U.S. Panel Suggests Research Into Causes and Prevalence of Health Issues Facing Gays

 

New York Times. April 4th, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/01/health/policy/01gays.html?scp=4&sq=Health&st=nyt

 This article outlines the National Academy of Sciences' report that requested the federal government and National Institutes of Health to collect demographic data on gay, lesbian and transgender people and conduct biomedical research in order to understand disease prevalence and susceptibility among these populations. These conditions include obesity, depression, cancer, and heart disease. Professionals point out that the available eveidence on the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is sparse and researchers must do much more than fill research gaps. The panel mentioned a development of standardized measures of sexual orientation and gender identity to make lines clear of one's sense of gender in order to better classify health risk. They also suggest including "sexual and minority studies" in medical schools to better inform future doctors in treating homosexuals. The article lists several of the points the panel makes in terms of LGBT medical issues.

I found this article especially interesting because gay people "often face barriers to equitable health care" as the article mentioned, since many doctors decline these individuals based on sexual orientation. My group project is on Health Care Worker Conscience and it covers this issue, as many Christian medical professionals choose not to treat homosexuals because it goes against their moral code of ethics based on their religious beliefs.  In this way, many LGBT people refrain from disclosing sexual orientation in fear of discrimination. The points that this article made were very surprising to me, like lesbian and bisexual women may be at a higher risk for breast cancer and obesity than heterosexual women. I believe that the medical field takes steps to advance in this field to better understand LGBT people and the health issues they face, especially as the number of LGBT increases across the world.