An uncaring healthcare for LGBT patients

One of the most serious healthcare problems in the United States today is healthcare disparities. While most people tend to think about healthcare disparities in terms of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, there also exists healthcare disparities between the LGBT community and their heterosexual counterparts. LGBT populations suffer from lower access to quality medical care and therefore worse health.

While reading David Sadaris’s stories about the adolescent struggles that he faced due to his homosexuality, I wondered about the long-lasting impacts that these struggles may have had on his physical and psychological health. After doing several searches on the internet, I found that LGBT populations do suffer from worse psychological health. They have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. This may not be surprising when considering the stigmatization that they face in society. Stress has long been known to be a huge contributing factor to many psychological health issues, and LGBT populations may face more stress due to stigmatization for their sexuality or gender identity. LGBT populations also have high rates of alcohol and drug abuse for various reasons such as coping mechanisms. One of the stories in Gender Outlaws that my English class read this past week was about the conflicts between race/ethnicity and perceived gender identity. In addition to the conflicts mentioned in that story, LGBT populations of color face even worse health outcomes than Caucasian LGBT populations.

While the previous knowledge was not new to me, there were three studies/issues that were surprising and worrisome. One statistic was that 40% of homeless youth identified as LGBT. When questioned, a majority of them revealed they had become homeless after suffering abuse at home with families who were against their sexual orientation. A second surprising fact is that elderly LGBT populations face more stress among their peers than younger LGBT populations. This is because elderly populations are less likely to be accepting of LGBT groups. These two studies/statistics were surprising to me because I had never before heard or thought about the associations between homelessness and sexual orientation or elderly age and exacerbated discrimination. It seems that there has been little focus or visibility on these two issues within society. A third issue is that domestic violence is under-looked in LGBT couples. It may be especially difficult for LGBT individuals who are still “in the closet” to seek help from authorities, friends, family, or social services for fear of stigmatization.

What can be done to correct these issues? From what I have observed, not enough has been done. In my elementary, middle, and high schools, LGBT issues were never addressed by faculty. There should be more active measures to address bullying against LGBT youth and more support services for LGBT youth in schools. A quick search of LGBT support services in the north Texas region reveal that there are some services, but they are scarce and definitely not enough. There also needs to be more culturally competent medical professions who will not treat LGBT populations with insensitivity and judgment. Fortunately, there has been an increasing shift in the medical field towards greater focus on correcting LGBT health disparities. There are innumerous actions that can be taken to help LGBT populations achieve healthier and happier lives. They need to be implemented.