Lesbian Health

 

Lesbian health has only been part of the public debate in recent years, and Healthy People 2010 (the federal government's guidelines for health care in the next century) specifically called for eliminating disparities in the health of the gay and lesbian communities. It is estimated that 6.5 million women in the United States (or 4% of the adult female population) are lesbians. As a result, a given provider attending to the adult female population is likely to serve lesbian women as well as women of other sexual orientations (heterosexual and bisexual) and the physician must be prepared to provide an adequate environment for optimal care.

It is of note that lesbians are significantly less likely than their heterosexual counterparts to seek gynecological care for prenatal care or family planning. It is then that they are less likely to undergo screening exams for breast and cervical cancer, or for STDs, a pattern that has contributed to increased cancer and STD risk in this population.

Several other barriers to care for lesbians are identified. Health care providers rarely receive adequate training on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) health care issues. For example, it has been reported that only a few hours are devoted to the study of such issues during several years of training in medical schools. Providers' attitudes range from homophobia to "heterosexism" (a term that reflects sexism or racism), which makes the environment uninviting to the GLBT population.

Finally, the effects of financial barriers should not be underestimated, as lesbians are less likely than heterosexual women to have health care insurance, as they may not be eligible to receive coverage under their partners' policies. It has been reported that in 2000, only 99 (or 20%) of Fortune 500 companies, and 8 state governments offered benefits to domestic partners. Even when those benefits were available, many employees were reluctant to disclose their sexual orientation in the workplace for fear of compromising their employment status.