On Wednesday, more than 150 people were expected to attend a transgender care community town hall in Orange County.

Organizers say they planned for it to be a conversation where leaders and the community discuss the push for more rights for transgender youth and adults.

Leaders say they were seeking feedback on immediate needs involving the trans community and how to move forward with funds raised to help them out.

This comes after recent Florida laws severely restricting, and in some cases banning, gender transition care.

Transgender adults can only seek gender-transition care from doctors instead of nurse practitioners now.

Some funds created to help the transgender community navigate these new laws include:

• The Trans Safety Fund put out by Central Florida Mutual Aid, which has, to date, received nearly $3,000 in donations
  
  
• The Central Florida Emergency Trans Care Fund, which has received nearly $30,000 in individual donations and more than $25,000 in organizational donations

The steering committee for the Central Florida Emergency Trans Care Fund organized tonight’s townhall.

It’s a collaboration between Contigo Fund, The Lbgt+ Center Orlando, Bros In Convo, Divas In Dialogue, Peer Support Space, Hope Community Center and Basically Wonderful!

Spectrum News spoke with Emily Beck, a transgender woman who said she was hoping to learn more about resources in Wednesday night's town hall that can help others in the transgender community.

Beck and Lamia Moukaddam say they became friends over their love of gardening at a roundtable meeting nearly two years ago.

Around that same time, Beck worked from home because of the pandemic. With a lot of time for introspection, she says that’s when she first discovered she was trans.

“Something clicked in me and it was very quick, it made so much sense that I knew I had to do something about it,” said Beck.

About one year ago she started seeing a doctor for hormone replacement therapy.

She says it’s taken a lot of emotional work and therapy, and described it as a whirlwind.

“Internally, I know this is right," she said. "Then there’s dealing with society and the nerves and anxieties that come with that. Sometimes it’s very hard just to get up and go to the grocery store.”

One of the first things she did is research, going to the public library to find books, and also watching content to research gender identity and understand gender and social constructs.

“That kind of helped break this internalized transphobia that I had where I was able to not hate myself as much,” Beck said.

Senate Bill 254 prevents nurse practitioners from providing treatments. Beck says it feels like she dodged a bullet because she’s been able to continue treatment since she was already seeing a doctor instead of a nurse practitioner for hormone replacement therapy.

“I did not plan that, I just got lucky,” said Beck. “I think the hardest part was understanding the legislation from the get go — I know it was a very confusing time.”

She says townhalls like Wednesday's are crucial to listen to the LGBTQ+ community.

“I look forward to going and seeing what the conversations will look like,” said Beck.

She says its important for the transgender community to find solid support.