The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) hired a gender-affirming care coordinator last month, a position set to earn between $78,000 and $115,000 annually. The job includes oversight of a program for "managing and monitoring needs and safety risks of transgender, intersex and non-binary adults in custody," according to the listing. The position also chairs a multidisciplinary team focused on their individualized needs.
The role, which comes as the DOC is projected to have a $55 million deficit in 2026, continues gender-related initiatives spearheaded by Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, a longtime champion of the trans community, as she pursues re-election to a second term. It also highlights the logistical difficulties associated with trans prisoners. BIOLOGICAL MALE KILLER HOUSED IN OREGON WOMEN'S PRISON WINS HIGH-DOLLAR LEGAL SETTLEMENT IN SEX ABUSE SUIT After a 2023 review of Oregon’s only women-only prison, the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, Kotek said her administration would look for ways to address what the report called delayed care across its cisgender and trans inmates.
"Transgender residents [are] being denied or delayed access to needed care, including hormone replacement therapy. This creates significant medical and mental health issues for some residents, including gender dysphoria," the report stated. The report included one example of a transgender resident at the Coffee Creek who said her request for continuing her hormone blocker treatment had gone unheeded.
"I had been accessing prescriptions at the county. I did not get it when I got here … I sent several [requests], but they kept bumping me to different places. Now I’ve gotten my period twice.
It’s been terrorizing and humiliating," the resident, a biological woman, said. Kotek promised to address issues raised by the report. "In the wake of national, systemic shortcomings in meeting the needs of women who are incarcerated, I am resolved to confront these issues head-on," Kotek said in a press release.
FORMER TOP OREGON GOP OFFICIAL SECURES NOMINATION FOR GOVERNOR AS REPUBLICANS TARGET BLUE-STATE PICKUP "The GIPA report was sobering to read. It is incumbent on Oregon’s corrections system to ensure that the use of carceral settings yield the best possible public safety outcomes and sets people up for successful re-entry." As a part of the response, her office created the Advisory Panel on Gender Responsive Practices in Corrections. In turn, the panel recommended training staff who make decisions about housing, medical and behavioral care on the needs of transgender, nonbinary and gender diverse inmates.
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