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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · 21d

A video interview with one of our volunteer pilots is helping to give people a lot of hope in a difficul ttime: www.instagram.com/p/DOqytq_jvCw/

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jul 30

🎉: Make sure trans kids and their families know that we exist to help them access care.

🛩️: If you're a pilot, sign up to volunteer with us.

💵: If you're able, donate to support our work to make sure no one is left behind.

Links in our bio!

Our Response: Working with dozens of providers, support groups, and community organizations around the country, we’ll continue flights at no cost to help families begin or continue gender-affirming care. Everyone has the right to control their own bodies and futures as well as to raise healthy children.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jul 30

The only way for Evil to win is for Good people to do nothing. So like Mr. Rogers told us when we were kids, "Look for the helpers." So how do you help?

#trans #transrights #aviation #airplanes #airplane #pilot #pilots #reproductivejustice

Many Providers Ending Gender-Affirming Care for Minors: Screenshots from Chicago Sun*Times, WVVA, and LAist

Why are they doing this? Trump issued Executive Order #14187 on January 28th which required that medical institutions who receive federal research and education grants must not perform certain gender-affirming care on people under 19. The EO also seeks to end Medicare and Medicaid support for gender-affirming care for the same people.

Impact: Thousands of families are experiencing the government putting itself into their doctor’s office. These tactics parallel tacticsused against abortion. People will face transportation and financial barriers to starting or continuing care. Research shows that access to gender-affirming care improves mental health and reduces the risks of suicide.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 30

Medical misogyny played a role in the AIDS crisis

Medical Misogyny

The CDC’s medical definition of HIV/AIDS skewed heavily toward men, which neglected to recognize opportunistic infections that commonly affected female bodies with AIDS, such as Pelvic Inflammatory Disease and cervical cancer.

Medical Misogyny

Women were excluded from receiving medication in clinical trials, and denied needed healthcare from the Division of AIDS Services. Due to this medical misogyny, about 65% of HIV-positive women died without being diagnosed with AIDS.

Honor the “L,” and remember its significance

As we close out Pride Month 2025, keep in mind the example of the MANY Queer women who stepped up during the AIDS Crisis, not just as caretakers, but also as activists, lawyers, artists, and historians.
And call out medical misogyny
when you see it!

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 30

Hi, everyone, I'm Liz M (she/they), here for our final staff takeover for Pride Month!

Hi, everyone!
I’m Liz M (she/they)

I’m the Manager of Community Relations for Elevated Access, and the social worker on staff. I’m the final staff member taking over for
Pride Month.

Why the “L” comes first in LGBTQIA+?

Up until the 1980s, the acronym for our community was spelled out “GLB,” for “Gay,” “Lesbian,” and “Bisexual.” During the AIDS Crisis of the 1980s and ‘90s, many lesbians stepped up to care for gay men who were sick and dying when other doctors and caregivers refused, so the “L” got moved to the first letter in the acronym in honor of those women.

Women and the AIDS Crisis

This paints an inaccurate picture, however, of the impact that the AIDS Crisis had on lesbian and bisexual women and their communities. In 1991, about 40% of people who were HIV-positive and 12% of people with AIDS were women.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 28

The Stonewall Uprising was a response to the continuing oppression of the LGBTQIA+ community by police in New York City. While LGBTQIA+ elders had fought for acceptance for years, the uprising began a larger cultural shift towards acceptance. The work is not over, and the resistance continues today.

Today is the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Stonewall was a direct response to the police oppression of the LGBTQIA+ community in NYC.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 27

On the left side of the page there's a text box that reads:

"Raj coined the term "voluntary gender worker" to describe the unofficial (and often unrecognized) labor that transgender advocates do in the 1987 essay titled "Burnout: Unsung Heroes And Heroines In The Transgender World", originally published in The Transsexual Voice. Throughout his career, Raj took long breaks as a result of this burnout. Including in 2017 (Almost thirty years later), announcing that he was taking indefinite medical leave as a result of burnout."

On the upper right there's a younger photo of Rupert in a leather jacket. Below that is a text box that reads:

"His work as a broker of information between medical / mental health professional and the trans community has improved the standard of care for trans people as well as allowed us to take a more active role in our medical care, through the democratization of that information"

A photo of Lou Sullivan in a white tank top. There's also a card from Rupert to Lou. The left side of card:

"Sept. 20 / 86
Lou -

Thanks a lot for all your letters + submissions (reviews, cartoons) for publication in the magazine. I'll be getting out a double-edition (32 pages) by mid-October, hopefully. Also, will be sending out two of Joanna Clark's articles and The Confidential Contacts Directory before that I hope as a bonus for members + subscribers having to wait so long (four months) without any word/magazine issue.
Would you be interested, Low, in submitting a report of your genital reconstruction for a future issue? Please advise. I'm sure our readers would be very interested in such a report. Dr. Harry Benjamin died at age 101 on August 27th-survived by his wife Greta - when he married in 1925. How's your biography of Jack Garland coming along? MMRF has sold four of the six copies of your book I ordered from you so far. Take care. - R.R."

Then on the right side, there is printed text that says

"... or you may miss them!
CONGRATULATIONS!"

Followed by more handwritten text:

"On your recent genitoplasty... I'm very pleased for you. Sorry, this card is so late, but I've been ill with bronchial pneumonia for over three weeks now but am finally recovering. I'll be moving to another apartment on Oct. 1st and looking for another job. I've a backlog of MMRF work (correspondence, magazine, directory, etc.) to do-will set at it really soon - Rupert"

There's a text box at the bottom of the page that reads:

"Raj was also close friends with Lou Sullivan, another important advocate for trans people, and specifically for the rights of gay trans men like himself in an era where heterosexuality was a part of the diagnostic criteria for gender identity disorder. I would encourage any trans people feeling disillusioned to check out the Digital Transgender Archive, and specifically correspondence between trans people actively navigating their access to care."

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 27

Happy Pride Month from Oliver, our Gender-Affirming Care Coordinator!

Title text says "Rupert Raj"
Below that there are two pictures of Rupert, a younger photo of him in a sweater with his arms crossed on the left, and on the right, there's a more recent photo of him.

Below those is a text box says:

"Raj (now in his 70’s) was a trans therapist, researcher, educator, and poet. He transitioned at age 19 in 1972. He has started and been involved with a number of groundbreaking organizations and publications across the past 50 years, I want to highlight two of those in this post. Metamorphosis Magazine and his 1987 essay "Burnout: Unsung Heroes And Heroines In The Transgender World"

Text box on the left reads:

"Metamorphosis Magazine gave information specific to trans men, including: clinical research, information about hormones, surgery, and legal reforms for trans people, tips for passing in public, book reviews, and poems."

On the upper right, there's an excerpt from Metamorphosis sharing info about a gender-affirming care clinic:

"The Center for Gender Roassignment Norfolk, Virginie
The Centre for Gender Reassignment has been present for approximately 10 years. A recent increase in interest has expanded our center and the number of patients that are now included in our gender program. Over the past 20 months, we have had well over 100 requests for information regarding our gender program. The majority of these patients are female transsexuals. This is perhaps due to our reputation for phalloplasty surgery.
Upon visiting the Center, each patient is evaluated by two psychologists, two plastic surgeons, a gynecologist, and our coordinator. We follow the "standards of care" of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association."

On the lower left there's a cover page from Metamorphosis Magazine, and to the right is a text box that reads "It was the most popular magazine for trans men throughout the 80’s"

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Reposted by Elevated Access

Abby Vesoulis @abbyvesoulis.bsky.social · Jun 24

Mike Bonanza runs Elevated Access. Bonanza's group recruits pilots who fly people to places they can access abortion & gender-affirming care (pilots are volunteers; flights are no charge). Unlike commercial flights, passengers don't need drivers licenses. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Abortion Diaries: The pilot

"The vast majority who fly with us have never been on an airplane before."

www.motherjones.com

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 24

We imagine a future of reproductive justice, where people are empowered to control their own bodies, to make true choices to have children or not have children, and to raise children in safe and healthy environments.

The Hope: Working with dozens of partners, we’re doing our part to help people overcome these barriers to abortion care.

Thanks to you, our volunteer pilots and our donors, we’ve helped thousands of people travel receive care on their terms.

Join us! Whether you’ve donated before or haven’t at all, today is the best time to donate.

If you’re a pilot, get signed up as a volunteer.

Remember this: Try.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 24

Roe was the floor. We always deserved better, and better will come someday. Until then, we work with communities across the country using our network of volunteer pilots to get people to the care they need.

June 24th marks the 3rd anniversary of the SCOTUS decision on the Dobbs case, erasing nearly 5 decades of precedent protecting abortion rights.

The Impact: Maternal mortality in Texas rose 56%.

Abortion bans are costing over $133 billion every year due to lost wages, slowed careers, and overall avoidance of those states with bans.

Pregnant people are being charged with crimes for their pregnancy losses.

People are having health-altering and life-ending experiences because hospitals are unable to provide life-saving abortions and risk legal action.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 21

If you're looking for action after this week's SCOTUS decision, you can help families of trans kids can still get care in other states. We provide free air travel with both volunteer pilots and airline flights to make sure no one is left behind.

(Thank you, Ariana Grande, for the shout out.)

Help Trans Kids Get the Care They Need: Parents have spent years raising their kids and working with medical professionals to understand how best to keep them healthy and happy. Because of the SCOTUS decision this week, trans kids will face more barriers to the care they need because of their gender identity.

Transgender kids are not alone in this fight. We fly every day for families to access the care they need, for transgender people’s rights to control their own bodies and their own futures.

You can donate to support this work through the link in our bio. This work will need to happen for years to come.

What our passengers say: Anyone who gets to experience flying with you on your plane is very lucky and in great hands. I am so thankful I had a chance to be assisted in my time of need. During this hard time, I was given the support that made my difficult time so much better. I will always be grateful and remember the kindness I was blessed by. It truly had a major positive impact on my life. Thank you all!
- An Elevated Access passenger

You can donate, volunteer, and spread the word. People need to know that help exists. Others need to know what they can do to help. Donate and more at the link in our bio!

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Reposted by Elevated Access

Eliel Cruz @elielcruz.com · Jun 20

BREAKING: 9 trans rights activists with @genderlib.com arrested in front of Supreme Court while protesting Skrmetti ruling

www.advocate.com/news/trans-a...

BREAKING: 9 trans rights activists arrested in front of Supreme Court while protesting Skrmetti ruling

Nine activists were arrested outside the Supreme Court and detained for two hours, according to organizers.

www.advocate.com

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Reposted by Elevated Access

Allison Chapman @alli.gay · Jun 20

Today myself and nine other activists with @genderlib.com were arrested in front of the Supreme Court while protesting for the rights of Trans Youth.

These are scary times but we must act up and fight back for our rights and our children’s rights.

Allison Chapman from the back. She is wearing white shorts and black shirt. Her hands are behind her back and in zip tie hand cuffs. A police officer is holding her by the arm. You can see the Supreme Court in the background.

A female police officer with aviator sunglasses points forward while she is holding Allison Chapmans arm behind Allison’s back. Allison Chapman is wearing black lipstick and eyeliner while looking towards the left. Allison is wearing a black shirt that says “Protest Trans Folks” in white letters. Behind Allison is other protestors and onlookers.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 19

Happy Juneteenth! We celebrate the emancipation of enslaved people people at the end of the Civil War, and we recognize the work continues every day. We're not free until we're all free. #juneteenth

The holiday Juneteenth was recognized first by Black Texans and now by Americans everywhere as a day to celebrate the freedom of those previously enslaved. Today, we continue to fight for the freedom of all Americans, including those enslaved through forced prison labor.

On January 1st, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all enslaved people were legally free, save for those enslaved as punishment for a crime. But, the declaration was met with resistance and would not immediately be enforced in all states.

The state of Texas would remain under Confederate control for nearly two years, delaying the freedom of more than 250,000 people. On June 19th, 1865, Union troops stormed Galveston Bay, Texas, and announced that these people were free by order of executive decree.

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Reposted by Elevated Access

jillyfromthehilly.bsky.social @jillyfromthehilly.bsky.social · Jun 18

Adriana Smith did not give birth to a baby.

She was used as an incubator, cut open, and a baby was taken out of her lifeless body.

A Black woman was used as a science experiment.

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Reposted by Elevated Access

The GenderCool Project @gendercool.bsky.social · Jun 18

To every trans and nonbinary young person: You are real. You are loved. You are free to be yourself, to live boldly, to dream big. You are thriving. You are leading. You are shaping the future. Today hurts, but you are not alone. Not now.Not ever.We see you. We believe in you. We’re with you. Always

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 18

With hundreds of volunteer pilots all over the country, we help parents access gender-affirming care for their children, even if it means traveling hundreds of miles.

Donate. Volunteer. Resist.

Breaking New: The Supreme Court believed the junk science and veiled transphobia to uphold Tennessee’s ban on hormone therapy and puberty blockers for trans youth even though cis youth can receive the same treatments.

In 23 other states, there are similar bans. This means that families all over the country will continue to see barriers to healthcare that keeps their children healthy and thriving. But that’s not the end of the story.

We all want what’s best for our children. The parents in this case have spent years considering what would best support their children only to have Tennessee take away their healthcare. That is care that they, their children, and their doctors decided was necessary for them to thrive.

Healthcare bans threaten people’s well-being, the safety of our communities, and every individual and family’s ability to determine what’s best for them.

Transgender people are facing an onslaught of political attacks as the Trump administration and extremist politicians nationwide try to strip communities of their identities, their safety, their healthcare, and more.

Transgender people are not alone in this fight. We will continue flying every day for families to access the care they need, for transgender people’s rights to control their own bodies and their own futures.

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Reposted by Elevated Access

Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · Jun 13

This is insane

While some were eligible for "separation pay" if they left "voluntarily," this doesn't apply across the board. In cases like Alex's, there are significant financial barriers to leaving the armed services.
And the kicker is that trans service members under the Trump Administration are being branded with a scarlet letter, or three: "JDK."
It stands for "Juliet Delta Kilo," a discharge code labelling someone a liability to national security.
The designation shows up on job applications and government forms; it impacts a person's ability to get jobs with a security clearance or even immigrate, as Alex's spouse and children are doing, while Alex stays behind.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 12

Every day is an effort to resist hate. Every day is an opportunity to make the world a better, safer place.

Today we remember the victims and survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting where 49 people died and dozens more were injured in 2016.

The Pulse nightclub in Orlando was a favorite place of the LGBTQ+ community, a place filled many nights with community and joy.

The struggle against hate never ends, and we owe it to the victims, the survivors, their loved ones, and ourselves to keep working to make a more safe and just society.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 10

What are examples of medical GAC interventions? Hormone therapy. Facial masculinization or feminization surgery. Top surgery. Bottom surgery. Hair removal. Voice changing surgery.

Why does gender-affirming care matter? Anyone who chooses a form of GAC has done so to look or feel like their true gender. For youth, GAC decreases risks of suicide by 73%. The regret rate including for surgeries is 1%. Knee surgeries are over 6%. Getting a tattoo is 16%. Having children is 7%.

Important Note! Every person's transition looks different, and no one needs to do ANY of these things to call themselves transgender or nonbinary. Respect people for who they are and their self-determination.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 10

There is a lot of disinformation and propaganda about trans people and gender-affirming care. So we're using today to help people learn what gender-affirming care is. People of all ages choose gender-affirming care, and it's never their responsibility to tell you the whats and whys of their journey.

What is gender-affirming care? Gender-affirming health care (GAC) can include any single or combination of a number of social, psychological, behavioral, and medical interventions designed to support and affirm an individual's gender identity - World Health Organization.

What are examples of social GAC interventions? Using pronouns that fit. Use a name that better fits. Using an appropriate public restroom. Being in a supportive community. Wearing differetn clothes. Changing makeup practices.

What are examples of psychological GAC interventions? Family therapy. Individual therapy. Transition counseling. Therapy for gender dysphoria. Support groups.

What are examples of behavioral GAC interventions? Learning coping and resiliency skills. Voice training. Changing nonverbal gender cues. Navigating the stressors of being trans or nonbinary.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 9

But perhaps most especially to our passengers and referring partner organizations who trust us to get the passengers safely to the healthcare they need.

Rolling Stone published a story about that first flight, and it's linked in our bio.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 9

It has only been possible thanks to so many people stepping up to say they would not be idle while people's rights were being taken away.

Thank you to our donors and supporters, to our volunteers both pilots and ground support, and to our staff.

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Elevated Access @elevatedaccess.bsky.social · Jun 9

From founder and ED Mike: Today is the 3rd anniversary of our first official flight, and we have also hit 2500 passengers flown. When I was getting the organization launched, I never imagined how much it would accomplish in such a short time, supporting abortion and gender-affirming care

Elevated Access has flown 2500 Passengers! Everyone deserves access to the healthcare they need, including abortion and gender-affirming care. Our volunteer pilots with airline backups provide free transportation for those who need assistance.

Imagery includes green hills with a purple sky and white clouds. A small red and white propeller airplane is in the corner.

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