Better health channel gay and lesbian discrimination
If you are woman loving woman, gay, bisexual, transsexual or gender diverse, intersex, queer or asexual (LGBTIQA+) you have the right to equality, fairness and decency for your end of life and palliative care needs. The Victorian Government standards and celebrates diversity and is devoted to removing discrimination from laws, services and society.
You can use end of life and palliative care services to help you and your partner as you approach the end of your life. You can receive care in hospital or in your home. Appropriate end of animation care helps affirm your individual culture, your life story, and includes respect for both you and your partner.
Rainbow tick organisations
The rainbow tick (pictured below) was developed by Gay and Sapphic Health Victoria (GLHV) in 2013 and shows which services have been accredited to provide inclusive practices to build you feel protected and welcome. Rainbow tick organisations will treat you fairly and respectfully as an LGBTIQA+ person.
A service vendor with the rainbow tick seeks to improve the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ people by providing services regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.
For more information on this to
Community health pride – LGBTIQA+ inclusive practice resources
The People health pride - sapphic, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual (LGBTIQA+) resources support community health services in inclusive service planning and practices.
The resource suite is structured so that it can be used by all community health services, whether they are starting to develop inclusive practice approaches or looking for to review and fortify their models.
By valuing diversity, actively practising inclusion and working to eliminate access barriers, community health services can help to better the experience of LGBTIQA+ clients and their health and wellbeing.
These resources were developed in consultation with community health services and key experts in the LGBTIQA+ field. You can access the resources in the download section of this page.
LGBTIQA+ inclusive habit toolkit
The comprehensive toolkit includes practical advice, tips, links to resources, templates and case studies for people health services to embed LGBTIQA+ inclusive practice across all levels of the organisation.
The toolkit broadly invites community health services to reflect on:
- barri
Proportion of population who identify as LGBTIQA+
In the 2017 Victorian Population Health Survey, 5.7 per cent of respondents identified as lesbian, same-sex attracted, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer and asexual (Victorian Agency for Health Information - unpublished), with the relative proportion of each subgroup summarised in Table 1:
Table 1: Proportion (%) of the adult population, by LGBTIQA+ status, Victoria, 2017
LGBTIQA+ group Sample size (n) Proportion (%) of adult population by LGBTIQA+ status Gay or Lesbian 458 1.8 Bisexual, Homosexual, Pansexual 616 3.0 Transgender, Gender diverse 41 0.2 Intersex 57 0.2 Asexual, Other 128 0.4 TOTAL LGBTIQA+ 1,300 5.7 Health and wellbeing indicators for LGBTIQA+ Victorians
Data from the survey shows that LGBTIQA+ Victorian adults experience poorer health and wellbeing than heterosexual, non-LGBTIQA+ Victorians (Victorian Agency for Health Facts - unpublished).
A summary of indicators for LGBTIQA+ Victorians shows that a significantly higher proportion of LGBTIQA+ adults:
- had low to medium life satisfaction and a feeling of life organism worthwhile, compared with the heterosexual,
Protections for LGBTQ People with Behavioral Health Needs
*Former Regulation Fellow Rachel Holtzman is co-author of this Issue Brief.
“The therapy to facilitate with my PTSD was actually quite good and helped long term … However, I was constantly misgendered … I received greater support from other patients regarding my transition than I got from my therapists.”
– Heather, gender nonconforming woman, quote from mentalhelp.net[1]
Access to behavioral health services is critical for queer woman , gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals in the United States.[2] There are more than 5.5 million LGBTQ people living in the United States.[3] Although our country has made great strides to protect the rights of LGBTQ people in the past few decades, many LGBTQ individuals continue to experience the negative impact of societal bigotry and discrimination.[4]
Unfortunately, the discrimination and stigma faced by LGBTQ people places them at a higher risk for behavioral health conditions, including mental health conditions and substance use Disorders (SUDs), than non-LGBTQ people.[5] Yet too often, seeking health care services, including treatment for their behavioral health conditions, puts LGBT
For LGBTQ patients, discrimination can become a barrier to medical care
In recent years, medical experts have been awakening to the specialized needs of LGBTQ people. But one of the most significant barriers to their care can sometimes be right in their doctor's office.
Jamison Grassy knows this firsthand.
"One of the worst things is actually just anticipating having to explain yourself," said Green, 70, who began his medical transition from female to male in 1988. "It causes tremendous stress and anxiety to think about creature thrown out of a doctor's office or existence laughed at or organism treated insensitively to the point of feeling abused."Green, who lives in Vancouver, Washington, and is a former president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, has dealt with a surgeon so hostile he refused to look Green in the eye.
And although he's been able to find good doctors, too, he knows the affronts other transgender people possess endured.
Discrimination is not limited to transgender patients. Queer , lesbian, bisexual and other sexual or gender minority people encounter doctors who are ill-informed, ask inappropriate questions or refuse to treat them.
"We
- had low to medium life satisfaction and a feeling of life organism worthwhile, compared with the heterosexual,