Essay On Lgbt-Q Health Care

Twenty percent of thirty percent of gay and transgender people abuse substances. According to LGBT wellness roundup, “the stress that comes from daily battles with discrimination and stigma is a principle driver of these higher rates of substance us, as gay and trans people turn to tobacco, alcohol, and other substances as a way to cope with these challenges. And a lack of culturally competent health care service also fuels high substance-use rates among gay and transgender people.” Substance abuse is a serious matter and affects everyone but most importantly the LGBT-Q individuals. This all goes back to our health care system. We need to better the health care system in order to avoid these terrifying numbers that show more than half transgender and gay

As stated by American Progress, “Many gay and transgender people live with a high level of stress that comes from social prejudice and discriminatory laws in areas of daily life such as employment, relationship recognition, and health care.” LGBT-Q individuals go through a lot in their life time, all that stress especially from not being accepted and always being targeted, influences their substance abuse, just so unfortunate. Also the lack of cultural proficiency in the health care system discourages LGBT-Q individuals from seeking treatment for substance abuse. Can you blame them? And sadly when they do actually seek for help, it often leads to inappropriate or irrelevant services. The health care system and professionals in the health care system, need to come to a realization that this is part of our life now, LGBT-Q individuals do exist. They are just like everyone else in the world, they don’t anatomically differ from everyone else. We need to stop and accept and make sure we decrease these numbers and provide health service, actually provide the best health service possible to the LGBT-Q