Often under emphasized are the minority groups that are heavily affected by health disparities in America, UK and all the same worldwide.
Health disparities are not just based on race, ethnic, and cultural differences. Such disparities are seen as affecting the sexuality minority groups and observations and surveys show that one’s sexual minority status may limit access to health care, with especially bad impact on lesbians, which are being discriminated both as females and as homosexual.
“Health inequalities exist for lesbian and bisexual women, largely related to experiences of discrimination, homophobia and heterosexism.”
This known interference with health care access is a prime example of heterosexual privilege and homosexual prejudice prevalence in Western societies.
Just as this lack of health care affects minority races, ethnic groups, and less represented cultural beliefs; lesbian and bisexual women are deteriorating their health by either not seeing (being feared of) or not be attended to by health care professionals.
It is important that health care professionals consider the nine cultural competency techniques suggested by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and make an effort to break the barriers put into place through society’s homophobia and heterosexism.
Further Reading
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