Cancer Facts for Gay and Bisexual Men | Amerin Cancer Society

Contents:

• WHEN TO PROSTATE NCER, 'GAY MEN ARE ERASED,' PATIENTS SAY
• IN CHIGO, A NEW APPROACH TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN WH PROSTATE CANCER
• WHEN GAY MEN GET PROSTATE CANCER
• CANCER FACTS FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• CANCER RISKS FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

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

But the unique challeng facg gay and bisexual men wh prostate ncer have largely gone who have sex wh men (MSM) are ls likely to get regular prostate ncer screengs, and those who are diagnosed are ls likely to have faial and social support, acrdg to rearch ced by the Natnal Instut of Health. And if their health re provir is not culturally petent, gay and bisexual men are much ls likely to unrstand how treatment will impact their qualy of life.

”As a rult, Margoli add, many lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr patients go back the closet when they beg ncer treatment. “I’ve been a gay activist — and been out — so long that I took for granted I uld talk openly to my doctors, ” he told NBC News. Brass’ said his sexual functn was relatively good, but stead he stggled wh ntence for weeks — g as many as ne “pads” a day and stayg wh yards of a bathroom at all you’re gay and you go to a urologist who hasn’t alt wh gay men, they’ll tell you, 'Brg your wife wh you.

'"He joed a prostate ncer support group specifilly for gay and bisexual men at Mount Sai Hospal Manhattan, one of several anized by the natnal advocy anizatn wh other queer men “allowed to be very open about our feelgs — and our sexualy — and to be empathetic wh each other, ” Brass said. “Too often gay men are erased the [support] groups.

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

They don’t want to hear other men be vulnerable, and they don’t want to hear about gay sex. “If you’re gay and you go to a urologist who hasn’t alt wh gay men, they’ll tell you, ‘Brg your wife wh you, ’" he said.

”That disfort n spread to gay patients. "A NEGLECTED AREA"It’s impossible to know how many gay men have been diagnosed prostate ncer, bee qutns about sexualy are rarely clud rearch studi.

“The medil muny say, ‘We don’t want to ask olr heterosexual men qutns that might upset them, ’" Simon Rosser, an LGBTQ health specialist and -thor of "Gay and Bisexual Men Livg Wh Prostate Cancer, " told NBC Rosser, PhD, MPH, is a profsor at the Universy of Mnota School of Public Health. Universy of MnotaA profsor at the Universy of Mnota School of Public Health, Rosser has received a $3 ln grant om the Natnal Cancer Instute to put together the first prehensive rehabilatn program specifilly for gay and bisexual men wh prostate ncer. ”But wasn’t stutnalized homophobia, Rosser strsed.

WHEN GAY MEN GET PROSTATE CANCER

” For gay men, so long ignored by medice, Rosser believ those rat are much higher. ”Rosser said the silence and shame surroundg the topic allows ugly myths to flourish — like that gay sex somehow “ed” their ncer. “Gay men have a lot to offer the subject of prostate ncer.

And we have studi that show out are different for gay men: We have worse mental health, we have greater urary problems, but our sexual out are reliably better. Gettg the disease, ironilly, is somethg of a luxury for a gay men of Brass’ age: Too many had their liv cut short by the AIDS epimic long before they’d typilly be diagnosed (the average age for a prostate ncer diagnosis is 66) the advent of lifavg antiretroviral dgs the mid-1990s, though, gay men are fally reachg their goln years.

CANCER FACTS FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

”It stole a generatn, but the AIDS epimic also tght gay men how to fight disease, how to ask qutns and how to mand better treatment. And, I thk, as gay men, we brg a ep feelg of passn, empathy and humor. 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.

CANCER RISKS FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

”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.