Rose Ottawa, through its Gender Affirming Gear Program, is giving away free gender-affirming gear and clothing that includes gaffs, binders, packers and makeup.
To access the program you must be 16 years or older and you can apply through this link.
If you are younger than 16 you will need to seek parental permission to apply to this program and proof will be required. If you cannot get permission due to safety concerns, contact [email protected].
“The Gender Affirming Gear Program is funded through the courteous sponsorship of MAX Ottawa, an organization providing guys-into-guys and other 2SLGBTQIA+ community members in the Ottawa community offering support, health, and education services. Each individual request is allotted $50, which can usually provide 1 to 3 items depending on what is being requested.
A ROSE, we consider gender affirming gear to be anything that helps affirm one’s gender identity by contributing to one’s gender presentation.
Traditionally this means things like binders, gaffs, STPs, and breast forms, amongst others. Our definition is more holistic, and also includes things such as beard stains, makeup, and standard affirming clothing.
We believe that affirming gear also serves as harm reduction. Trans, non-binary, and gender diverse youth are at significant risk for mental health complications including the risk of suicide.
Affirming gear can help reduce dysphoria and is invaluable at helping reduce dysphoria-related stress,” read a statement from ROSE Ottawa.
A Stand To Pee (STP) is a device that enables the user to pee whilst standing in public washrooms or in the privacy of their own home. Some people find that being able to use public urinals without detection (passing) is integral to their identity or safety, and some just like the convenience of easily being able to urinate while standing.
Gaff is underwear designed specifically for tucking. Tucking is the practice of arranging and supporting external genitals between the legs via clothing like gaffs. Some women, transfeminine persons and femme-of-centre choose to wear a gaff underneath their day-to-day clothing in order to smooth out the appearance of their pelvic area. There are other ways to tuck, such as using sports tape to tape the genitals in place.
A chest binder is a garment designed to compress one’s chest and is also sometimes called a compression vest. People most often wear their binder underneath their everyday clothes, while some people may wear their binder as a shirt in and of itself. People bind for many reasons, binding can be part of one’s gender transition, gender play, or as part of post-top surgery recovery.
Compression shorts, sometimes also referred to as binding shorts or binding briefs, are a style of shorts that a person wears underneath their everyday clothes, in order to provide compression for the lower part of the body. They help to smooth out the lines of hips and bums. People often wear binding shorts as part of their gender transition, gender expression, or gender play.
