Rep. Crow, LGBTQ+ advocates reflect on need for change

BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Two months after the Colorado Springs Club Q shooting, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow sat down with 16 advocates at the Transgender Center of the Rockies in Sheridan to discuss the needs and concerns facing the LGBTQ+ community.

“I’ve walked along a certain life path that’s given me certain perspectives and lived experience, but you all have walked di erent ones and it’s important to listen to that and understand that, so I can understand what I can do better,” said Crow, who represents Colorados’ 6th Congressional District.

“I know there’s a lot more that can be done and I should be doing,” he said.

Sitting around him were representatives of various organizations that serve the LGBTQ+ community, such as the Transgender Center of the Rockies and Mile High Behavioral Healthcare, the YouthSeen nonprofit, the Matthew Shepard Foundation and the Envision:You nonpro t.

April Owen, director of Transgender Center of the Rockies, said the center was very a ected by the Club Q shooting, in which ve people were killed and at least 17 others wounded.

Dear Davis Schilken,

A program of Mile High Behavioral Healthcare, the center o ers holistic, gender-a rming resources and services to LGBTQ+ people across Colorado. Since the shooting in late November, there has been an increase in the number of people utilizing the center, Owen said.

However, the accessibility of gender-a rming care for LGBTQ+ people continues to be a challenge for many, advocates explained during the nearly hour-long conversation.

“We have an abundance of therapists in Colorado,” said Tara Jae, founder and executive director of YouthSeen and a co-founder of Black Pride Colorado. “A rming therapists? Not so much. erapists of color? Handful. And there’s a waitlist for that.”

Understanding gender-a rming care and its value

Gender-a rming care is de ned as a supportive form of healthcare that helps align a person’s outward, physical traits with their gender identity, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ O ce of Population Affairs. It could include mental health, medical and surgical services for transgender and nonbinary people.

Examples of gender-a rming care include patients not having to educate their medical provider on matters such as why they use a different name than their birth name or why they have certain pronouns,

I just recently proposed to my girlfriend (now fiancée) and now her parents insist the two of us sign a prenup before we get married. How can I appease my in-laws while still protecting my rights? Sincerely, Perplexed by a Prenup

Dear Perplexed by a Prenup,

First off, let us congratulate your fiancée and you on your pending marriage. We hope your wedding day is as amazing as your life together will be!! Now, let’s get down to the business of nuptial agreements, which can either be done prior to or after marriage.

Marital agreements, both prenuptial and postnuptial, are a written contract executed between a couple to specify what will happen to the couple’s assets in the event of divorce or death.

Even if you build a happy, healthy marriage, one spouse will likely outlive the other. Marital agreements can give partners peace of mind about the financial future.

When you’re about to get married, divorce is the last thing on your mind. However, the reality is that between 40 and 50 percent of first marriages end in divorce. If you bring significant assets to your marriage or if your fiancée has significant debts, a pre-nuptial agreement is an important way to protect yourself financially. The attorneys at Davis Schilken, PC can draft a prenuptial agreement that details the assets and debts of both parties to be married and explain how property will be divided and support handled in the event of death or divorce. The agreement can encompass children’s and grandparents’ rights, if desired.

There are a few requirements that a nuptial agreement must meet before it becomes valid. These include the following conditions -

• The nuptial agreement must be written, signed, and notarized.

• The agreement must include valid disclosure of assets and financial obligations between both parties.

• Threats, force, or emotional duress must not have influenced the creation of the agreement.

• Terms of the agreement must not appear unethical or lacking fairness.

If nuptial agreements aren’t drafted correctly, they may do nothing but complicate things further. Unfortunately, just because you have created an agreement in writing doesn’t mean that it is presumed to be valid or enforceable. Therefore, it’s crucial that you have a nuptial agreement reviewed by a qualified lawyer to ensure everything is executed properly.

Contact the Davis Schilken, PC team with any of your Estate Planning needs (303) 670-9855.

We offer no obligation in person or virtual meetings. We make estate planning simple!

Visit our comprehensive website for more tools www.dslawcolorado.com e top reasons for this include being afraid to talk about their mental health, fearing not being taken seriously, being unable to a ord services and not wanting to get parental permission, per the survey.

Research has found gender-afrming care improves mental health and overall wellbeing of gender diverse youth, who are more at risk for mental health issues and suicide, according to the O ce of Population A airs.

In 2022, the Trevor Project conducted a national survey of nearly 34,000 LGBTQ youth between the ages of 13 and 24. It found that 45% of LGBTQ youth in Colorado seriously considered suicide in the past year, including 52% of transgender and nonbinary youth.

“LGBTQ young people are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society,” the survey states.

Transgender and nonbinary youth in Colorado also reported higher rates of anxiety and depression, at 79% and 66% respectively.

However, 60% of LGBTQ youth in Colorado who wanted mental health care in the past year were unable to get it, according to the Trevor Project’s survey.

Several advocates mentioned location can be a barrier as well, explaining many people living in rural areas have di culty accessing gendera rming care.

On top of that, advocates discussed challenges to providing gender-a rming care such as limited training opportunities, a lack of diversity among therapists and regulatory issues that limit therapists’ ability to serve clients.

Limited training opportunities

Owen of Transgender Center of the Rockies explained mental health professionals typically have to seek out their own training for o ering gender-a rming care.

“I think that really needs to happen in schools and training programs, graduate programs, medical schools throughout the state of Colorado, in the country,” Owen said. “Maybe it’s a little elective somewhere that you can take, but it’s not a robust part of the curriculum and it really does need to be in this day and age.”

Building on Owen’s point, Jae of

YouthSeen said such training should an opportunity to incorporate such training at the University of Colorado’s medical school.

“I’d be happy to go to them with this and maybe see if there’s a collaboration opportunity — say, ‘Let’s, you know, add this into the curriculum as well,’” Crow said.

Diversifying the field and regulatory challenges

According to the American Psychological Association, 84.47% of active psychologists in 2020 were White compared to 6.18% who were Hispanic, 4.24% who were Black and 3.22% who were Asian.

“We know that our workforce in Colorado isn’t diverse enough,” said Haden of Envision:You. “So, how are we developing a future workforce that represents the identities of the people that live in our communities?”

In addition to his work with Envision:You, Haden said he works as a mental health therapist for a small practice that primarily serves queer clients. Last year, the practice had a year-long waitlist.

“Poor folks (and) communities of color are not getting appropriate care. And so what happens is people quickly disengage from services, so while they have greater needs, the pool of people that are best equipped to serve them is much smaller,” Haden said, explaining the higher rates of suicidality is partly because people can’t get the help they need.

Jae said something that gets in the way a lot, speci cally for therapists of color, is the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), which is Colorado’s regulatory agency that manages the licensing and registration of various professions.

“ e restrictions that are starting to come down to the point where it makes it di cult for therapists to stay licensed because they are trying to protect their clients,” Jae said.

When Crow asked what needs to be changed, Jae said the whole agency needs to be reassessed.

“Speci cally around licensing, registry, supports for therapists. While I am fully supportive and understanding on the need for DORA to protect clients, there also needs to be protection for therapists that are doing the work,” Jae said.

“Protections from what?” Crow asked. “What are the therapists encountering at DORA?”