Save the Date: National LGBT Health Awareness Week 2021
March 22–26, 2021
Nurses take note: March 22–26 is National LGBT Health Awareness Week.
The goals for March 22–26 are to raise awareness and educate communities about the unique health care issues facing the LGBT community.
By educating yourself on the issues surrounding health issues for LGBT people, you can help stop the discrimination that allows it to continue.
Awareness
It is not new information that our fellow LGBT-humans have been facing health disparities for years.
One of the main health issues this community faces is access to quality health services. Many LGBT people face difficulty finding healthcare providers trained and knowledgeable about their needs, while others encounter direct discrimination from insurance providers or healthcare providers. Several LGBT people simply forego or delay care due to concerns about how they will be treated.
Even though The Affordable Care Act (ACA) addressed this issue by prohibiting health care providers and insurance companies from engaging in discrimination, the problem has not been eliminated, and LGBT people are often left with minimal recourse when discrimination does occur.
There remains a scarcity of competent healthcare providers and services for LGBT people in many areas of the U.S., leaving them at a higher risk for a range of issues from addiction and depression to chronic conditions and cancer.
The health concerns within the LGBT communities are not limited to finding and receiving quality health care services and the discrimination they may face, but also includes the struggle to find alternative services if they are turned away.
ALL PEOPLE, including those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ), need quality health care services
Education
It is crucial that we spread the word to medical and health care professionals regarding the cultural competency needed to care for the specific health issues facing LGBT individuals.
Lesson #1 for healthcare providers is that the LGBTQ+ community is not monolithic!
People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer are grouped together by the acronym LGBTQ+, but they are not one person. Do they share unique vulnerabilities and health concerns? Of course, yet many health care providers are still unaware of the specific health disparities that lesbians struggle with . . . that gays deal with . . . that bisexuals come up against . . . that transgender people encounter . . . or that queer people confront.
The LGBTQ+ community each has their own set of personal choices — how they live, who they vote for, and what profession to pursue — that is not based on their sexual orientation or gender identity any more than anyone else’s life choices are based on these things.
ALL HUMANS possess autonomy and personal preferences regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The LGBT health disparities are clear, as are the devastating effects on the LGBT community and their families.
This March 2021, let’s unite to raise awareness and educate our communities in order to halt discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals and to increase access to quality health care services.
March 22–26, 2021 is National LGBT Health Awareness Week.
Save the date and spread the word.
When we save the date, we help save a life.
