Summary
The social alienation of gays and lesbians resulting from homophobia causes certain health problems, such as stress and substance abuse. Homophobic attitudes among physicians affect the quality of health care given to gays and lesbians.
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Extract
Homophobia is a health hazard.
TO A LARGE EXTENT, American society has made gay men and lesbians the brunt of multiple levels of prejudice, with negative assumptions about their morality, trustworthiness, employability, and integrity. (Similar accusations have been made against African-Americans, Jews, and other ethnic groups.) As a result, gay men and lesbians developed a hidden subculture among themselves that only recently has become much more open, and now weaves throughout all segments of society. Surveys of the homosexual community suggest that medical practitioners may lack knowledge of the issues salient in the lives of gay men and lesbians and inadvertently and sometimes purposely have alienated their patients. The gay and lesbian community is much more visible today and is asking for health care that recognizes its unique medical demographic profile and is provided with the same degree of knowledge, sensitivity, and respect afforded other segmeets of America's large and diverse society. Homophobia is defined as the "unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality." It operates on two levels: internally and externally. internal homophobia represents prejudices that individuals incorporate into their belief systems as they grow up in societies biased against gays and lesbians. External homophobia is the overt expression of those biases, ranging from social avoidance to legal and reli...
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