Cancer is awful no matter who gets it. Yet there are few tailored cancer resources for LGBTQI+ people, although an estimated 81,000 of us are diagnosed with it every year. That’s why the National LGBT Cancer Network is launching a new survey to help inform cancer care for the LGBTQI+ population.
Out: The National Cancer Survey, seeks to learn about LGBTQI+ experiences of cancer treatment and survivorship. Scout, the executive director of the National LGBT Cancer Network and principal investigator for the study (and also a transgender father of three), explained in a press statement:
We ran a smaller scale survivor survey years ago and the insights were profound, people telling us how their families would shun them, how they had to drive miles out of their way to find a welcoming provider, how their partners weren’t really made to feel welcome. This time we hope to get a larger and more diverse group of respondents, to really get a picture of what healthcare is like for our people right now.
Another project goal is to receive enough responses to publish a report on the experiences of Black and Brown LGBTQI+ cancer survivors. The Center for Black Equity is a major partner for the study. “Too often my community is not represented adequately in research, but our experiences are not the same as others, we need to elevate and explore those differences,” said President/CEO Earl D. Fowlkes, Jr.
“We want to use these findings to educate healthcare professionals, and show that as a whole, we are not adequately caring for this population. We need to do better for our LGBTQI+ patients diagnosed and living with cancer,” said Jason Domogauer, M.D., Ph.D., resident physician in the Department of Radiation Oncology at NYU, and a member of the study Advisory Board.
If you are an LGBTQI+ person who has/had cancer, please consider taking part in the survey. It takes about 30 minutes and your answers are completely anonymous.
No, this is not specifically related to parenting, like most of my posts. But I lost both of my parents to cancer, and I wouldn’t wish that on any family, queer or otherwise. If you can help by taking the survey or spreading the word about it, please do.
