Treatment of LGBTQ+ Community Members in Healthcare

Edited by Catherine Verdeflor

Similarly, to race and gender, a factor that often causes people to fall victim to discrimination and unfair treatment in any industry or field is sexuality; and just like with race and gender, people have been condemned for their sexualities for millennium. Homosexuality, despite being a more common occurrence in prehistoric societies, quickly became condemned with the rise of the major religions and the values held by the patriarchy. Homosexuality was often viewed as an illness or abnormal condition, causing contempt towards those who identify as homosexuals or members of the LGBTQ+ community. This contempt surfaced in the way that frequently-used words like “queer” (originally meaning ‘strange’ or ‘weird’) were originally used in a pejorative way by those outside of the community to display the disapproval. Discrimination was rampant, and it didn’t matter if a person may have contributed to an important cause. Alan Turing for instance, was a British mathematician who served his country by working as a code breaker whose contributions many considered to be a means that “hastened the Allied victory” (Cowell, 2019). Despite this knowledge, once Turing was revealed to be gay, he was charged under Victorian law for being a homosexual and forced to undergo chemical castration; his wartime accomplishments were also kept under wraps because of this. It wouldn’t be until 2009, 55 years after his death (which is often viewed as a suicide that may have been linked to his castration) that the British government would issue him an apology, and it wouldn’t be until 4 years later in 2013 that Queen Elizabeth II would grant him a ‘royal pardon’ acquitting him of his “criminal offense” (Cowell, 2019).

Even historical figures that weren’t reported to be from the LGBTQ+ community like French heroine Joan of Arc, who led her country’s army and helped counteract an attempt by the English to conquer France, tried for heresy, and burnt at the stake (Lanhers, et Al., 2021), would be condemned for acts that are commonly viewed as behavior associated with this minority. As many may know, because those of the LGBTQ+ community view not only sexuality but gender and gender expression as a spectrum, it can often be common for those in the community to wear clothing (and other accessories) affiliated with a certain genders despite being assigned the other sex. Among her other charges, the church that sentenced Joan’s execution condemned her for wearing men’s clothing (Lanhers, et Al., 2021).

This bigotry towards the LGBTQ+ community may not be as extreme or blatant as it has been in the past and in more formal settings today, however, to believe that his maltreatment towards them completely vanished would be false. In the medical field, proper care is often withheld from them after their sexualities are revealed to the facility, which at times can cause detrimental health effects to these individuals who are experiencing life threatening/fatal conditions. An HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) patient, for instance, once arrived at a hospital to receive medicine for the condition yet, “after one patient with HIV disclosed to a hospital that he had sex with other men, the hospital staff refused to provide his HIV medication” (Mirza & Rooney, 2018, para. 2). At times, this singling out of LGBTQ+ members can contribute to the continued neglect of mental illness that plagues their community even when individuals do try to seek help. A transgender teenager was admitted into a hospital for “suicidal ideation and self-inflicted injuries[,]” however, whilst being attended to, the adolescent would constantly be misgendered (Mirza & Rooney, 2018, para. 2). He would also be discharged prematurely by the staff of the hospital, and later, the young boy went on to commit suicide .

The hatred felt towards the LGBTQ+ community runs so deep that, at times, discrimination towards them can affect those associated with/related to them. It was reported that an infant at a pediatrician’s office was prevented from being examined and/or treated because its parents were a same-sex couple (Mirza & Rooney, 2018).

As is the case with many minority groups, the LGBTQ+ community is supposed to be protected against discrimination when it comes to healthcare. Unfortunately, factors such as the fact that many U.S. states don’t even acknowledge or work to enforce the federal laws that ensure protection against LGBTQ+ discrimination stand in the way of the equal treatment of this community in medical settings. Consequently, countless disparities among this community have/continue to exist such that “[s]exual minority women report fewer lifetime Pap tests (used to screen for cervical cancer)” (Morris et al., 2019, para. 5), “transgender youth have less access to health care” (Morris et al., 2019, para. 5), and members of the LGBTQ+ community are less likely to have health insurance (Mirza & Rooney, 2018).

Along with including more LGBTQ+ members in the medical workforce (to make those in their communities feel more understood and secure) and providing equitable treatment towards these individuals without partiality against them, a serious evaluation of the implicit biases held by healthcare professionals is needed to better pay due respect to LGBTQ+ patients. If we want better treatment towards a group of people, we must directly change the attitudes and behaviors of those who interact with them.

References:

Fox, M. (2017). Health care activists march in the San Francisco Gay Pride parade on June 25, 2017 in San Francisco. [Photograph]. Getty Images File. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/trump-administration-exacerbating-lgbtq-health-care-discrimination-report-says-n894151

Cowell, A. (2019, June 05). Overlooked no more: Alan Turing, condemned code breaker and computer visionary. NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/obituaries/alan-turing-overlooked.html

Kennedy, L. (2019, April 16). Why was Joan of Arc burned at the stake? History.com. https://www.history.com/news/joan-arc-burned-stake

Mirza, S. A., & Rooney, C. (2018, January 18). Discrimination Prevents LGBTQ People From Accessing Health Care. American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbtq-rights/news/2018/01/18/445130/discrimination-prevents-lgbtq-people-accessing-health-care/

Morris, M., Cooper, R. L., Ramesh, A., Tabatabai, M., Arcury, T. A., Shinn, M., Im, W., Juarez, P., & Matthews-Juarez, P. (2019, August 30). Training to reduce LGBTQ-related bias among medical, nursing, and dental students and providers: a systematic review. BMC Medical Education. https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-019-1727-3.