This report was released shortly after the third annual BiWeek , a campaign to accelerate acceptance for the bisexual community and raise awareness about the issues it faces. The report illustrates that bisexual people experience alarming rates of invisibility, societal rejection, violence, discrimination, and poor physical and mental health—often at rates higher than their lesbian and gay peers. Heron Greenesmith, Esq. This report should serve as a clarion call to policymakers and service providers across the country: In order to fully serve the LGBT community, we must also fully serve the bisexual community. This is me! I'm a parent!

Among LGBT Americans, bisexuals stand out when it comes to identity, acceptance



Lesbian and Bisexual Women's Health Issues | Johns Hopkins Medicine
Try out PMC Labs and tell us what you think. Learn More. In this article the author reviews research evidence on the prevalence of mental disorders in lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals LGBs and shows, using meta-analyses, that LGBs have a higher prevalence of mental disorders than heterosexuals. The author offers a conceptual framework for understanding this excess in prevalence of disorder in terms of minority stress —explaining that stigma, prejudice, and discrimination create a hostile and stressful social environment that causes mental health problems. The model describes stress processes, including the experience of prejudice events, expectations of rejection, hiding and concealing, internalized homophobia, and ameliorative coping processes. This conceptual framework is the basis for the review of research evidence, suggestions for future research directions, and exploration of public policy implications. The study of mental health of lesbian, gay, and bisexual LGB populations has been complicated by the debate on the classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder during the s and early s.


Stigma and Discrimination
Homophobia, stigma negative and usually unfair beliefs , and discrimination unfairly treating a person or group of people against gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men still exist in the United States and can negatively affect the health and well-being of this community. These negative beliefs and actions can affect the physical and mental health of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, whether they seek and are able to get health services, and the quality of the services they may receive. Such barriers to health must be addressed at different levels of society, such as health care settings, work places, and schools to improve the health of gay and bisexual men throughout their lives.



Learn more. Research has shown that the following are some of the most common health concerns faced by lesbian and bisexual women. While they may not all apply to everyone, they are important concerns for lesbian and bisexual women and their health care providers to be aware of.