The healthcare needs of gay and lesbian patients

Abstract

A wealth of evidence documents non-heterosexuals’ disadvantaged health status and healthcare access (Jillson, 2002; Sandfort et al., 2006; Tjepkema, 2008). While gender has become accepted as a ‘routine’ indicator of health inequality among the heterosexual population, non-heterosexuals’ experience remains largely invisible (Leonard, 2002; NHS Scotland, 2003; Rogers et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2007). This is often (justly) attributed to the heterosexism and homophobia that characterize even societies considered otherwise liberal (such as Australia, the UK, Canada and western European nations). Yet the ways in which gender, sexuality and embodiment have been theorized are important, if less obvious, influences veiling the healthcare needs of non-heterosexuals.