Washington, D.C. — Kellan Baker, Senior Fellow with the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement after the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, announced that it is formally designating the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, population as a health disparity population for purposes of NIH-supported research:
As LGBT people become more visible in America, assaults on their dignity, health, and well-being are on the rise. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, LGBT people face serious disparities in health indicators such as HIV infection, experience of abuse and violence, and mental health concerns. These disparities are then exacerbated by discrimination at the hands of health care providers. Discrimination and disparities are especially harmful to LGBT communities of color and others who live at the intersections of multiple marginalized communities.
Today’s announcement from the NIH gives LGBT health disparities research a permanent home at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, or NIMHD, which supports groundbreaking research to crack the code of health disparities and improve the health of America’s most vulnerable communities. Research on topics such as transgender health, mental and behavioral health, cancer, HIV, and how to collect more and better data on sexual orientation and gender identity is critical to understanding and ending LGBT health disparities.
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For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at tcaiazza@americanprogress.org or 202.481.7141.