Health Disparities for LGBTQ+

In comparison with their cisgender or straight counterparts, people who are LGBTQ+ (or sexually or gender diverse) experience a greater level of disparities when it comes to health care.

Quick Facts

  • People who are LGBTQ+ experience higher rates of mental health problems including depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicidality.
  • Lesbian and bisexual women are more likely to be overweight or obese
  • Gay and bisexual men are more likely to contract HIV, viral hepatitis, and other STIs
  • Trans people are more likely to self-harm or commit suicide
  • Black and Latina Trans Women, who also are sex workers, are at a greater risk of incarceration, STIs, substance abuse, and violence
  • Trans men and people who are gender nonbinary are do not receive the same sexual and reproductive health needs that cis-gendered women receive (Medina-Martínez et al., 2021)
  • Transgender People are more likely to be overweight, experience depression, and forgo treatment for health problems compared to Cisgender People (Streed et al., 2017).

Note

Particularly during Assessment, avoid assuming a client’s gender identity. Some medicines are contraindicated for clients who may be seeking to conceive a child. Your informed consent process should mention this to clients who may have uterus, regardless of their gender identity.

Key Areas of Health Disparities

In the following section, we'll learn about some of the health disparities for people who are LGBTQ+.

Video: Hate Crimes Targeting Transgender Community on the Rise

5:30

Globally, people who are transgender and gender non-conforming are frequently targets of violent crime, sometimes resulting in death. In this video, we’ll hear from the families of those who have been lost because of this violence. The video also highlights how trans and gender non-conforming people of colour are at an even greater risk for violence.

Learn More

The Human Rights Campaign produced a detailed report entitled Dismantling a Culture of Violence where you can learn more about violence against Transgender and Non-Binary People and how you can work to make a difference.

Video: HIV Survivors Reflect on 40 Years of AIDS Epidemic

7:44

The HIV/AIDS epidemic impacted thousands of people globally. This virus affected men who have sex with men (MSM) and black, indigenous, and peoples of colour on a disproportionate level. In this video, we’ll learn about some of the experiences of survivors.

Video: Former KPIX 5 Reporter Hank Plante Compares Response to Monkeypox to Early Days of AIDS Epidemic

2:24

The HIV/AIDS epidemic, including the government’s response time and the stigma associated, is often discussed as an event in the past. People living with HIV still experience much stigma which may also show up when working with clients. More recently, an existing mutation of the mpox virus seemed to be primarily contracted sexually by MSM around the world beginning in 2022. The LGBTQ+ community has criticized the government for their slow response, given the fact that a vaccine was already available at the time mpox numbers started to rise (Christensen, 2022). Let’s learn about how the government responded to mpox.

Learn More

In this opinion article from the NY Times, Dr. Park, a doctor of family medicine, and prominent LGBTQ author Dan Savage argue how gay men led the response to mpox – a role that public health had failed in. Some key excerpts from the article:

  • “While the outbreak ended faster than many believed it would, it was far worse than it needed to be, representing both a public health triumph and a public health failure. Both health officials and the media failed to expeditiously warn and engage the gay community in the outbreak’s crucial first weeks.”
  • “Gay men with mpox were turned away from urgent care clinics and emergency rooms. Phlebotomists refused to draw their blood.”
  • “It took nearly two months into the outbreak for testing to become widely available.”
  • “While health officials and journalists hesitated, gay and bisexual men sprang into action. Young men with lesions covering their faces took to social and mainstream media, telling the public that they were dealing with 'the worst pain I’ve experienced in my life'.”
  • “One key difference between H.I.V./AIDS and mpox: Many of the messengers were gay and bisexual men themselves, including gay journalists, doctors and average citizens with access to social media, plus a generation of gay men who had been inspired to pursue public health careers in the wake of AIDS.”

Video: What Trans People Want Healthcare Professionals to Know

19:13

Dr. Patel and RN Sheena Williams chat with trans content creator Jackson Bird about what health professionals should know when working with Trans People as well as opportunities for improvements to better support trans people.

Did You Know?

Phelan et al (2017) investigated changes in implicit and explicit bias against people who are lesbian and gay in medical students. 94.5% of students identified as heterosexual. They found more frequent contact with LGBT faculty, students, patients, and others was associated with a lower implicit sexual orientation bias. This could underscore the need for those to continuously work to learn and hear the experiences of marginalized communities in order to attempt to reduce any type of bias (conscious or unconscious) that you may have.

References

Christensen, J. (2022). ‘We need vaccines, and we need them yesterday’: Frustration builds in LGBTQ community over government response to monkeypox. CNN.

Medina-Martínez, J., Saus-Ortega, C., Sánchez-Lorente, M. M., Sosa-Palanca, E. M., García-Martínez, P., & Mármol-López, M. I. (2021). Health Inequities in LGBT People and Nursing Interventions to Reduce Them: A Systematic Review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(22), 11801.

Moseson, H., Zazanis, N., Goldberg, E., Fix, L., Durden, M., Stoeffler, A., Hastings, J., Cudlitz, L., Lesser-Lee, B., Letcher, L., Reyes, A., & Obedin-Maliver, J. (2020). The Imperative for Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Inclusion: Beyond Women's Health. Obstetrics and gynecology, 135(5), 1059–1068.

Park, I. & Savage, D. (2023). How Gay Men Saved Us From Mpox. NY Times.

Phelan, S. M., Burke, S. E., Hardeman, R. R., White, R. O., Przedworski, J., Dovidio, J. F., Perry, S. P., Plankey, M., A Cunningham, B., Finstad, D., W Yeazel, M., & van Ryn, M. (2017). Medical School Factors Associated with Changes in Implicit and Explicit Bias Against Gay and Lesbian People among 3492 Graduating Medical Students. Journal of general internal medicine, 32(11), 1193–1201.

Streed, C. G., McCarthy, E., & Haas, J. S. (2017). Association Between Gender Minority Status and Self-Reported Physical and Mental Health in the United States. JAMA Internal Medicine, 177(8), 1210-1212.