5. Healthcare and medical issues. An outbreak of bacterial meningitis seems to be mostly killing gay men, which makes communities wonder if this will be similar to the AIDS crisis. Gay men can’t give blood, though this ban has been partly lifted in Canada. Many transgender people can’t afford the surgery that would help their bodies align with their inborn gender identities. Sixty-three percent of new HIV infections in the US are from men who have sex with other men. Lesbians can struggle to find doctors who are knowledgeable about their health issues. And, until there’s marriage equality, gay people can’t be on their spouse’s health insurance, which means many families can’t afford full health care coverage. Family Equality has a great resource helping LGBTs figure out what will change - and what won’t - when the Affordable Care Act kicks into gear.
There are, of course, many other issues — being a gay or transgender person in the prison system or while homeless or while a student in an unfriendly school; the indignities of gender testing or the hazards of coming out for LGBT athletes; the struggles of LGBTs who are religious or part of a more conservative ethnic community. The gay press (like The Washington Blade, The Wisconsin Gazette, the Dallas Voice, the Bay Area Reporter, and The Advocate) runs many, many of these stories — the mainstream press often does not. But they should — because there’s a lot more to the LGBT community than marriage.
