Dallas Ducar on the Future of Transgender Health Care

Dallas Ducar on the Future of Transgender Health Care

Author: Rick Koonce May 15, 2026 Duration: 40:05

In this compelling episode of Profiles in LGBTQ+ Courage, Rick Koonce speaks with Dallas Ducar, a nationally recognized leader in transgender health care, nurse practitioner, and executive at Fenway Health. Dallas offers a thoughtful and deeply informed look at the growing legal and political threats to gender-affirming care and explains what is truly at stake for transgender individuals and their families.


Drawing from both clinical and policy experience, Dallas separates fact from misinformation and highlights why affirming care is simply compassionate, evidence-based health care. He discusses the emotional toll of discrimination, the importance of parental support, and how providers and communities can help protect access to lifesaving treatment.


This conversation is both educational and inspiring, reminding listeners that behind every policy debate are real people whose health and dignity matter.


In this episode:

  • Why gender-affirming care is evidence-based and lifesaving
  • How anti-trans legislation is spreading across the United States
  • What parents can do when a child questions their gender identity
  • Why affirming care is simply good health care
  • How communities can build coalitions to protect equal rights


More on Dallas Ducar:

Dallas Ducar is one of the nation's leading voices in transgender healthcare - at a moment when medical access, policies, and patient care of transgender people are all under significant threats from the Trump Administration.


As Executive Vice president of Donor Engagement and External Relations for Fenway Health in Massachusetts, and as a nurse practitioner, Dallas has been on the forefront of building inclusive, community-centered models of care for transgender and gender-diverse people for many years.


For more information, visit the PFLAG Cape Cod website: https://www.pflagcapecod.org/podcasts.html


© 2020 - 2026 PFLAG Cape Cod


Hosted by Rick Koonce, Profiles in LGBTQ+ Courage: Real Stories of Identity & Acceptance is built around intimate, unscripted conversations that go beyond headlines. This podcast lives in the personal moments-the difficult family dinner, the quiet realization, the supportive friend’s first question. You’ll hear directly from LGBTQ+ individuals, their parents, siblings, and allies, sharing narratives that are less about grand declarations and more about the daily, nuanced journey toward living authentically. The stories encompass coming out, gender transition, and the complex, ongoing search for belonging, offering a raw and moving look at what courage actually sounds like in real time. Produced by Huntington Northstar Productions in partnership with PFLAG Cape Cod, each episode functions as a personal audio journal, focusing on a single portrait where vulnerability and strength are inseparable. Listening feels like being invited into a deeply meaningful, private conversation that highlights our shared humanity. The collective result is a powerful and necessary tapestry of voices that celebrates resilience while honestly examining the challenges within families and communities. Tune in for a series that connects through specificity, where every story adds a vital thread to the broader fabric of human experience.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Profiles in LGBTQ+ Courage: Real Stories of Identity & Acceptance
Podcast Episodes
David Bermudez: Letter from President Barack Obama | Ep #18 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:23
David Bermudez's work on behalf of gay rights has continued since the days of the Stonewall uprising. Listen, as he tells PFLAG Cape Cod's Rick Koonce, about the letter he received in the mail one day, acknowledging his…
Interview with David Bermudez | Ep #17 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:58
In the history of the gay rights movement, there are few moments as pivotal as the Stonewall uprising – a night in June 1969, when, confronted by a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, members of the gay an…
Interview with Ryan R. | Ep #16 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:02
Ryan R. is a 24-year-old non-binary lesbian. In Ryan's case, that means that though they are lesbian and like to date women, they don't identify with being a girl, a woman, or, with the attributes of traditional feminini…
Interview with Nell Fields | Ep #15 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:13
Nell Fields is a born-again Christian, social justice advocate, and a happily married lesbian who's been with her wife Sarah, a lawyer, for over 20 years. She's also the minister of Waquoit Congregational church in East…
Interview with Deer Sullivan | Ep #14 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:56
Bisexuality... Even among members of the LGBTQ+ community it's a concept and reality that often is not fully understood – or appreciated. As a result, bisexuals sometimes feel marginalized and rejected, even among people…
Interview with Dr. Maureen Osborne | Ep #13 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:59
Dr. Maureen Osborne is a psychologist and gender therapist who has spent over two decades serving the needs of transgender clients. In this fascinating interview with PFLAG Cape Cod's Rick Koonce, Maureen talks, in depth…
Interview with Ali Sands | Ep #12 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:20
Ali Sands is an author and professional speaker who writes and speaks frequently on the topics of love, relationships, intimacy, and gender expression and identity. They're topics she knows a lot about. Married for 23 ye…
Interview with Dirk Correia | Ep #11 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:26
Dirk Correia is a twenty-something transgender male who identifies as nonbinary -- meaning that they don't identify with being either entirely male or female, as society typically understands those terms. As Dirk explain…
Lori Duron | Ep #10 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:54
She calls herself "a fierce Mama bear" when it comes to safeguarding the rights and safety of her two boys. So says Lori Duron, author of Raising My Rainbow, a book that chronicles her family's adventures raising a gende…