Do Gays Receive Adequate Medical Care?
By Andy Heath
I have some acquaintances, a lesbian couple, that run a business called Diversity Builder. Several years ago, I listened to a presentation that they made about their company, and the mission of the company is to find businesses of all kinds that are accepting of gays and lesbians. One aspect of the company that moved me at the time was that the inclusion of medical professionals was free to those professionals. In other words, if a doctor of any kind gave quality care to gays and lesbians without discrimination, then that doctor could have his or her name on the website for referrals of gays and lesbians to the practice.
Reprehensible as it is, there are doctors that choose (yes, via their own volition) to deny gays and lesbians adequate healthcare. And there are even nurses, who I generally feel are higher quality healthcare professionals than doctors, who do not care for gays and lesbians, affecting those nurses' quality of care.
Honestly, gays and lesbians must be very careful who we go to see for medical consulting. That is one reason I recommend Diversity Builder for referrals. My information might be out of date because I have not seen them in years, but around 2004 or 2005 they had a team of volunteers that called healthcare professionals all over the United States to investigate whether or not they would give proper care to gays and lesbians. Then this couple will post the contact information of the ones that will give us excellent care despite our sexual orientations. In my opinion, these are the doctors that deserve our business. These are the ones that will care for us, so I believe we should make a good faith effort to see them whenever possible.
You may click here for more information about Diversity Builder. I hope you will use Diversity Builder as a resource whether you are gay or straight because doctors that care for all people well must surely be better doctors in general.
