Queer people are facing oppression worldwide. A new perspective could help clinicians to provide a safe space and support individuals fleeing from hostile environments. Read more about what you can do to tackle this upcoming crisis.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and additional sexual and gender minority (LGBTQI+) people in every region of the world face marginalization and oppression. At least 67 countries ban sexual conduct between consenting adults of the same sex. According to a report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on LGBTQI+ people in forced displacement and statelessness, regressive laws that foster hostile environments for LGBTQI+ persons will most likely result in increasing numbers of such people fleeing their home countries and seeking sanctuary elsewhere.
While safety can sometimes be sought in neighboring countries, LGBTQI+ refugees and asylum-seekers often choose to migrate to countries with laws that explicitly protect their rights. “The journey to destinations perceived as safe can be perilous for LGBTQI+ migrants and asylum-seekers and reception in those countries can also result in further trauma and human rights violations. Consequently, clinicians need to be prepared to assess these unique stressors and how they affect the health of their refugee and asylum-seeking patient population”, say Carl G. Streed, Jr., MD, and Sarah Kimball, MD, both assistant professors of medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, in a perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Streed and Kimball believe clinicians need to be prepared to provide support for LGBTQI+ refugees and asylum-seekers facing the unique issues related to legal, social and cultural persecution based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Clinicians need to know how to probe and document experiences of childhood trauma; verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse; assault; discrimination; harassment; wrongful imprisonment and rape, by employing a trauma- and culturally informed approach.
“Through documentation of these issues at the individual and clinic-level, the picture of what LGBTQI+ individuals and communities face emerges”, say Streed and Kimball. In the context of rising anti-LGBTQI+ interpersonal violence and legislative hostility, the healthcare setting can serve as a safe and reparative space for refugees and asylum-seekers. “Beyond individual clinician training and patient care, clinics that serve LGBTQI+ refugees and asylum-seekers should develop medico-legal partnerships to ensure that immigration legal needs are addressed. Such partnerships have shown success in numerous critical outcomes, such as reducing patient stress and visits to the emergency room, while also improving housing outcomes and economic prospects in the communities they serve”, they add.
This article is based on a press release form the Boston University School of Medicine. Here you can find the original publication.
Image source: Teddy O, Unsplash
