LGBT Literature Review

Introduction
On June 1, 2009 President Barack Obama declared his support for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans with his Proclamation that established the month of June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. The President framed his proclamation with a call to Americans to “turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exits” (The White House, Office of the Press Secretary). Since that time there have been other landmark strides toward answering that call for equal care and protection for members of sexual and gender-identity minority populations.
In 2013 the Supreme Court of the United States struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional, granting same-sex couples many of the same rights and protections granted opposite-sex married citizens at the federal level (Human Rights Campaign, 2014). Also, the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is now in place and offers LGBT citizens legally protected access to health insurance and health care (Durso, Baker & Cray, 2013), although it is too early to tell if legal protections will lead to actual use and nondiscriminatory treatment. Despite these governmental strides toward equal protections and benefits for LGBT populations in the US and the ever increasing social acceptance of equality for sexual and gender minorities, health disparities for LGBT citizens are prevalent and efforts to understand and alleviate barriers to good health must continue.
LGBT individuals are disproportionately affected by health disparities, such as lack of health insurance and lack of access to health professionals that are knowledgeable about their health care needs and to medical settings that are welcoming...

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...other specific populations (Xavier et al, 2007; Lyons, Chandra & Goldstein, 2006; Mansergh, Colfax, Marks, Rader, Guzman & Buchbinder, 2001).These findings are reminders of how social disadvantages due to minority status can affect health outcomes as well as serving as guideposts to finding a way to ensure LGBT individuals access health care and lead healthier productive lives going forward. The purpose of this research is to conduct a review of the literature concerning the experiences and perceptions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals as they access health care services. By gaining a better understanding of LGBT’s health care experiences through examining the extant literature the hope is that the knowledge gained will aid in the facilitation of breaking down existing barriers to health care and health care access for the LGBT population.