Diagnostic Testing and Impact on LGBTQIA Community
More Programs and Publications Featuring Dr. Brandy Gunsolus
In this program:
How can LGBTQIA health testing and outcomes be improved? Medical laboratory scientist Dr. Brandy Gunsolus discusses her perspective.
Transcript
Ariqa Everett:
Are there any research or data collection efforts focused on health testing, disparities, or maybe specific health conditions affecting the LGBTQIA community?
Dr. Brandy Gunsolus:
So there's actually quite a bit of research that has been ongoing sponsored by various groups including the NIH and even some private industry partners in the LGBTQIA community. These have everything to do from HIV, which we now... Because of research in HIV, we now have PrEP as a HIV prevention. We have also learned much about the transgender community and scientifically what that means to be transgender. We have learned about that genetics is not just X and Y when it comes to sex, that there's many different, [chuckle] iterations of sex chromosomes. And whether or not, and just because you have a Y chromosome doesn't necessarily mean that that Y chromosome is functional. We have learned much, and all of this is through the research that has been done over the last few decades in this community. We have...the research that has been done has really worked hard in focusing on equaling these disparities within testing and within the health conditions that do affect this community. Unfortunately, there are individuals out there who do not believe in what the research has produced. This research not only, has it been produced once but then has been repeated and you get the same results. And when you get the same results over and over again, that's when you consider that it's no longer research, it's now considered science. It is now considered that this is what we know and it becomes fact at that point. There are individuals that have said that things that are, we have now proven in science to be fact. Their beliefs think that they're not true. You are free to believe whatever you want to believe, but your belief does not dispute fact. And we've scientific fact that shows the differences that are inherent in this community and that this community needs to be treated with respect. That there are conditions and treatments that are inherent and necessary with this community. And using politics to prevent treatments in this community is a real disgrace.
When you have babies that are born with both genitalia one way or the other they will need hormone therapy. But that is now being denied. When you have individuals that are born with multiple more than two sex chromosomes, they need to have hormone therapy, and those individuals are being denied. There are many things that scientifically we now know scientifically we can now treat. Unfortunately, there are politics that are at play that are denying essential healthcare for these individuals, and this is healthcare that is necessary and needed. You can fight for your health rights and there are plenty of individuals out there who will fight with you.
Ariqa Everett:
How do societal attitudes, discrimination, and stigma impact health testing for LGBTQIA individuals?
Dr. Brandy Gunsolus:
So there is still quite a stigma on specific health testing, especially when it comes to HIV testing. For those that are old enough, you may remember that HIV hasn't always been called HIV, it was actually started as GRID or gay related immune deficiency. And there is still a stigma associated with getting tested for HIV, even though the vast majority of new HIV cases every year come from the heterosexual community and not from the gay community, there is still a substantial discrimination against the transgender community.
Most especially those that have documented where they've got chromosomal disorders that either they do not produce the hormone, whichever hormone they have, or they have both sex organs or they lack both sex organs or they have sex organs that do not work. And what I mean by do not work, I mean, they have ovaries that do not produce any form of hormone, or they have testes that do not produce any form of testosterone. There are unfortunate political and societal attitudes that have really caused major issues in this arena for people with real healthcare issues. And this is not a religious belief. This is a healthcare issue. These individuals need treatment and denying their treatment because of a political or religious belief is just, it's mind boggling to me. You can fight for your health treatment if you have a provider that refuses, find another provider.
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