The current health stat of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people of all rac, ethnici, ag, and social backgrounds n be unrstood only cultural and historil ntext. To provi this ntext, this chapter reviews basic fns and ncepts ncerng genr inty, genr exprsn, and sexual orientatn; summariz key historil events that have shaped ntemporary LGBT culture and muni; scrib the mography of LGBT people the Uned Stat; and exam barriers to accsg health re for LGBT people. The chapter then prents a discsn of the se of HIV/AIDS as relat to several important them of this report. The fal sectn summariz key fdgs and rearch opportuni.
Contents:
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
- LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR HEALTH
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
At a time when lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) dividuals are an creasgly open, acknowledged, and visible part of society, clicians and rearchers are faced wh plete rmatn about the health stat of this muny. Although a most body of knowledge on LGBT health has been veloped over the last two s, much remas to be explored. What is currently known about LGBT health? Where do gaps the rearch this area exist? What are the prri for a rearch agenda to addrs the gaps? This report aims to answer the qutns. * lgbt medical history *
Siarly, the appropriatn of Darwian theory evaluated people and behavr, characterizg homosexual and bisexual people as evolutnary throwbacks, ak to “primive” peopl whom Europeans had lonized throughout the world and whose sexual mor were at odds wh Wtern notns of moraly.
5 percent -- alt wh gay men and HIV/AIDS, particularly on ways to rce HIV emphasis on gay men isn't entirely surprisg bee the HIV/AIDS epimic, more than anythg else, shed a spotlight and directed limed rourc at gay men's health and the dispari that ntribute to their risk for HIV. Mayer, a Harvard profsor and medil rearch director of the Fenway Instute, said Fenway was able to foc more rourc on women's health and the medil challeng of an agg they uld work to velop terventns aimed at unterg the harmful upstream psychosocial impacts of anti-gay stigma -- such as prsn and substance abe -- that n ntribute to harmful downstream behavr such as unsafe sex or not adherg to HIV treatment. Mor, PhD, a medil profsor, chief of the preventn science divisn and director of the Center for AIDS Preventn Studi at the Universy of California-San Francis, poted out that before the AIDS epimic, the primary issu -- for health rearchers and polil activists alike -- were promotg self-teem, lookg at how people pe wh beg gay and proud, and fightg back agast the stigma and discrimatn associated wh sexual orientatn.
Yet this groupg of “nonheterosexuals” clus men and women; homosexual and bisexual dividuals; people who label themselv as gay, lbian, or bisexual, among other terms; and people who do not adopt such labels but neverthels experience same-sex attractn or engage same-sex sexual behavr. And the transgenr populatn, which self enpass multiple groups, has needs and ncerns that are distct om those of lbians, bisexual women and men, and gay noted above, spe the many differenc among the populatns that make up the LGBT muny, there are important monali as well.
LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR HEALTH
Differenc Wh LGBT PopulatnsNot only are lbians, gay men, bisexual women and men, and transgenr people distct populatns, but each of the groups is self a diverse populatn whose members vary wily age, race and ethnicy, geographic lotn, social background, religsy, and other mographic characteristics. The majory of dividuals affected by disorrs of sex velopment do not face challeng related to sexual orientatn and genr inty, although homosexualy, genr role nonnformy, and genr dysphoria (fed as disfort wh the genr assigned to one at birth [see Chapter 2]) are somewhat more prevalent among this populatn pared wh the general populatn (Cohen-Kettenis and Pfaffl, 2003). They clu ternalized homophobia (a term referrg to an dividual's self-directed stigma, reflectg the adoptn of society's negative attus about homosexualy and the applitn of them to onelf), perceived stigma (which relat to the expectatn that one will be rejected and discrimated agast and leads to a state of ntuo vigilance that n require nsirable energy to mata; is also referred to as felt stigma), and ncealment of one's sexual orientatn or transgenr inty.
Biblil terpretatn ma illegal for a woman to wear pants or a man to adopt female drs, and sensatnalized public trials warned agast “viants” but also ma such martyrs and hero popular: Joan of Arc is one example, and the chillg origs of the word “faggot” clu a stick of wood ed public burngs of gay men. This creasg awarens of an existg and vulnerable populatn, upled wh Senator Joseph McCarthy’s vtigatn of homosexuals holdg ernment jobs durg the early 1950s outraged wrers and feral employe whose own liv were shown to be send-class unr the law, cludg Frank Kameny, Barbara Gtgs, Allen Gsberg, and Harry Hay. Fstrated wh the male learship of most gay liberatn groups, lbians fluenced by the femist movement of the 1970s formed their own llectiv, rerd labels, mic ftivals, newspapers, bookstor, and publishg ho, and lled for lbian rights mastream femist groups like the Natnal Organizatn for Women.