Nonbinary people in Ireland: left out of gender affirming policy and healthcare service provision for the transgender community

In Ireland, there are a number of gender affirming services provided to support transgender people. These services such as the policy available to change one's name or gender, and healthcare such as accessing HRT or surgery are limited for transgender people, and close to non-existent for nonbinary people. The aim of this research is to examine the gender affirming policy and healthcare in Ireland and how it fails to be inclusive of the nonbinary community. This project took an interpretive approach to carry out qualitative research in two parts, semi-structured interviews conducted with service providers in the area, and anonymous testimonials from nonbinary individuals. They were asked about current gender affirming policy, current gender affirming healthcare, and what those services are lacking/ what needs to be improved. There were a number of themes highlighted by participants, the main themes being ‘Gender Labels’, ‘Healthcare Inaccessibility’, and ‘Education’. These themes were discussed both in the literature review and findings chapter. Ireland is lucky to have the gender affirming services it has, but improvements need to be made so that nonbinary people are included