Members of the GLBT community face unique challenges when it comes to their health care. In addition to having to deal with living in a society that continually marginalizes them and pathologizes their sexual orientation, GLBT people are disproportionately represented when it comes to a variety of serious illnesses—including some cancers, depression, and tobacco-related health problems. Yet many GLBT people avoid or delay going to the doctor for fear of discrimination and inappropriate or inferior treatment they’ve received from health care providers and institutions in the past. Furthermore, these concerns can also make GLBT people reluctant to come out to their providers.
Unfortunately, these fears are not unfounded. Bias and homophobia are alive and well. Before patients—any patient—can be comfortable sharing their most personal information with a new doctor, they need to feel that the office is a safe place, that the practice is knowledgeable about and sensitive to whatever their needs are, and especially that the doctor and the doctor’s staff are not passing judgment on them. Health care providers can take proactive, positive steps to promote the health of their GLBT patients by examining their practices, offices, policies and staff training for ways to make their practices more welcoming to GLBT people.
GLMA Guidelines
