How Lauren Albrecht Is Fighting for LGBTQ+ Equality in Politics
What does equality look like when you’re fighting for it from the inside?
In this episode, host Danielle Davies talks with Lauren Albrecht, Director of Advocacy and Organizing at Garden State Equality—New Jersey’s leading LGBTQ+ rights organization. Lauren shares how she went from a career in healthcare finance to becoming one of the state’s most trusted and effective advocates for LGBTQ+ equality.
With honesty, humor, and heart, Lauren opens up about
🌈 The personal story that led her to advocacy and organizing
⚖️ The emotional labor behind real policy change
💬 Why representation—especially for bisexual women and trans women of color—still matters
💪 Coalition-building across communities and states
🩺 The ongoing fight for inclusive, equitable healthcare
From pushing for Shield Laws that protect providers and patients to helping everyday people use their voices for change, Lauren proves that advocacy isn’t just about politics—it’s about persistence.
To Learn More
🌐 Garden State Equality: gardenstateequality.org
✊ Volunteer or Get Involved: Volunteer Sign-Up Page
📣 Learn about the fight for Shield Laws and LGBTQ+ rights in NJ
Also Mentioned
New Jersey Democratic State Committee:
New Jersey Democratic State Committee LGBTQ Caucus:
Gay and Trans Panic Defense Bill:
Boys Don’t Cry movie:
Schoolhouse Rock:
Human Rights Campaign:
The Trevor Project:
The Victory Fund:
Plan B:
Allied Coalitions
American Civil Liberties Union:
League of Women Voters:
Planned Parenthood:
Latino Action Network Foundation:
Make the Road:
Immigrant Justice Corps:
League of Conservation Voters:
To get in touch with or follow Lauren
Listen to ROAR with Danielle Davies: Women, Culture & Impact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. New conversations every Tuesday.
Full Transcript
This transcript was generated automatically and lightly cleaned up. It may contain small errors.
Hey, I'm Danielle Davies and you're listening to Roar, a show that amplifies the voices of women breaking barriers, leading change, and making real impact. Keep listening for bold ideas and stories that inspire you to find your voice and make some noise. But there's so much Takeback Trust is a directto patient education and empowerment platform that helps people navigate and access reproductive health care in an increasingly restrictive landscape. Through clear, actionable resources, Takeback Trust equips individuals with the knowledge and tools they need to advocate for their rights and get the care they deserve, no matter the political climate. Hi, I'm Danielle Davies and this is ROAR, the podcast where we talk about the women making change, making noise, and making history.
So, there's fighting for change and then there's making change happen. And today's guest knows how to do both. Lauren Albrecht is the director of advocacy and organizing at Garden State Equality where she spent years working to secure real wins for LGBTQ plus rights, from legislative victories to increasing representation at every level. She's also a woman in advocacy, navigating the challenges of leadership, visibility, and political organizing in a space that hasn't always made room for women. We're going to talk about what it takes to step into this work, what still needs to change, and what real representation looks like when it's done right.
Lauren brings experience, strategy, and a whole lot of insight to this conversation, and I can't wait for you to hear it. So, let's get into it. Welcome, Lauren. Thanks for coming. Good morning, Danielle.
Thanks for having me. I'm very excited to be here. that was a really beautiful and wonderful introduction. so I'm very excited. Well, I'm excited to have you here.
thank you so much. And I, I feel like it's a rainy day. It's a perfect day to like have this deep dive. So, so I'll just start. I'm just jumping right in.
You've spent years advocating for LGBTQ plus rights in New Jersey. What first pulled you into this work? And was there a moment when you knew advocacy was going to be your life's work? So I can I can answer the first part of that very clearly and I will find my way to the second part. so a decade ago a friend of mine I was working in healthcare finance.
He was working in healthcare finance. We live here in Mammoth County. I mean we worked I worked in the hospital system for years and then I worked in a healthcare finance vendor for years. So this is like not my first career. This is like my second career.
and I kind of came to this second career very organically. So we were both working at the hospital and he lives a town over from me and he was like I'm going to run for office in my town which is only one square mile. and I want you to help me. And I was like, I don't really understand why you want me to help you. you know, I have always been obviously a registered Democrat.
I've always been engaged and aware, but not like active, I would say. Right. So, he was like, you know, well, you're organized, you have your finger on the pulse of things, you know, people in the area, you know, come help me out. I want you to be my campaign manager. And I was like, I got to tell you, I have no idea what that means.
So, but you know, we just like jumped into it and like I learned so much about how campaigns work, how politics, like within three months I was like not hooked because I'm still not hooked a decade later. Like I'm not hooked. I'm always looking for a way out in fact because you know I mean the work is so hard and so emotionally fraught but it has hooked me. I am not hooked. but it has hooked me and I can't go anywhere.
So, here we are. so we, you know, we started doing all of the exercises of running for office. You know, he was making connections in the community, holding fundraisers, asking for donations, calling, you know, cold calling, knocking on doors, cutting turf, learning how the program that we use works to knock on doors and log voters. and I was learning alongside him and we did pretty good. Now, at that time, the county party was pouring money and resources into that race because they knew it was a very, close race and that it was a potential to flip the whole council with this one addition.
So, the county Yes. So, the county party was What was he What was he running for exactly? council in Neptune City. Okay. So, now he was running alongside a woman who was already on council in her first term and she was Neptune City's first LGBTQ person elected to office.
and so I started to learn about so we started going to like different affinity groups in the county. Mammoth County is great because it has a caucus system. It has places to connect with minority constituencies. we have a black caucus, we have a women's caucus, we have an LGBTQ caucus. and so I started reaching out to those groups for support for our candidate and started going to LGBTQ caucus meetings and I I personally have always identified as an LGBTQ person, you know, since I was a teenager.
I'm 43 now. but never in an in like a way like to connect with activism. Like it was it was my privilege to be a bisexual woman married to a man in a straight presenting relationship, you know, in a heteronormative looking situation. So, it's always been my privilege to not be involved in advocacy prior to that. You know, it was just like, I could marry a woman, I could marry a man.
but in either case in New Jersey, my rights are protected for that, you know. So, it was your privilege to be able to step back and not be involved. Exactly. Take a step back. Exactly.
So, so I started going to these groups and getting more involved and I started to realize that there was such a lack a serious lack of representation in LGBTQ people in elected office in any of these spaces. You know, when you look at the statistics, if LGBTQ people are 6 to 12% of the population, then it follows that equitable representation would be 6 to 12% of your elected officials are queer. And that is just not the case. by any means, not even close. So, it became sort of like I something I noticed that other people taught me, you know, I like, you know, gosh, it seems like there are really not a lot of LGBT people elected to office, you know, and then I learned from people around me like that is correct, that is true.
Here are the people who have been fighting for this for a long time. you know I started growing a network and then a few months later the woman who had been the chair of the Mammoth Dems's LGBTQ caucus unfortunately passed away. She had been battling cancer for many years. So, Dear Anne and so when Dear Anne passed away, and by the way, I am still close with her wife, Carol. they still she well, Carol just moved out of Mammoth County, but that, you know, like I you know, we were the caucus had no chair, so I was kind of like, well, I understand a parliamentary procedure, so I'll take it on.
you know, and that was kind of just like a a new utility. we needed some direction and somebody needed to grab the reins. Nobody else seemed like they wanted to take that on. I had the time. and so I did.
So I did that for many years. getting more involved in c you know canvasing campaigning, making relationships, building networks, driving platform and policy within the county party, being an LGBTQ voice at the table, getting people registered to vote, getting people involved, asking LGBTQ people to run, raising money for LGBTQ people who are running, did that for a long time and then I was elected in 2017 to New Jersey Democratic State Committee. So I was a committee member representing Mammoth County, one of eight. so I was on the June primary ballot which was cool. First and only time I have ever seen Well, that's not true because I'm on county committee and your name is on the ballot for that too.
So I was on state committee from 2017 to 2021. in 2019 I was appointed to lead the state Dems's LGBTQ caucus under chairman John Curry. so he was my chairman, our chairman for about a year and then when he stepped down and we had a new chairman incoming, chairman Leroy Jones also asked me to stay on in this role. So I've held this role since 2019. It's an appointment.
It's not an election. So, it's a chairs of caucuses serve at the pleasure of the of the head of the party or of the organization. That's just a general rule across the board. So, I'm here as an appointment. and I'm also the municipal chair of the Wall Township Democrats.
And all of this is aside from my professional life now. So once I started, you know, making networks and getting into understanding policy and looking at legislation while in the course of campaigning and raising money and meeting people and understanding legislative process, I started kind of being a little more interested in the policy side instead of the politics side. So the switch happened in like 2018 2019. There had been a bill that was sort of languishing in the state legislature. It was called the gay and trans panic defense bill.
And so I see your face. Do I need to do I need to do a dive in? Okay. Will you explain it for us what that was? Okay.
Yeah. So, previous to the passage of this bill, if in a case of, murder or of bodily harm or injury or, you know, somebody attacks another person, if there was situations in which the person who was charged with this offense could use the excuse that they were mentally distressed because the person that they were. So, for instance, have you ever seen the movie Boys Don't Cry? Yes. Right.
Okay. So, if you say you're at a bar and you meet somebody and you meet a woman and you're you're a cisgender straight man and you meet a woman at the bar and you take her home or whatever and then you find out that she's a trans woman. if you in your in your moment of passion do something to harm her and then later you could blame it on, well, she was dishonest with me or I was in shock. that would be that would be the trans panic or the gay panic or you know, you basically are excused because you're panicked about this. Okay.
Yep. So we made it impossible for that to be used as a defense by this law. But the reason that I am here at Garden State Equality is because like 2018 the bill was not moving. It had been introduced and had been sitting there. It had intro been introduced the session before and didn't go anywhere.
It was reintroduced this session. It wasn't going anywhere. We had two openly gay members of legislature who were leaving the legislature at the end of that year. Assemblyman Reed Guru, who's now the mayor of Trenton, and Assemblyman Tim Eustace, who is now with, I believe, the water, commission department, up in Bergen County. So, they were leaving the legislature.
The bill was not going to move or it they wanted the bill to move, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere. So, I had a conversation with a couple of legislators that I that I just knew, you know, through socially, like I didn't work for them. I didn't work in the legislature, like just people that I knew and had, you know, relationships with, conversations with. And I was like, you know, it would be really a great show of support for the LGBTQ community if we did this. We'd be like the sixth state in the nation to do it.
you know, New Jersey needs to stay on top of being progressive. And I had a conversation with Senator Vingo Pal, who I believe was in his first term at that point in time. And he was like, "Just get me the bill number. " you know, we'll see if we can move it. " So, I sent him the bill number.
The next day, it got put up for a committee hearing. " And I was like, "The f you did. " So maybe, you know, and the way I understand it later is that they didn't they didn't realize that anybody else had been working on it too and they had been working on it, but I just happened to know that the timing was really you know, and that conversation. Right. Right.
" Make the connection. explain why this is really personal to you. instead of like them getting 50 form letters from, you know, tell your legislator, pass the transpanic defense bill. they're both equally valid strategies, but in this particular case, it was definitely the interpersonal advocacy that made the difference. Okay.
" this cuz he was a, you know, a friend casually. " What did he say? " So, I started on while I was still in healthcare finance, I started on as a policy consultant, government affairs, a part-time government affairs agent with Garden State Equality. So, I did that from part-time from 2019 to 2023 working, you know, several hours a week, but certainly not full-time while also doing my full-time job. And then in 2023, a position became a full-time position became open and it was offered to me and so I changed careers.
But you're So this is how you got in. This is how this has all started. But yeah, and but you mentioned at the beginning that you're not really hooked like so when I said was there a moment you knew advocacy when it's going to be your life's work, I should have been like and is it? So it is. It is.
It is. it is but there was not any specific moment that I like made the conscious decision. Right? So what I will say is that when people make the conscious decision to make this their career choice or their path or their life perhaps they have prepared more or they are they have gotten a college degree in it or they have structured their life in such a way. I just kind of kind of followed the path organically due to much trial and error, due to many incredible mentors who have helped me along the way, graciously, free of charge, taxing on their time, but really generous with their guidance and and life lessons.
you know, people who do lobbying for a living, people who are legislators, people who have been legislators, people who do policy for a living. I learn all the time from people who know more than me. Well, and it can't it can't be easy and especially first of all, first of all, given what you do, but also the fact that you are a woman and it's visibility is different for women in leadership roles and we look to people like you as examples of how you know how you can be successful in that. Have you ever felt like being a woman has shaped your experience in this space? So, a couple things about that.
Yes. yes, definitely. there are definitely still times where I feel boxed out by good old boys. Okay. there are definitely times and also what I will tell you has shaped my experience in the LGBTQ space specifically is the experience of being bisexual.
there is within the community there is bi-acer, there is bifphobia. There are those who would say that my leadership is less valid. You know, it's the space of too queer for straight spaces, not queer enough for queer. Okay. Yep.
So, oftent times it does feel like a little bit of a lonely place despite the fact that 60% of the LGBTQ community when they're telling the truth on an anonymous survey will tell you that they personally identify as bisexual. Being visibly bisexual is a weird space to inhabit. It's so interesting because it's like that. I feel like, you know, you and I offline in a separate conversation have said even, you know, within anytime you have I'm gonna make this not about anytime you have a club, you think everybody let's play pretend it's I've been watching Ted Lassos. Let's pretend it's soccer every time or football in the UK.
So, you've got a club and it's the football club and so you think everybody's aligned, right? Everybody's got the same but within that structure there's always going to be these differing comp hierarchies. Yeah. That is such a I feel like unexpectedly crappy thing that happens when you are trying to make change and you're bucking up against this. How have you navigated these things?
you just keep listen you know a large challenge of leadership is like retaining authenticity. and I feel like that's just what, you know, that's the way to do it. Like I retain my authenticity. I continue to remember what principles guide me and why I'm here. And when you have those in your pocket as you're, you know, and like I said again, like this work is hard and there are days where I'm like, I am done here and I'm going to go get a nice little job in back in healthcare finance or, you know.
Yeah. Yeah. but if you keep remembering what you're doing, why you're here, what who is affected by the work you're doing in a positive way and what potential that has, you know, it makes things it keeps things clearer in your sight. I was just going to say that. Can you know when you p when that bill passed when that changed can you tell me about like what the impact was for you what that felt like what that felt like for the LGBTQ community?
I mean I would say for me it felt like a learning experience. That's what it was. It was like the first time that I ever was like, "Wow, this is that thing that we learned about on Schoolhouse Rock or I learned about in civics social studies in high school. this is the legislative process. " Like that was all it was just a learning experience to me.
It wasn't like a point of pride or anything like that. It was just like, "Oh, wow. Okay, this is the first step in a journey that I will do this again. I will need to do this again. There are a lot of bills that need this to be done to it.
and that's kind of where I went with it. and for the LGBTQ community, listen, has that ever it had only been tried in New Jersey or successfully used in New Jersey. I don't know how many times it's been tried. There's no way to or attempted. there's no way I think to get that number, but it had only been like a successful part of a lawsuit once, but it is a benchmark of LGBTQ protections in the state.
It's sort of a report card of the health of LGBTQ protections in the state to have that law passed. So like when HRC or Trevor or Victory, some of these national organizations look at how safe the index is in New Jersey for LGBTQ people, that is one of the metrics that they look at. So that was kind of like a box to tick. Got it. Yeah.
Well, and you know, you're talking about making these changes and these incremental bits of progress and how like the you know, how it how it's like a box to tick in terms of an overall measure of safety for the LGBTQ plus community. Where do you think we're making progress and where do you see that we're still falling short, especially in regards because this podcast is about women, but especially in regards to women. So, are we talking about in New Jersey? Oh, both. I think I'd like to talk about in New Jersey.
Okay. That's what I think that if we talk about the national tone, it's there's too much to talk about. I got and also is beyond the control of anybody in New Jersey. What is happening at the national level right now aside from our Congress members, but again kind of also beyond their control if we have a majority dem Democrat congressional delegation and our two sen senators are Democrats. What's happening in Washington DC is somewhat outside of the reach.
You know, we can say call your congressman, tell them not to vote for this spending bill or not to vote for this health care bill, but at the end of the day, a majority in both houses and the White House is going to do what it's going to do at the federal level. So here in New Jersey, we can talk about what is more in control and in the purview of advocates in New Jersey and the work that I'm doing, the work that we're doing in coalition with many other organizations. Garden State Equality does not exist as a you know while oftentimes being the LGBTQ or an LGBTQ org does feel isolating sometimes. We do not exist in a bubble. We work very closely with other statewide organizations like ACLU, legal women voters, Planned Parenthood, Latino Action Network, Make the Road, Immigrant Justice, Legal Conservation Voters.
we can't do work. It's a lot more effective to do work in coalition. just builds a broader base. So, in New Jersey, we have on paper, right? And there's always a difference between what is law and what is lived equity.
What is a lived experience of people who need to refer to these laws. so there are always things we can do to tighten that up, but we have on paper all of the rights that you know that you could ask for. We have a right to abortion at any at any time for any reason. we have a right to gender affirming care at any time for any reason. We have the ability to get you know over-the-counter what is it called?
48 hour the pill 72-hour pill. it's been a really long time since I needed that. So I don't even remember what it's called. Plan B. so you can get that stuff at any time and it's legally protected in New Jersey.
What we need to do now is make sure that anybody who's getting it or providing it in New Jersey is protected from what happens in other states. And so what we're looking at is passing a package of shield state laws which makes anything that happens in New Jersey like we can't be ex you know a provider can't be extradited to Louisiana. Got it. Like we've just seen right what they're well New York has so New York already has the shield state law in place. Okay.
And so the two challenges that were levied against a provider in New York, one from Texas and one from Louisiana, are not going to be reciprocated. Like the governor is not going to allow the records or the physical transfer of a prisoner or you know somebody to be arrested. so it's about protecting data. It's it's about protecting the sanctity of the patient doctor patient relationship and about protecting the provider who provides these services. Planned Parenthood is one of the largest providers of gender affirming care in the country.
And so we need shield laws that protect both reproductive health and gender affirming care so that our providers who provide these very valuable services here in New Jersey are not subject to the laws of other states. So that's what we're working on right now, passing shield law protections. And how and let me ask you a question. I mean, because now not everybody watching this knows about New Jersey politics, but we have a governor's race now. So, how what does that look like?
You know, what is that? So, we often historically flip, right? We go Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican. And we're in a we're in a whole we're in a whole new era here of unprecedented because never in New Jersey's history before did we ever have a Democratic governor two terms in a row. Okay.
Bill Murphy is the first Democrat to ever be reelected to a second term consecutively. And so we've already broken whatever the pattern was, which used to be Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican, or Democrat, Republican, Republican, Democrat, Republican. So, we've already broken the pattern. So, I don't know that what we had previously seen as like a as a pattern or as a reliable measure of what comes next is applicable here. But regardless, you're you're going to be dealing with a change of leadership.
Is your Sure. is your are you hoping to pass these shield laws on the like is it a fast track? Is there a way you can make that happen sooner rather than later? I am we are we not just me every organization which is like a hundred that have been working on this in all different places the doctors the providers the advocates like us other LGBTQ organizations planned parenthood civil rights organizations that believe who believe that healthcare is a you know basic human right and that's what their work in democracy is so Everybody that's who that's who's been working on this hopes that it will pass before we have a new governor. Got it.
Got it. Okay. So, we're looking at less than a year. Okay. and you know, talking about these different groups and these different coalitions, what do you see as you know, I'm feeling like the fight for LGBTQ plus rights is connected to other issues, right?
So, you've got women's issues, you got health issues, but there's also racial justice. What are some of the biggest overlapping policy fights right now or coalitions? Is it these that you're mentioning? It at Garden State Equality, we root, you know, we have we have adopted mission a mission that roots all of our work in anti-racism and desentering whiteness. And so when we start with the basis of that, we're looking at inequitable systems.
And so anywhere that there is a place that our voice is valuable is a place that is an LGBTQ everything is an LGBTQ issue, right? Everything is an issue of racial justice. Everything is an issue of gender justice. And so we can't do this work without those organizations and and we hope that they understand that they can't do it without us. And we're fortunate that they do.
Do you find that like in coalition building across movements, it's helped her heart to be a woman? It hasn't hurt because you know what, a lot of the other leaders in these organizations are also women. And isn't it interesting too because you know when you talk about elected officials, you were talking about representation and how it's like 6 to 12% of people identify as LGBTQ, but you don't have that in office. And it's like 51% of our population is women, but you certainly don't have 51% of people in the Senate. Like we just don't have adequate representation.
But that's what we're working on. That's what we're working on. So what you do have but what we do have is women doing the work. Yes. you know, always in the sort of like sometimes in the front seat, but oh, definitely always driving the car in the back seat.
in policy spaces, in advocacy spaces, in relationship making spaces, in organizing spaces, you know, I work with a lot of women at the same sort of, you know, I hate to break it down to like a level, but like at the same level as me, in the same, you know, equ, you know, equal position as I am. now based on the mission of what the organization is will also you know it's a lot more likely that at Planned Parenthood the leadership is going to be women. It's a lot more likely that at the League of Women Voters the leadership is going to be women. Right. Right.
So and those are like a lot of people that we work with. But yeah I mean in the coalition building has that been has being a woman you know affected that? No. I mean, I think it's just made the experience more authentic. when you have more skin in the game, when you have when it's actually your rights, you know, perhaps it makes things it changes the tone of how you do your work.
Definitely. I I could not agree more. and tell me how can other women, whether they're LGBTQ plus or their allies or they're committed to a different area of interest and passion and impact, how can they show up more powerfully in the fight for equality for all because that's that's all of these things are about equality. So, I think one thing I always say that I think is like such a great way to do that is to support women and LGBTQ people who are running for office, right? You might not be the one, you know, it's silly to say like, "Well, then what are you doing?
" Because like that's not for that's not for me. I'm not going to run. I mean, but you're doing the work. So, I think that, you know, if you want if you want to know that what you're doing is making a difference, you need to support those people who are putting themselves out there and putting their face on it because that's really hard work. And I have seen some, you know, some terrible things happen to people who are, you know, candidates, slander, you lay your whole life out there on the line, right, for people to dissect for you.
and politics is a weird and difficult and sometimes dirty space. So, women who are running for office really need people to be behind them telling them you this is why you're doing this. You're doing this because we need you to do this. " I think that's I'm not opposed to the drop off of a chicken pot pie either. I know.
I had a friend who like when I was running I met her for coffee one time. There was like a coffee meet up and at that meet up she's like come to my car and she gave me a chicken pot pie and I was like my god you just fed my family like thank you so much because those little things are not little when you're when you're enduring when you're when you're basically fighting for your life out there. Yeah. Yeah. Those are huge impactful things.
So I love that's what you said. is there another thing people can do besides supporting these women who are who are stepping into this space? Are there things they can join? Are there What are your thoughts on protest or even Corey Booker the other day speaking for 25 hours like Yes. org.
sign up to volunteer, sign up to be put into our volunteer orientation program. We have a new program launching. we have tons of different ways to join us in different things. Couple weeks ago, we took we took couple hundred people to Trenton for lobby day and we taught our captains, our lobby day captains, how to lobby, how to talk to legislators, where to find legislators, what happens in a committee, how to testify at committee hearing. so we do have these programs available.
You can do that. You can always sign up to march with us or table with us if you just want to kind of get a feel for what the organization looks like and meet some of us and hang out and learn more. it doesn't have to be like quite so formalized. and then there's other things always things you can do. Data input, envelope stuffing.
a bunch of different ways to get involved. But I would just say that like it's like pay attention. everybody says they want to get involved, right? But you can't like you can't do advocacy for somebody else. So like if somebody comes to me and says like, "Ah, you know, I know I've been really bad.
I, you know, I haven't been involved. " Well, then you do need to pay attention. You do need to think about what issues impact you and what's important to you and seek it out. other people can't do that for you. I can tell you to go to our website and sign up, but you really got to do that if you're committed to it.
you know the difference between wanting to do it and doing it are worlds apart and they really are. But I think for a lot of people it's also not knowing that there are like a million different things you can do before you're just interested and want to be involved to run for office. It's not just either or. There are like a thousand ways you can contribute to your community, to your world, to making your state better that aren't just like you said, go run for office because that's not for everybody. And Nope.
It might not be for anybody. Who knows? No. Now, you can also go you can go and look and see if you're all your seats on county committee are filled, right? If you want to get involved with your local Democratic party, you can get in touch with leadership and say, "Do you have any available seats in my district?
I'd like to start the process of learning how a county committee operates and how we can add to the greater mission of democracy or electing Democrats in this area. I live in Wall Township. It's tough here, but I do have most of my seats on county committee filled. I do have a robust network here. " but we are here.
We are doing things. We can add to the greater mission and the greater the greater voice. Absolutely. And last question for you, unless I forgot anything, which you're going to have to tell me. if you could snap your fingers, this is like an idealistic one, and instantly fix one issue affecting LGBTQ plus women today, what would it be?
And this could be anything because, you know, it's a snap your fingers moment, like a genie in the bottle. It doesn't have to be totally realistic. Oh, it would be it would be removing all barriers to care for trans women of color. Wow. That's Yeah, it would be it would be the solving of the problem of access of provider literacy which is still a thing.
it health care costs so you know universal Medicaid that covers everything or Medicare that covers everything with no denials. So we it would be a situation or a solution in which trans women were not seeking did not come up against so many barriers to get the health care that they medically ne necessarily need. That's what it would be. Oh god. or is that just like two?
No. so I mean you know in multiple ways. So provider literacy is definitely a problem. You know there are tons of providers who are general medical pro practitioners or even endocrinologists or gynecologists who are not literate in caring for the trans population. I would I would wager that my personal gynecologist, she's great, but I don't think she would know how to handle u a transgender person.
Gotcha. I She's great, but she's a little older. She's, you know, the clientele in the office is definitely not I don't think I've ever, you know, seen transgender people there. So, tr so p you know, provider literacy is one thing. Cost of medications is another thing.
health insurance is another thing. Who is who is able to get what they need when they need it? And why are they denied for it? I mean, I have lots of friends who are on hormone medication or other therapy medications for their medical needs and are they get denied all the time. like every time their provider puts in a script, you know, their health insurance will deny it and then the doctor has to argue it as medically necessary.
So where does that leave us? What is the fix for that? I don't know. There's like 5,000 different answers to that. Gotcha.
So you put your work cut out for you. Fortunately, I don't do it alone. And I really appreciate I don't know why there's an echo now, so it's throwing me off, but I really appreciate like the work that you do. is there anything that I didn't ask that you wanted to go over? I know like you said nationwide this is a particularly like it's a whole different conversation.
and I feel like you brought that up a little bit when you talked about the shield laws, but do you have any advice for people in the in these spaces in the LGBT plus communities for the next three and a half, four years of what we hope will be the end of this administration. First of all, if we want it to only be three and a half years, everybody needs to get out of their apathetic phase. a lot, you know, people keep saying that New Jersey almost flipped was red last time, you know, o overly voted for Trump. What happened was a lot of people who voted for Biden in 2020 stayed home in 24. And so, we need to get past that.
It's not that there's more, you know, it's not that there's an overwhelming mandate for Republicans or Trump in New Jersey. What happened is a lot of people who voted for Biden in 2020 stayed home this time. We need to get we need to get over that. we simply can't have that anymore. We're at a do or die point and again like our transgender population really needs people to pay attention.
That's like the perfect sendoff. Lauren, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. It was so nice talking to you and getting to see your plants and your artwork in the background was like an extra treat. So anyway, thank you so much.
I really you were awesome. I'll keep you posted on when this is coming out. Awesome, Danielle. Thanks so much. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Roar.
If Lauren's story lit a fire under you, you're not alone. She's the kind of advocate who reminds us that real change takes courage, community, and a hell of a lot of persistence. And mark your calendars. Our next guest is none other than Katherine Center, New York Times best-selling author of feel-good fiction. We're diving into why joy is not frivolous, how stories can be acts of resistance, and why women's emotional lives deserve center stage.
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