#working on a diy hrt zine

[midwesttranssurvivalcollective]

midwest states & access to trans care

Illinois: Illinois is a sanctuary state for gender-affirming care, meaning they allow individuals coming from out of state to access gender-affirming care in Illinois regardless of the laws of their home state and will not enforce bans or penalties from other states. In 2023, Illinois passed a law safeguarding abortion and gender-affirming care, protecting providers who provide gender-affirming care, and protecting out-of-state care-seekers. In Illinois, there are no legal restrictions on hormone access for adults. At Planned Parenthood, anyone older than 16 can access hormone treatment without requiring parental consent. People under 16 can access hormones or puberty blockers with parental consent. Insurance providers are not allowed to exclude coverage for trans-related medical care, and Medicaid in Illinois covers trans health care. In Illinois, it is relatively easy to undergo the name change and gender marker change process, only requiring proof of residence for at least 6 months in Illinois. Anyone who has lived in Illinois for at least 6 months can change their legal documents regardless of the state they were born in.

Wisconsin: Wisconsin is not a sanctuary state for gender-affirming care, but right now, there are no state laws prohibiting adults or minors from accessing gender-affirming care. Currently, insurance providers and Medicaid cover trans health care. Wisconsin does not have as many legal protections as Illinois, so there is more of a chance for restrictions on a state level to occur under Trump. Wisconsin also requires proof of sex reassignment surgery to change gender markers. 

Iowa: In Iowa, there are legal restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors (passed in 2023), as well as laws preventing trans students from participating in sports or using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. There is also no law requiring insurance providers to cover trans healthcare. Currently, trans healthcare is covered by Medicaid, but this may change under Trump. Iowa also requires proof of sex reassignment surgery for gender marker change.

Missouri: In Missouri, there is a ban on gender-affirming care for minors (passed in 2023), and a law restrictring access to gender-affirming care for adults on Medicaid. There is also a ban on trans students participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. However, Kansas City, Missouri, has declared itself a sanctuary city for gender-affirming care, meaning the city will not prosecute any person or organization that helps provide or receive gender-affirming care. Missouri also requires proof of sex reassignment surgery for gender marker change.

Kentucky: In Kentucky, there is a ban on gender-affirming care for minors (passed in 2023), and a law restricting access to gender-affirming care for adults on Medicaid. There are also laws preventing trans students from participating in sports or using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Kentucky also requires proof of sex reassignment surgery for gender marker change.

Indiana: In Indiana, there is a ban on gender-affirming care for minors (passed in 2023). There is no law restricting access to gender-affirming care for adults on Medicaid, but there are also no legal protections, meaning it's possible there will be a restriction put in place under Trump. Policies around gender marker changes are also unclear. There is also a ban on trans students participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.

Ohio: In Ohio, there is a ban on gender-affirming care for minors (passed in 2023), and a law restricting access to gender-affirming care for adults on Medicaid. There is also a ban on trans students participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. Ohio is unclear about requirements for changes to gender markers. 

Michigan: In Michigan, there no ban on gender-affirming care, and state Medicaid policy explicitly covers gender-affirming care. It is possible to change gender markers and names on legal documents without proof of sex reassignment surgery.

Minnesota: In Minnesota, there are no legal restrictions on hormone access, and Minnesota is a state with ‘shield’ laws actively protecting access to trans healthcare. In 2023, Minnesota passed a bill that prevents state courts or officials from complying with child removal requests, extraditions, arrests or subpoenas related to gender-affirming health care that a person receives in Minnesota, regardless of the laws in the person’s home state. Insurance providers are not allowed to exclude coverage for trans-related medical care, and Medicaid in Illinois covers trans health care. There is currently no ban on gender-affirming care for youth. Gender markers and names on birth certificates can be changed without proof of sex reassignment surgery.

more info or important additions for any of these states?? message us!!

most info from Movement Advancement Project (https://www.mapresearch.org/equality-maps/healthcare/trans_shield_laws) so if your state isn’t on here, check them out to find out your state’s status!

[trans-axolotl]

Do you know of DIY psych meds or any writings/info on it, DIY meds in a similar way to DIY HRT, cause I noticed you can buy some psych meds on some of the same shops you source diy hrt, I haven't found any thing on it but I figured its just not a very popular topic because being forced on meds is usually a more pressing issue, the legal grey-ness of buying "prescriptions" with out an offical prescription, and the if-y effectiveness of a lot of psych meds but I feel like I can't be the only one who's ever thought about it

so i don't really have anything I can link to because most of what i know about this is what i've learned from my experiences with DIY HRT distro. and so there's a lot of stuff that I only feel comfortable talking about vaguely on tumblr or other public facing social media.

long story short: there are already some DIY HRT collectives out there that are also distributing psych meds in a similar way. not going to name specific names for obvious reasons, but there's around 3 or 4 DIY hrt collectives i could name in the northeast US who are already doing this. there are some challenges with distributing psych meds that are slightly different than distro for DIY HRT. part of it is due to the need to be able to keep up an ongoing supply of psych meds that might cause withdrawal. if people are relying on you as a supplier for psych meds that can cause life-threatening withdrawal if you're off of them, that is a much more severe consequence then temporarily being unable to supply someone with hrt. and so that might impact the resources needed to be able to offer a consistent supply. i think another challenge is the lack of easily accessible information about psych drugs and how they actually work in our bodies.

and like--i think about psych drugs the way i think about all drugs. they're substances that are going to have both desired and undesired effects. that is going to vary from person to person. and everyone has the right and autonomy to make those decisions for themselves, regardless of their diagnosis or whether they are seeking "treatment" or "healing" or whether it's just for fun or connection for any fucking reason. so i think it is really good and important to find ways for people to access psych drugs outside of psychiatry.

and at the same time, i also think that in the current climate, where so many people are forced on psych drugs against their will, where so much misinformation is purposefully spread by psychiatry, where so many of the undesired effects of psych drugs are hid from people, it also feels important to be able to share accurate and helpful information about how psych drugs work and what to expect, as well as information about dosages, withdrawal, tapering, etc. so i think that anyplace that is sourcing and supplying psych drugs does have a responsibility to make sure that they do know that information and can help their community find and share that kind of information.

in terms of practical information, it sounds like you're already probably familiar with how to find sources online. all i'll say on tumblr is that if you're familiar with how to use tails and tor for browsing that it's not super hard.

it's not the exact same focus, but Four Thieves Vinegar Collective has a lot of projects for different types of autonomous healthcare.

Inner Compass Initiative is not a perfect website but does have a lot of info on psych med dosages, tapering, effects, etc.

there's some other zines i'll try to find in my room and take photos of at some point if i'm able to.

biggest takeaways for me is that it always comes back to autonomy and informed consent, and figuring out ways to make that possible in our communities outside of psych authority is something that feels important and possible to me!

[new-holocene]

ode to abandoned projects

normally i dedicate my public facing social media accounts solely to sharing my finished artwork, but I figure some reflection on the past few years of my development as an artist would be worthwhile. I was initially trying to find an old gmod map I made (I didn't find it), and in the process I found a number of screenshots of WIPs spanning the past 7 years. for many of these projects, they were abandoned because I got too busy with school/university.

from march 2017. made in unity. I don't remember the specifics of this project. I think I was trying to make a short narrative walking sim.

from december 2017. I wanted to make a short smw romhack. I remember drawing level designs on a spare piece of paper after finishing a secondary school exam early. one day I'll make a romhack, one day...

from may 2018. I had just replayed marble blast ultra after finding it had a PC port. shortly after I found all the textures were just in the game files and could be modified easily. myself and an old friend wanted to make a 'games repainted'-esque mod. I claim full credit for every marble game since that's included a 🤔marble skin.

from march 2020. a mockup of a piece I was calling 'alignment chart' for the first time I had ever applied for a bursary. this used a mixture of generative art pieces i made in processing and graphic design. this piece is interesting to look back on because it marked the development of my art style for the first time, and the psuedo-cuneiform generator ended up being a recurring feature of my art. my application was rejected because i did not read the terms and conditions to realise it wasn't open to university students - and I was still studying computer science at the time.

from may 2020. I was aiming to participate in the low res game jam but never got to finish due to university work taking up my time. I never fleshed out the mechanics of the game, but the goal was to take care of the tree in the center of the map. it doesn't look like much, but I really pushed myself (or rather, tortured myself) by not using a game engine and writing this in C++ with raylib instead.

from april 2020. this was going to be a browser based demake of five nights at freddy's (a game I've never played and have no interest in) titled "five years at yanderedev's". I figured that it felt too close to participating in lolcowing someone and that it was in bad spirits, so I scrapped it.

from september 2020. a mockup of my homepage sharpfourth.net. I kept the logo and general layout for whats on the site currently, but didn't include the scanner warped images.

from october 2020. I wanted to make a walking sim in the quake engine, but once again, university work got in the way. however, this got me familiar with the basics of using trenchbroom (a map editor for quake), which came in very, very handy for later projects.

from october 2021. myself and some close friends had planned to make a zine detailing how to do DIY feminising HRT in Ireland (and maybe the UK). we never got around to writing it (partly because we feared potential legal repercussions for disseminating medical advice lol), but this marked a further development of my art style.

from october 2021. I had hoped to make a first person RPG in godot. once again scrapped because I got too busy with uni. I spent ages trying to implement a wonky movement system that could be exploited, being inspired by bhopping from source or strafe jumping from quake. the dialogue system was the last thing I worked on. I used trenchbroom again - this time with qodot - for making the prototype map. while making this demo, I realised the potential use of godot and trenchbroom in visual art, something i would revisit during my first gallery residency.

from march 2022. this might be the most unassuming piece in this collection, but it marks a significant turning point in my life. I was tasked with making diagrams for a group project in uni, but given that I was facing extreme burnout and apathy towards the course, I instead "doodled" with the elements of the diagram. this spiraled into me writing my zine/short-story EATARTHU, which I then used to apply for a gallery residency. I was fortunate enough to get the residency, and I dropped out of college to pursue art.

as discouraging as it might be to constantly start and abandon projects, it's important to stop and remember that ever single abandoned game or drawing or album or whatever marked a chance for you to learn and develop as an artist. one day you might very well finish a project, and it'll reflect a bit of every single abandoned one of its precursors.

[floodkiss]

comics 4 diyhrt.cafe !!

hi!! some of my internet friends and i have been working on a digital comic zine together to fundraise for diy hrt dot cafe! diyhrt.cafe is a website created to provide information for how to safely obtain HRT for trans people who cannot access prescriptions for various reasons.

(to me) we have some comics super stars! Lainey, Em, Michi, Celeste, and Han that have put a lot of love and care into some really lovely comics! as well as others in our little community (affectionately known as CLCLCL) who have contributed time, insight, and support! i am doing the book design and a bit of the organizational work since i've been 2 busy 2 draw!

more info to come, but we will be launching this end of june/early july! we are nothing without community, so let's uplift each other this month and push back against the rising tide of shit that stands before us! check out the work of all of the contributors and thank you lainey for organizing all of this!

artists: Lainey Williams - Em @corniart - Michi - Celeste Cruz - Han Olliver

link to the comic!

[cookiethebirdthing]

Hey, we know 2024 is looking pretty scary for us transes so here's some resources to maybe help someone out!!

This is a good post for DIY HRT:

This link is a really great collection of information on HRT and other things that can be a great guide for DIY HRT or just if your provider doesn't know shit about trans healthcare. It's also just a good link to look through in general.

Here are a few quick links about HRT:

Not necessarily better or worse than the previous site, Transfeminine Science has a lot of information that may not be on UCSF. For example, there is data about how different forms of estradiol compare at different doses.

We are admittedly less familiar with this website, so we don't know the most useful links. This is likely a good place to start for general perusing:

This is by no means an exhaustive link of even the best resources. This is a start. If anyone has other websites or pages that should be linked, including more quick links, please suggest reply or reblog with them (or message us directly if you wish to remain anonymous).

If you have any suggestions for things to add or corrections to make or stuff that we should take out, please let us know and we will make the appropriate changes. We are only one being, so we don't know a lot about everyone's experiences.

UCSF does have good information for 'masculinizing' hormone therapy from what we have been told, although we don't know enough myself to verify any of the information.

However, as useful as UCSF can be for some specific numbers and dosage guidelines, it's limited by the lack of research into hormone therapy.

Our best bet as trans people really is to talk to other trans people in the community to create wealths of knowledge from our own experiences. We read a Zine recently that had a good point that Reddit really is the biggest and most accessible source of trans healthcare knowledge written by trans people who have experienced these things.

Us and many others we've talked to have experiences of doctors ignoring the things we tell them because they've "never heard of that happening before". We're not saying there aren't any good doctors out there who are actually very knowledgeable about trans healthcare and don't perpetuate misinformation about HRT, but they are definitely not easy to find.

Your best friend as a trans being undergoing HRT is being able to do your own research into how everything should work. And of course to know other trans people who are going through the same stuff you are.

We also think it is important to mention at least that you do not, in any way, have to undergo HRT or any other procedure if you are trans. It is completely optional! Don't let anyone tell you have to in order to be a trans person.

[midwesttranssurvivalcollective]

legality of diy 101

[this is from bits of a zine we’re working on - feedback and additional info very welcome]

before we get into it: two disclaimers and a tl;dr

disclaimer 1 - Trans people have always created our own means of survival both inside and outside of the law. The hope of this zine is to provide you with enough information to make informed decisions for yourself, and to provide you with the confidence and grounding to take whatever steps you need to survive without shame. If you are someone who has a lot of fear around doing things outside of the law, I’d actually encourage you to seek out queer/trans focused prisoner support spaces, and build relationships with currently incarcerated trans people through letter-writing.

disclaimer 2 - In the past there’s not been much of a precedent for prosecution of unprescribed hormone possession. It’s impossible to say with certainty what this will look like in the future - which is why taking extra precaution now is just good practice. As we’re seeing with a few high profile cases of prosecution of abortion-seekers, sometimes people get singled out as faces of a larger cultural panic and honestly that informs how court cases go more than anything else. A goal of ours is to make sure no trans person is left behind or abandoned to the system - that we can support each other regardless of what any law or judge says.

tl;dr: It's complicated. If you're in the U.S. you should assume it's illegal and therefore do as much risk mitigation as you can, that prosecuting small individual use of hormones is probably not a priority, and that trans people have always found extralegal forms of survival and you should not feel any shame about steps you take for your own survival.

General legal info:

Estrogen is broadly considered to be lower-risk as it's not a controlled substance, meaning a substance whose possession and use are regulated by law. It is technically illegal to import without a prescription and posession without a prescription is a gray area, but in general it's not seen as a major legal concern. If anyone is curious, if you were somehow to be caught and prosecuted for possession of estrogen, it would probably fall in the realm of a misdemeanor. Information about how to access DIY estrogen is decently accessible online.

Testosterone is a schedule III controlled substance, so its possession and use are regulated by law, and illegal posession or use could in theory land you a felony. [lots of legal talk incoming] There are federal and state laws relating to controlled substances, and state by state it varies a lot, ranging from misdemeanor to felony. Federally possession is a felony with a charge of ~1 year in prison and a $7,500 fine. The main things the actual charge would depend on would be whether you are caught by local law enforcement or federal law enforcement, the state you’re in, the amount you have (larger amounts sometimes indicate intent to distribute, which can increase the charge), if you have any other illegal/controlled substances that are found, and if you have past drug-related offenses. A package being delivered to your address is not sufficient proof for possession! A single person, buying only enough for themselves, with no proof of intent to distribute, no prior offenses, good operational security, and any level of plausible deniability shouldn’t be putting up legal red flags. Testosterone is also used by cis men without prescription, though, and there's a pretty extensive culture around testosterone use and discussion in weighlifting/gym forums.

Again, the priorities of law enforcement would probably be more oriented towards sellers of the controlled substance, meaning that even if a package of yours was seized, they would probably care less about finding you and more about finding the person who’s selling to you. That being said, because it is a higher risk hormone due to its status as a controlled substance, it is more important to be careful and take better precautions. 

General practices of ordering:

-If you're ordering online, try to order domestically rather than internationally as packages are most likely to be seized in customs

-When ordering online, use good operational security! Don't use google to research DIY because your search records on google can be accessed by law enforcement and used in court or easily seen by family/friends. Don't message people about your purchasing of DIY or post on social media or Tumblr or Reddit specifically saying you've ordered it online. Use a VPN (but not any of the VPNs you see advertised on Youtube! I like ProtonVPN and use the free or $5 tier). For browsers, use DuckDuckGo (limits tracking and cares about your privacy) or Tor or Tails (will share more about these in a future post). Consider the levels of privacy you might want (i.e. hiding the websites you’re visiting from your Wifi provider, from someone who might be using your computer, and hiding your personal information from the sites you visit).

-If you’re up for it, try buying Bitcoin, then exchanging it for Monero, which is a more privacy-oriented cryptocurrency that makes it more difficult to connect the person to the currency.

-If you can ship to a P.O. box rather than your own address, that's a good risk mitigation step. Same if you can use a different name, although if it's more suspicious for you to use a different name (i.e. if you live with family members who might throw the package out or open it), keep that in mind.

-If you have a packaged seized, you'll receive a letter from customs letting you know that your package was seized. This is okay, it doesn't mean anyone's coming after you, and it's difficult to actually prove you ordered something even if it was addressed to you (all the more reason to be good about your security when ordering). Consider ordering from a different site, to a different address, and with a different name for the foreseeable future.

General practices of possession:

-Be conscious about where your hormones are. Are they somewhere an unsupportive family member or roommate could find? Are they in a vehicle (police can legally search your vehicle if you're pulled over without any need for probable cause)? Are they on your person in a moment when you might get searched by police? Are you bringing them to the airport, where your bags might be searched by TSA? Best risk mitigation practices would be to not ever have your hormones anywhere they could be found by anyone, and particularly avoiding having in them in a vehicle or while traveling. Sometimes this might mean missing a dose or two, or ordering a new bottle at your destination for a longer-term trip/move. 

as always, if you’ve got things to add, or questions for us, please reach out! we have a protonmail (badsands@proton.me) and are on here.