Blog 6/22/22
Pride Month is a time to celebrate and have fun. It is also a time to highlight the health equity gap faced by many LGBTQ+ people. Let’s make Pride Month about expanding our knowledge of why there is a gap, so that we can work together to close it.
Social stigma, discrimination, transphobia, and homophobia make it hard – and often unsafe – for many LGBTQ+ people to get the healthcare they need. Healthcare systems often add to the problem by using medical diagnoses as a way of ‘othering’ instead of caring. Providers must have a high level of cultural competency and humility when serving LGBTQ+ people.
As this chart shows, this history of hostility, abuse, and offensive language and questions widens the LGBTQ+ health equity gap.
Reference: https://www.radixhealth.com/blog/lgbtq-patient-access
Sadly, statehouses across the country are working to widen the LGBTQ+ health equity gap with record numbers of proposed bills that target the healthcare rights of transgender youth and the LGBTQ+ community at large. In this political climate, our mission to serve Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander patients at the intersection of LGBTQ+ identities is more urgent than ever.
Equitas Health has built its legacy on a foundation of LGBTQ+ advocacy and activism. We must keep listening and learning to build on that foundation. Our learning and our work to close the LGBTQ+ health equity gap are year-round efforts. Real change takes real work and more than one month a year to get it done.
We invite you to review the following resource lists, where you can learn more about groups listed below that are working to close the LGBTQ+ health equity gap.
How better to celebrate Pride than learning about or getting involved with their work?
Learning Resources at Equitas Health:
Other Learning Resources:
By Dominique Shepherd (She/Her),
Program Manager of Health Equity
Equitas Health
Blog 10/16/24
Blog 7/29/24
Equitas Health, Ohio’s largest LGBTQ+ and HIV-serving healthcare organization, has announced new officers on the Board of Trustees. Susan McManus (she/her), vice president of business solutions marketing at Nationwide, will serve as Board chair for a one-year term through July 2025.
Blog 3/29/24
Equitas Health is pleased to announce that a collective bargaining agreement has been reached with Equitas Health Workers United Local #6609. Members of the bargaining unit voted this week, and the result was resounding support for ratification of the agreement.
Blog 3/25/24
Blog 3/1/24
Blog 2/27/24
Blog 10/16/24
Public Statement 9/21/24
Our focus remains on integrating our programs to better serve historically neglected communities, always with an understanding of the unique and intersectional needs of the diverse LGBTQ+ population.
Public Statement 8/26/24
Johnson & Johnson, one of the world’s largest drugmakers, announced last Friday that it will discontinue upfront 340B pricing on two medications for disproportionate share hospital (DSH) covered entities. The move is part of a sustained campaign by large drug manufacturers to undermine the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program for participating hospitals and covered entities such as Equitas Health.