When to prostate ncer, 'gay men are erased,' patients say

Contents:

• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S UROLOGY PROGRAM
• BEG GAY UROLOGY: BALANCG MY INTY
• BETTER UROLOGY FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• IN CHIGO, A NEW APPROACH TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN WH PROSTATE CANCER
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S UROLOGY
• MATTHEW R GAY, M.D.
• WHEN TO PROSTATE NCER, 'GAY MEN ARE ERASED,' PATIENTS SAY
• GAY FRIENDLY UROLOGISTS NYC
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S CLIC
• GAY PARIS
• RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à PARIS, (75)

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S UROLOGY PROGRAM

We veloped this program after our rearch intified unmet needs among gay, bisexual, transgenr and other patients om sexual mori.

We ntue to rearch healthre needs, dispari and out for gay and bisexual men, and e those fdgs to provi prehensive re uniquely signed for our patients. We nduct rearch to unver how certa urologic ndns and therapi affect gay and bisexual men.

We wele all gay and bisexual patients who were assigned male at birth; intify as male, or are genr-nonnformg or nonbary; and need urology re.

BEG GAY UROLOGY: BALANCG MY INTY

I am a gay man who happens to be a urologist. Regardls of which one ws out, they are both extribly part of who I am and they are both always a gay urologist is tertg. When tellg people what I do for a livg, pecially when I am talkg to other gay men, n feel like a b of an elephant the room.

However, once we talk more, they variably start pepperg me wh qutns rangg om cur and thoughtful to sophomoric, but is often a fun nversatn. Tellg people at work that I am gay is surround by so much more potential anxiety and fear of discrimatn. Even though is 2021, and beg gay is more accepted today than has ever been the past, n still be nerve-wrackg when cidg whether, when, and how to e out to lleagu or mentors.

This is, unfortunately, not an irratnal fear; once, a patient told me they would rather see one of my partners bee they found my profile on a social media platform on which I am open and vol about beg gay. More than one study has documented that physicians who intify as LGBTQ+ or otherwise as a Sexual or Genr Mory (SGM) have experienced mistreatment or discrimatn om mentors, lleagu and, I have been enterg a fascatg new phase of my life and reer, where I am learng to merge my inti as a gay man and a urologist, and I uld not be happier about .

BETTER UROLOGY FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Our patients have appreciated havg surgeons who are part of the same LGBTQ+ muny (my partner this enavour, a plastic surgeon who started the programme at our hospal, is also gay) — surgeons who, although we are not trans ourselv, at least have some mon ground.

Through this mentorg, I have been dog my bt to improve LGBTQ+ reprentatn urology both passively by beg an out gay man amic medice and actively by unsellg and speakg to medil stunts.

If you are lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, and/or intify as a sexual and/or genr mory and are lookg for LGBTQ+ affirmg doctors, physicians, clicians, and healthre provirs, you have e to the right place. Those patients were men who intified as gay or bisexual, and/or men who have sex wh men (MSM). Amarasekera is the director of the Northwtern Medice Gay and Bisexual Men's Urology Program — the first of s kd the Uned Stat.

IN CHIGO, A NEW APPROACH TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN WH PROSTATE CANCER

The program was lnched Augt 2021 and se patients two lotns: downtown Chigo and Northalsted, a neighborhood Chigo wh a large populatn of gay and bisexual men.

Medil profsnals the Gay and Bisexual Men's Urology Program take a mdful approach to the urologic re experience for patients who were assigned male at birth (AMAB) and who intify as gay or bisexual, and/or who choose to have sex wh men. After he noticed gay and bisexual patients were not gettg the prehensive urologic re they need, Dr.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S UROLOGY

This prehensive and tstg approach to patient re is improvg the liv of LGBTQ patients and fai the Gay and Bisexual Men's Urology Program.

Curt, 66, diagnosis and surgery were only the begng of a “clil and psychologil and emotnal adventure” — one he felt that many urologists were not equipped to handle, bee he was gay and the majory of doctors and their patients were symptoms are siar for all prostate ncer patients, cludg urary ntence, erectile dysfunctn, dimished libido and loss of ejaculate. But rearchers are fdg that those chang may echo through the liv of gay and bisexual men unexpected, and sometim more difficult, obstacl n be physil and emotnal, and may be reflected patients’ relatnships wh their partners.

Channa Amarasekera, director of the Gay and Bisexual Men’s Urology Program at Northwtern Medice Chigo. Amarasekera, who has foced his reer on urologic re for gay and bisexual men and other sexual mori, is the program’s first is an emergg field of study driven part by the creasg number of prostate ncer patients who intify as gay or bisexual.

MATTHEW R GAY, M.D.

”The gay and bisexual men their 50s and 60s who are now enterg the prime mographic for prostate ncer also lived through the worst of the AIDS epimic.

Amarasekera problem, experts the field say, is that the rearch about gay and bisexual men and prostate ncer is still woefully aquate. “Historilly, most of the rearch on gay health was foced on H. V., and young gay men, bee that was the biggt killer, ” said Simon Rosser, a profsor of epimlogy and muny health at the Universy of Mnota, who led a study 2017 of gay and bisexual men wh prostate ncer.

“It’s only now that as the AIDS generatn grew olr, and aged to health problems like prostate ncer, that specialists are startg to see gay patients. Amarasekera studied urologists’ trag and found that many reported receivg ls than five hours of stctn on the treatment of gay and bisexual patients. He also surveyed gay patients, who overall said their sexual satisfactn was not aquately taken unr nsiratn durg treatment for prostate ncer.

WHEN TO PROSTATE NCER, 'GAY MEN ARE ERASED,' PATIENTS SAY

“It’s important to llect data on how treatment affects sexual functn differently for gay and bisexual men, who have different sexual repertoir than straight men, ” he said. “If you lack the tools to measure aspects of sexual functn that are specific to gay and bisexual men, you lose an opportuny to track their progrs. Amarasekera se at the program’s two clics — one downtown Chigo and the other the historilly gay Northalsted neighborhood — are unprepared to face yet another health crisis.

GAY FRIENDLY UROLOGISTS NYC

”The health re system, he said, “margaliz gay men, particularly when to sexual health, and the prostate is so lked to sexual health gay men. It’s jt that many urologists don’t realize that the prostate is “kd of a male ‘G spot, ’” and gay men more often are aware of . ”Jane Ussher, a profsor at the Wtern Sydney Universy School of Medice Atralia, has been studyg the effects of ncer gay men for 20 years.

“Partial erectile dysfunctn has a particular impact” on gay patients, she said, and they “report signifintly greater ncern about loss of ejaculate than heterosexual men. Schaeffer said he hoped the program’s approach to gay men’s urologic health would “take off big ci and then spread.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S CLIC

“I see expandg and beg a place for gay men to seek urologic re general, ” Dr. Amarasekera “nsired my whole person, and my whole personhood enpassed my beg gay, ” he ia also spired Perry McKay, a Chigo philanthropist whose donatn helped get the Northwtern program off the ground. “This is an opportuny to munite, tra and te urologists on how to provi better re tailored to the specific needs of gay and bisexual men, ” he Rosser agreed.

“In the gay muny, we don’t talk about prostate ncer, ” he said. “We need specialists to ask about sexual orientatn and to talk to gay men about the effects of treatment, ” Dr.

“And we need to tell every gay patient that ’s important to e out to your specialist.

GAY PARIS

”Gene Otto, who is the -host of a support group Palm Sprgs, Calif., for gay and bisexual men wh prostate ncer, se a growg need as well. One gay patient his group, he said, was given lerature geared toward women whose hbands had prostate ncer.

RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à PARIS, (75)

“Their whole ncept — they’re alg wh heterosexual men and their wiv more than homosexual men, ” Mr. Amarasekera said his experience wh the program “go a long way to addrs the mistst that many gay men feel toward medil stutns. ’”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn D, Page 1 of the New York edn wh the headle: Prostate Cancer and New Care for Gay Men.

Gay and Bisexual Men's Urology. Gay and Bisexual male urology patients face var barriers to qualy healthre, rangg om heteronormative clil attus, a pcy of knowledge on urologic health out and lack of tst. The Gay and Bisexual Men's Urology Program striv to improve urologic re for gay and bisexual men through patient re, tn, rearch, muny engagement and advocy.