Improving healthcare for 2SLGBTQIA+ people in BC

28 August 2025

A screenshot from a zine, with a comic-like illustration that shows a person's mental health before and after gender-affirming surgery. On the left, the person is in black-and-white and looks sad, with their head down and a hoodie pulled over them. On the right, the picture is coloured in and the person looks happy and confident, with a P on their shirt and their hands on their hips.

An illustration on mental health from a zine that researcher Dr. Leo Rutherford and his team created about experiences preparing for gender-affirming surgery.

Researchers in BC are looking at how to improve healthcare experiences for 2SLGTBQIA+ people with initiatives by and for community members.

In Victoria, BC’s first ever 2SLGBTQIA+ Liaison Nurse was hired in 2023 to support patients and healthcare providers directly, filling gaps to make sure queer and trans people get good quality care.

Whether through a lack of provider education or the pressures on understaffed clinics, it can be too easy for 2SLGBTQIA+ people to feel isolated by the healthcare system. The role could include connecting someone to appropriate mental health supports, or other times, it means consulting with a doctor on how a new medication could interact with a trans person’s hormone therapy.

“Sometimes that expertise just isn’t there in the care team,” says University of Victoria (UVic) researcher Dr. Allie Slemon.

Allie and co-leads Dr. Ingrid Handlovsky and Dr. Chandra Berkan Hozempa are looking at how to replicate the liaison nurse position across the province because the first one has been so successful at improving patient experiences. They have brought people together from health authorities and organizations to share the liaison nurse position’s impact and explore how it could be implemented elsewhere to promote health equity.

The team has completed a job description formalizing that only a 2SLGBTQIA+ community member should hold the position. This milestone will make it easier for other health authorities to hire their own liaison nurse.

“To our knowledge, this is the first job description to include lived experience as a criteria for being in this role,” Allie says. “Which I think is really important and really needed.”

Profile photo of Allie Slemon smiling against a white background.

Dr. Allie Slemon

Health Research BC supported Dr. Allie Slemon and co-lead Dr. Chandra Berkan Hozempa with a 2024 C2 award. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research supported Allie and co-investigators Dr. Ingrid Handlovsky and Dr. Nathan Lachowsky with a 2025 Project Grant.

Allie’s team has already seen interest in the position. Two healthcare providers are working with the team to explore hiring 2SLGBTQIA+ liaison nurses of their own.

As more liaison nurses are hired, Allie’s team will evaluate their impact.

In June, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research awarded Allie’s team an additional five-year project grant to examine the effectiveness of the liaison nurse role. Their insights will be used to add more 2SLGBTQIA+ liaison nurses across Canada.

“I’m still stunned to see these grassroots movements take off, even within large health systems,” Allie says. “Nursing sometimes feels like we’re in a tough position and we’re under-resourced. But this is a reminder that these great ideas can flourish and really improve patient care.”

Trans Healthcare Research Co-Lab finds solutions by and for trans people

Dr. Leo Rutherford, a UVic researcher, focuses on transgender and nonbinary people’s healthcare experiences through the Trans Healthcare Research Co-Lab. It is a virtual space where he focuses on actively involving community members in research project design.

Right now, Leo’s team is looking at how people prepare for gender-affirming surgery. The aim is to find the most useful supports to envision what the ideal patient preparation program would look like.

“There are lots of things to consider when people are making decisions about what’s right for their bodies,” he says. “We’re really hoping to understand how people ultimately make the decisions they do.”

There is no province or country-wide standard to prepare trans and nonbinary people for gender-affirming care. Often, a person’s experience depends on what clinic they go to or a specific doctor’s knowledge.

At the Trans Research Co-Lab, people who will be impacted by a research study’s outcomes are the ones who design questions and studies.

Headshot photo of Leo Rutherford.

Dr. Leo Rutherford

Health Research BC supports Dr. Leo Rutherford through 2023 Match Funding alongside his Strategy for Patient Oriented Research Transition to Leadership Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

“I like having a team that involves people with lived experience. It signals to people that we’re on their side.”

Using patient-oriented research to centre community voices helps ensure research is more meaningful and useful to those involved.

“I think patient-oriented research, the work we do, really has this underlying goal of helping trans people gain access to information that helps our community in some way. And I think Pride ultimately is about recognizing that. We deserve to be respected.”

Dr. Allie Slemon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria’s School of Nursing. She is a Registered Nurse with experience in in patient mental health. She is also the co-founder of the AdJust Research Collective, which addresses inequities and advocates for justice.

Dr. Leo Rutherford is a trans activist and scholar. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria and a Research Scientist at the Community-Based Research Centre. He is also Co-Chair of the Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy for Transgender Equity (CREATE) Society.