Ocean D. Waves testifies as homeless trans man about hormones and access
Ocean D. Waves, a 20-year-old Afro-Latino transgender man, describes homelessness and daily testosterone as essential care. He describes biochemical dysphoria and says Intro 949 would expand access to gender-affirming, dental, primary, reproductive, and mental health care; supports all three measures.
Hi, my name is Ocean D.
Waves.
I'm 20 years old.
My pronouns are he, him.
Fascism depends on complicity and violence, both physical and non-physical.
Three private hospitals, Mount Sinai, NYU Langone, and NY Presbyterian have halted or restricted gender-affirming care for trans youth.
This should provoke rage across communities.
One of fascism's central tools is desensitization to the heinous.
To view something so beautifully complex and so deeply human as being transgender as though if it were a crime is inhumane.
A person's right to exist should not be dictated by anyone but themselves.
I am an Afro-Latino transgender man, and I am homeless.
When I wake up every morning, right after I get out of the shower, my routine is the same.
I put my tea gel on each shoulder.
That's how I start my day.
This is not optional or abstract.
It is how I care for myself, how I move through the world, how I be myself.
My hormones make the challenges of being homeless so much easier.
I go out into the world with a clearer mind than I ever had, a confidence that flows wherever I stand, and a self-love that I wouldn't have otherwise known.
A beautifully complex journey of understanding my gender, breaking boxes is what it means to be transgender.
Prior to hormones, I was not present in my body, no matter how much I forced myself to live with myself.
My subconscious always knew that hormones were what I needed.
Biochemical dysphoria is not something known to many.
Biochemical dysphoria is caused by not having the right hormones in your body.
I had biochemical dysphoria and I was miserable beyond belief.
It has been proven time and time again that gender-affirming care is the solution, that gender-affirming care keeps us alive.
Gender-affirming care lets us experience life like our cisgender counterparts.
Intro 949 will address these challenges and it will benefit me, my community, and my loved ones by providing them equal opportunity and access to medical care.
Examples of this include gender-affirming care, dental care, primary health care, reproductive care, mental health care, and beyond.
To deny gender-affirming care is to deny science.
It's complacency and genocide.
We are trans youth, elders, and adults, all who just want to go outside and freely be themselves.
No one should be denied the right to be free.
We support INT 0949-2026 Showman to create a resource map related to the unique health care needs of LGBTQI individuals, including the information regarding access to LGBTQI health.
services and obtaining and providing a gender-affirming care.
We support RES 0208-2026, mandating all medical students in New York State receive anti-bias training.
We support RES 0547-2026 to establish gender-affirming care program in the Department of Health to assure gender-affirming care services in the state.
We thank the Committee on Women and Gender Equity, the Committee on Hospitals, and the Committee on Mental Health and Substance Use for the opportunity they have given me to be able to use my voice to help my community.
We appreciate your continued support and contributions in regards to the protection of TGNC and B New Yorkers.
Trans folks will know the community has their back.
We are only as strong as our community makes us.
I'm going to make a year on T in two days.
This has been the best year of my entire life.
The ability to be unapologetically human is a human right.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Whenever you're ready.