TY - JOUR
T1 - Unraveling Health Disparities Among Sexual and Gender Minorities
T2 - A Commentary on the Persistent Impact of Stigma
AU - Valdiserri, Ronald O.
AU - Holtgrave, David R.
AU - Poteat, Tonia C.
AU - Beyrer, Chris
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/4/16
Y1 - 2019/4/16
N2 - LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) populations experience disparities in health outcomes, both physical and mental, compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers. This commentary confronts the view held by some researchers that the disparate rates of mental health problems reported among LGBT populations are the consequences of pursuing a particular life trajectory, rather than resulting from the corrosive and persistent impact of stigma. Suggesting that mental health disparities among LGBT populations arise internally, de novo, when individuals express non-heterosexual and non-conforming gender identities ignores the vast body of evidence documenting the destructive impact of socially mediated stigma and systemic discrimination on health outcomes for a number of minorities, including sexual and gender minorities. Furthermore, such thinking is antithetical to widely accepted standards of health and wellbeing because it implies that LGBT persons should adopt and live out identities that contradict or deny their innermost feelings of self.
AB - LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) populations experience disparities in health outcomes, both physical and mental, compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers. This commentary confronts the view held by some researchers that the disparate rates of mental health problems reported among LGBT populations are the consequences of pursuing a particular life trajectory, rather than resulting from the corrosive and persistent impact of stigma. Suggesting that mental health disparities among LGBT populations arise internally, de novo, when individuals express non-heterosexual and non-conforming gender identities ignores the vast body of evidence documenting the destructive impact of socially mediated stigma and systemic discrimination on health outcomes for a number of minorities, including sexual and gender minorities. Furthermore, such thinking is antithetical to widely accepted standards of health and wellbeing because it implies that LGBT persons should adopt and live out identities that contradict or deny their innermost feelings of self.
KW - Sexual minorities
KW - discrimination
KW - health disparities
KW - stigma
KW - transgender
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U2 - 10.1080/00918369.2017.1422944
DO - 10.1080/00918369.2017.1422944
M3 - Article
C2 - 29297774
AN - SCOPUS:85041853004
SN - 0091-8369
VL - 66
SP - 571
EP - 589
JO - Journal of Homosexuality
JF - Journal of Homosexuality
IS - 5
ER -