Double whammy
Members of the LGBTQ+ community are hit with a double whammy when it comes to taking care of their physical and mental well-being.
First, they experience microaggressions in their day-to-day life, making them disproportionately vulnerable to a variety of ailments, including anxiety, depression, and hypertension (What We Know Project, 2019).
Second, they often encounter prejudice and discrimination from health care providers--making going to the doctor a harrowing and even harmful experience, reducing the level of care they receive, and increasing the odds that they will avoid seeking care in the future.
This vicious cycle is compounded for LGBTQ+ persons of color, who are even more vulnerable to the cumulative effects of discrimination.
Jacob Gammon, a Black gay man, recounts his experience of being denied care at a clinic in Idaho once staff learned he was gay. "I felt so discouraged," he said. "I didn't have people I could talk to about this. [People] don't understand that some of these things can keep you from life-saving attention that you need, like medical care, dental care" (Rummler and Mithani, 2022).
Research shows that Gammon's experience is far from unique, with more than 28% of LGBTQ+ Americans surveyed in a recent poll reporting that they felt their health care provider was biased/stereotyped them, as compared to 12% of non-LGBTQ+ Americans (Rummler and Mithani, 2022).
Featured Content
Explore the results of a recent poll conducted by 19th News to learn more about the medical discrimination experienced by members of the LGBTQ+ community.
'I felt judged': LGBTQ+ Americans report significantly more medical discrimination
Learn about the research demonstrating the health impacts of discrimination on the LGBTQ+ population.
What does the scholarly research say about the effects of discrimination on the health of LGBT people?
References:
Rummler, Orion and Jasmine Mithani (2022, September 15). 'I felt judged': LGBTQ+ Americans report significantly more medical discrimination. The 19th. https://19thnews.org/2022/09/poll-healthcare-lgbtq-medical-discrimination/
Sabin, J.A., Riskind, R.G., & Nosek, B.A. (2015, September). Health Care Providers’ Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Lesbian Women and Gay Men. American Journal of Public Health. 105(9): 1831–1841. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4539817/
What We Know Project, Cornell University, “What Does the Scholarly Research Say about the Effects of Discrimination on the Health of LGBT People” (online literature review), 2019. https://whatweknow.inequality.cornell.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-scholarly-research-say-abou...
Dee
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Gender Identity
Our core sense of who we are as a man, a woman, a mixture of both, or neither.
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How we show up in the world through choices like clothing, hair style, mannerisms or tone of voice.
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Dig deep into the research regarding health care providers' bias (implicit and explicit) toward members of the LGBTQ+ community.