whether they have had gender affirmation surgery or not is irrele-
vant. If they are about to undergo abdominal surgery on the other
hand, and they will need to be catheterized, it's appropriate.
12. Treat bodies, not identities. Every person with a cervix
requires a Pap smear and everyone with a prostate is susceptible
to prostate cancer, no matter their gender.
13. Always be on the lookout for ways to make LGBTQIA2S+
patients more comfortable. For instance, some hospitals do hys-
terectomies in maternity ORs. For trans men or nonbinary indi-
viduals, they should consider doing them in the main OR, so that
the patient is not the only man or nonbinary person in the PACU.
14. Avoid asking LGBTQIA2S+ patients about their identities. You
wouldn't ask your cisgender heterosexual patients about what it's
like to be cisgender and heterosexual. When I went in for knee
surgery, my partner accompanied me. After he left, the provider
said "Oh my god, I never would have guessed he was trans. How
long has he been on testosterone?" He likely meant no harm, but
it was completely inappropriate.
15. Avoid tokenizing your LGBTQIA2S+ colleagues. They are
there to do their jobs. They are not there to help you with your
own LGBTQIA2S+ patients. They are not there to help you process
what you did wrong in your last encounter with a trans patient.
16. If you are cisgender, recognize the fact of cisgender privi-
lege and acknowledge its unfairness. No one stares at you when
you go to a public bathroom or a gym locker room. You can flirt
with someone without worrying that your sex assigned at birth
might cause rejection later. If you get married to a person of the
opposite sex, you can legally change your entire name for free
whereas it costs trans people $200 to $300. If you are a cisgender
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