Analysis of the data collected highlights a set of attitudes that stigmatize transgender people.
Stigmatizing attitudes
In public health facilities, all of the transgender people surveyed said that they were victims of stigmatization and discrimination by health care providers and others. According to them, the main problem they face in public health centers is stigmatization. This statement by the transgender people interviewed was corroborated by resource persons working in favour of sexual minorities in Bouaké. For them, in addition to stigmatization in the family, social and professional environment, LGBT people in general are also victims of stigmatization in access to care in the public sector in Côte d'Ivoire. These people are victims of discrimination in public health structures," said a public health caregiver. The analysis of the data collected from the actors surveyed made it possible to highlight the different attitudes of the caregivers towards them.
Denial of transgender care
One of the variants of stigmatization in the hospital environment collected from the actors surveyed is the refusal of care to transgender people. Indeed, it appears that some caregivers are hostile and refuse to receive them in consultation and to give care to them because of their social identity which clashes with the social norm. Like the others, one respondent told us
[We are stigmatized in hospitals. Some people just refuse to treat you because you're an effeminate person. It's shocking, it's shocking. No, but it's shocking because sexual orientation has nothing to do with the life you live. A sexual orientation is a sexual orientation, period. You can't say that you don't talk to someone or you don't like someone just because he is gay or just because he is heterosexual. It's silly but there is something in each of us called free will. Everyone is free to like what they want, everyone is free to do what they want. So, they are free to want us, they are free to refuse us. It's their choice] Pauline, male transgender.
On the other hand, a caregiver tell us this:
[Often, even when they receive them, the care is not of quality. They try to get rid of them and generally the prescription is not well done, it is terse. Normally, they should receive them well, give them the necessary care and refer them when necessary to competent or specialized structures] Philippe, public sector caregiver.
The statement above reflects the social discomfort that transgender people experience in accessing care in public health facilities. Their rights to health care are violated because their social identity is not tolerated by some health caregivers. In addition to the refusal of care, the transgender people interviewed stated that they were offended by the derogatory and hostile looks they received.
Caregiver’s views on transgender people
In public health facilities, it is noted that transgender people are a kind of attraction not only for caregivers but also for users. One of the reasons given is their effeminate appearance. Their presence would attract derogatory looks that offend their sensibilities.
[Actually, i just go to hospitals that are more open to my sexual orientation, that are more open to the transgender issue than other hospitals because i feel more comfortable here. Because i tell myself that maybe on the other side, they are not going to open their mouths to tell me to my face what they think of me, what they think of me. But the looks or even the way people do things can offend my sensibilities] Félicienne, transgender man.
[But we, when we get there, our entrance only even… We will let the employees. Even the patients who are in the hospitals, when we arrive there, when they turn, looks they give you there, you are cured. Where you are there, you heal from the disease you had, it leaves in your body. The look are like injection. You turn around] Carine, male transgender.
This hyperbole that we can notice in the second paragraph of the statement above, testifies to the hostility of the looks projected on this group of people in the public health centers. Consequently, these public health structures are perceived by these transgender people as spaces marked by violence and dislike in which they do not benefit from the solidarity and care of health care providers, but rather from an unacknowledged but certain contempt. Moreover, in addition to the refusal of care and hostile looks, some transgender people declare that they have been victims of direct humiliation by caregivers.
Humiliation experienced by transgender people
The analysis of interactions between caregivers and transgender people shows that this identity minority are often victim of humiliation or frustration in the public sector. In this regard, we have collected the account of a male transgender respondent in which he tells us about the humiliation he would have experienced in a public health center because of a female caregiver. In his words:
[As he said, we are stigmatized everywhere. And if i had to tell a story about what i've already experienced, i'm going to dwell on what i experienced. Well, i had just finished doing the sidewalk and i was going home. In the meantime, i had an appointment to take my medication. When i arrived, usually when i go, it's the doctor i find or the nurse. And this day when i arrived, it was a lady that i found. Generally, we with the men, it is a little difficult when we are dressed as a woman. It is a little difficult for them to know if it is a man or a woman. With women, it's a little more easier than with men. So, i was there, i arrived, she asked me for my code. I gave her everything. I don't know if she looked in my files, i don't know if she saw sex wrong or right. But in front of people, while there were people, she asked me if i were a man or a woman. Really there, i felt very humiliated. And since i left there, I was forced to change hospitals. I never arrived there again. Well, me after my bad experience, seriously I don't go to the public centers anymore] Eveline, male transgender.
In analyzing this account, we note that the question publicly addressed by the caregiver to this respondent about his gender, despite his file and in view of his appearance, thus reflects a clear desire on the part of this caregiver to humiliate him. In doing so, she exposed him to the gaze of other users of different social identity. Furthermore, this analysis by the respondent is understandable since the data show that transgender men are generally dressed as women. For this respondent, he would be dressed that day in a dress.
Denial of care to transgender people, hostile looks and public humiliation are indicators of stigmatization that emerge from the data analysis. This social minority would therefore be a victim of the attitudes of some public sector caregivers, due to their disavowed social identity. However, how can these attitudes be explained ? Otherwise, what are the logics, the rationalities that underlie these attitudes observed among caregivers in public health structures ?
Logics related to the attitudes of caregivers
It emerges from the analyses that several rationalities underlie the attitudes described above attributed to caregivers in public health facilities. These include lack of professional awareness, lack of gender training and lack of understanding of LGBT issues in general and transgender issues in particular, and the conflict between cultural and religious principles and transidentity.
Lack of professional awareness
According to transgender respondents, caregivers' attitudes towards them are related to a lack of professional conscience. This perception is based on the fact that they believe that caregivers should respect the privacy of patient, their private lives and avoid exposing them publicly despite the implications of doing so. In addition, we note that these caregivers are not fully aware of the risks associated with their attitudes. Indeed, because of the forms of stigmatization they face, some transgender people may stop going to the health center and stop their treatment since they are often people living with HIV. Even worse, family members of caregivers may be LGBT but refuse to come out because of fear of stigmatization. This analysis could be illustrated by the following statement, among many others:
[I'm going to say already that it's unconsciousness. It's unconsciousness because being HIV positive, everybody is exposed to this disease. Everyone is exposed to this disease. If we write on a board or project the private life of each one of us, no one will have the right to open their mouth to say anything about the other. So, this is already an act of unconsciousness. Because even their children who are at home, they don't even know, they don't have the ability to see what is going on inside their blood. So, they don't know what they really have. So, it's unaware and really i hope that one day the mindset will change] Pauline, male transgender.
These social implications related to transgender stigmatization were hammered home by the caregivers and local NGO actors interviewed. For these resource persons, the stigmatization of LGBT people is a real public health problem. Indeed, as people who are highly exposed to diseases such as STIs and HIV/AIDS, silencing them could lead to the spread of these diseases in society. Some of them having sexual relations with multiple partners who don’t know their serological status.
Lack of training on gender and LGBT issues
For both transgender respondents and the humanitarian actors surveyed, public sector caregivers lack knowledge and information about LGBT issues. In general, most of them are not trained in gender issues and especially those related to LGBT. Thus, the real needs of these social minorities in terms of care are not mastered by the public caregivers. In other words, they are not specialists in the care of these specific groups of people. Thus, for them, the attitudes of public caregivers are determined by the lack of training on LGBT health issues.
[So, i would say it's ignorance because sometimes you go to the health centers like the one who was there before wished. He didn't have any concern yet he wasn't homosexual but he accepted. I tell myself that maybe he received a training where they talked to him about gender. But this last one, i don't think she received training on that. I tell myself that it is someone who perhaps does not know. She has no information] Christine, male transgender.
[There are no technical platforms in public hospitals for trans people because a trans person is really a person who has a feminine state, who has the normal sex that is assimilated at birth, that is to say a woman who was already born a woman who has breasts. The state of trans, you are approaching to be a woman that is why you start taking hormones. But are they trained on the prescription of hormones ? Do they already know what hormones are ? Do they know that a man can take hormones to have breasts, to have a fine voice, to break his hips ? do they know that ? They don't know all that. You see a doctor, he will tell you "hey, what's that? I was in medicine for 8 years, they never told me that. So, there is already that first, so they have no knowledge of information, they have nothing. There's nothing in the manual, there's nothing in the training, and on top of that. All of that's part of the stigma] Denise, male transgender.
Furthermore, we note that humanitarian actors, public sector caregivers do not have knowledge of the often codified language of LGBT people, which makes interactions difficult and delicate.
Conflict between culture, caregiver’s religion and transgender people
The attitudes of caregivers in public health facilities are also a function of the cultural norms of reference of caregivers and their religious values or principles. A conflict emerges between these socio-cultural and religious realities of caregivers and the social identity of transgender people. Trained to respect their cultural and religious values, the caregivers are outraged by this social group, which translates into the refusal of care, hostile looks and humiliations that they perpetrate against the members, i.e. the transgender people. Thus, the hostility of religion and the cultural values of origin of the caregivers will shape their view of these people whose identity and values are perceived as unnatural. The following comments, collected respectively from transgender people, humanitarian actors and caregivers, do not say less. In fact, according to the transgender people interviewed:
[We can talk about ignorance. And then, i don't know if i can say religion because someone in their religion, they are told him that it is not good. I don't think that the person will accept whatever they are told. I don't think that they will accept it because already in their religion, they are told that it is not good. So it is in their head. They will not accept whatever they are told] Carole, male transgender.
[If we were not stigmatized, if there were no bad looks, if there were no criticism, if there were no negative opinions, we would feel like a family. Here, we are open to you because we are quiet. You see, before asking us questions, you already respected our sexual orientation. You knew how to approach the conversation with us. But we don't even sit down with someone who is not open on a subject while the person is telling us that even in our religion, we have been told that you are people, we have to slit your throat, we have to kill you. You, you think what ? But a long time ago, we insulted him] Eveline, male transgender.
This view is shared by some of the humanitarians and caregivers interviewed:
[You know, health workers are also attached to cultural and religious values. In general, no religion and society does not accept this practice. So, that's also what makes these health workers behave that way] Raoul, humanitarian.
[There are some health workers who put themselves in the shoes of the pastor instead of the scientist. Instead of receiving the patient, they will reject him or admonish him. For them, this is a violation of God's will. So it's religion. The second cause, in my opinion, is tradition too. It's practices that are forbidden in society. So people don't accept that] Philip, public sector caregiver.
As we can understand, caregivers' attitudes towards transgender people are underlied by a tangled web of factors related to professional conscience, lack of training on gender and LGBT issues, culture and religion that are unfavorable to the social identity of this minority.