Lesbian Health
"Melissa Etheridge's appearance at the 2005 Grammy Awards was a revolutionary moment in lesbian health. In the flash of a paparazzo's camera, Melissa and her partner, Tammy Lynn Michaels, accomplished what lesbian health activists have been trying to do for decades: get the mainstream media to say the words "lesbian" and "cancer" in the same sentence, and get lesbians to focus on an issue of tremendous importance to their health and well being."
— Kathleen DeBold, executive director of the Mautner Project,on Gay.com [complete text]
Lesbian and bisexual women face a medical and scientific establishment that often dismisses the validity of their health concerns. The Human Rights Campaign works hard to ensure that health care reform addresses the needs of lesbians and that national leaders in the research and health care fields include the needs of lesbians in their work.
HRC also collaborates with its coalition partners to advocate for the advancement of lesbian health initiatives.
More information:
• Institute of Medicine Report Summary on the need for increased research on lesbian health
• National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study on lesbian families who conceived children by donor insemination
"Lesbian communities have continued to survive and thrive in spite of great odds. ... Homophobia and sexism in public health has threatened that survival with 10 years of neglect during the decade of HIV/AIDS. ... It is long overdue that health educators take lesbian sensitivity and appropriateness seriously and begin the work of creating health education materials and messages that address their myriad health concerns."
— Rebecca Cole and Sally Cooper in "Lesbian Exclusion from HIV/AIDS Education"
