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:
- The Gender Affirming Care Department
- The Equitas Health Institute
- The Office Of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Other Learning Resources:
- GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality
- The Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
- Lambda Legal
- Modern Military Association of America (MMAA) (LGBTQ+ military and veteran families worldwide)
- National Center for Transgender Equality
- PFLAG: Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
- The Trevor Project
- University of California San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center
- World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
- Center of Excellence: LGBTQ+ Behavioral Health Equity
By Dominique Shepherd (she/her/hers),
Program Manager of Health Equity
Equitas Health