examples of same-sex relationships in animals, same-sex human relationships in history, and the aforementioned framings of sexuality as a biological characteristic established at birth.

Human sexuality, however, is understood currently as more complex than either of these binary depictions typically show it to be. We now often differentiate sexual, romantic and aesthetic attractions and identities from each other, framing each as a constantly-changing characteristic shaped by past and current experiences, other held identities (whether racial, class, gender, ability, religious and/or others) and an individual’s own agentic desire. An individual may, for example, desire to have sexual relationships typically with women, but find themselves romantically attracted to people of all genders and aesthetically attracted to more androgynous forms of gender expression. Many years later, the same individual may find that their sexual, romantic and/or aesthetic attractions and identities have changed –perhaps as a result of living in a different environment and interacting with different communities, personal and/or spiritual exploration, a significant formative sexual or romantic experience, personal choice, some combination of all of these or for a different reason altogether.

No matter the cause, sexual fluidity is an experience shared by many people, and does not inherently imply any negative emotional or mental health outcomes for individuals who experience it. For many, sexual fluidity is just one of the many unique ways in which people experience their sexuality over a lifetime.