The LGBT culture goes way back in history though there is still no tangible evidence to show the exact time when it began. Today in various parts of the world, qualified hardworking people are denied job opportunities, fired and discriminated against just because they are LGBT or because they are African Americans (Daulaire, 2014). Even with the enactment of the anti-discrimination laws, statistics show that the minority populations in the society still face higher levels of discrimination because most people really don’t know how to associate or handle them (Daulaire, 2014). In this category are the healthcare workers. Most of the healthcare workers don’t know how to handle case that involve the LGBT and this paper focuses on educating them about this minority culture that they will interact with in their day to day activities in the hospital.
The term transgender is a non-specific term affiliated to people of different groups of individuals whose sex have been partially or fully altered. That is, their sex is totally different or partially different to their birth sex. Transgender is independent of sexual orientation and may identify as gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual etc. (Durso and Meyer, 2012). Therefore transgender veterans or service members are the individuals that serve in the US military and they are transgender. Because the US military has a binary view of gender, Transgender individuals looking forward to enlistment or appointment would experience issues resulting to untimely disqualification or climbing up the ranks on merit (Durso and Meyer, 2012).
In the recent past the transgender community in the US have been able to form groups that help them defend themselves against all the external pressures of the society. A very good example is the Transgender American Veteran Association [TAVA]. These groups’ main roles are protecting the transgender from discrimination and in the veteran transgender cases the TAVA ensures that they get appropriate medical care for their condition when they are in service, provide support to the newly transformed individuals and avenues for them to talk about their conditions and experiences freely. To add to that the transgender groups provide an environment that trust can be developed thus helping those struggling with gender identity/expression come out (Daulaire, 2014).With the change in sexuality most individuals tend to change their identity to suit their new self .The US government has provided different channels that can be used to change your identity legally in transgender cases (Daulaire, 2014).
LGBTQ people have unique health needs and concern, due to this there are some vital things that they should discuss with their healthcare providers. These include HIV/AIDS & safe sex, hepatitis immunization and screening, fitness [diet and exercise], substance abuse/alcohol, depression/anxiety, sexually transmitted diseases, cancer [prostrate, cervical, testicular and colon] and finally human papilloma virus [HPV]. Research indicates that the LGBTQ stand a much higher risk to these medical problems than other people in the society thus they should be handled with a lot of care to prevent future health problems (Boehmer and Elk, 2015).
The LGBTQ face a lot of discrimination from the society. Thus the healthcare providers should put measures in place to ensure that their wishes are met and protected. These measures include: The patience recorders should be private and confidential, the patients’ rights, visitation and non-discrimination policies are enforced to the later, issue healthcare proxy to LGBTQ patients and do follow ups, finally all patient desires should be taken into consideration at every stage of decision making.(Daulaire, 2014)
- Boehmer, U. and Elk, R. (2015). LGBT Population and Cancer: Is it an ignored Epidemic?. LGBT Health.
- Daulaire, N. (2014). The Importance of LGBT Health on a Global Scale. LGBT Health, 1(1), pp.8-9.
- Durso, L. and Meyer, I. (2012). Patterns and Predictions of Disclosure of Sexual Orientation to Healthcare Providers among LGBT. Sex Res Soc Policy, 10(1), pp.35-42.
