Gender-affirming health-care coverage now accessible to KPU students

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Kwantlen Polytechnic University students now have access to gender-affirming health-care coverage through the Kwantlen Student Association’s health and dental plan, provided by Gallivan — a student health and wellness company.  

Gender-affirming care is patient-centred and holistic, aligning people’s physical traits with their gender identity and supporting gender expression. It includes an array of services, ranging from hormone, speech, and mental health therapy to surgeries. 

The initiative to implement coverage for this care into the KSA’s medical and dental plan was spearheaded by 2022-24 queer students representative Destiny Lang, who is also part of the KPU Pride Advocacy Group and a third-year fashion design student at the Wilson School of Design. 

After seeing and receiving mentorship from other post-secondary groups advocating for gender-affirming care coverage, like the University of British Columbia’s Trans Coalition and the Trans Patient Union at McGill University in Montreal, Lang decided to do the same at KPU. 

Lang took a grassroots approach to their advocacy, connecting, working, and gaining feedback from those in their community. This included making a petition on Change.org to gather comments about how gender-affirming care coverage can benefit the KPU community as a whole. 

“Gender-affirming care, it’s really beneficial for the holistic health of trans people for their mental health and also their well-being,” Lang says, adding it’s also part of suicide prevention. 

Lang, alongside Sean Gallivan, client relations specialist at Gallivan, gave a presentation to KSA council in January about adding gender-affirming care to students’ health and dental plan. 

They said adding the care would cost students an extra $9 plus tax per year and cover multiple gender-affirming procedures up to $5,000 per producer to a maximum of $10,000. They also shared how KPU’s 2022 student satisfaction survey found 2SLGBTQIA+ students are more likely to have a mental health condition, but are not proportionately likely to access KPU mental health services. 

Council approved a motion to add gender-affirming care to students’ health and dental plan, which came into effect this semester. KPU is the first post-secondary school in the province to offer gender-affirming care coverage with Gallivan. Lang credits the motion’s success to those who supported and guided them, calling it a “community effort.”

“Advocating for gender-affirming health care is not telling teenagers to cut off their genitals and stuff like that. It was never about that,” Lang says. 

“It’s about trans people feeling more affirmed in their body, because we only get one body, and it’s great to take care of it and shape it into the way that helps us live our most authentic lives.”

Last month, Lang was presented with the “KPU Pride Advocacy Student Award” for their commitment to 2SLGBTQIA+ activism at the university. While Lang is grateful to be recognized, they say they do the work that they do to leave an impact on people and create positive change. 

“[The award] shows that even though the work I do can be challenging [and] can be scary … the work is worth doing,” Lang says. “Being brave has really allowed me to reach my full potential and help the people that need my help.” 

Lang hopes KPU students’ access to gender-affirming care will allow them to have their needs met, and that this initiative will serve as the first foot in the door to increasing coverage. 

Looking towards the future, Lang hopes to help build and inspire the next generation of queer student leaders at KPU.

“I hope that this can foster more sustainable change, leadership, and queer joy,” they say. 

“Taking the chances to do something … can possibly do a lot of good for your community, but also take care of yourself and don’t be afraid to reach out and connect with other folks because you are not alone.”