and bisexuals, folks who enjoy S/M, who have body
modifications such as piercings or tattoos, who crossdress,
who are sex workers, who have multiple partners, who
are transgendered, who engage in fetish behaviors are
not getting the health care they need and deserve. For
some, of course, the problem is financial: many such folk
are too far out of the mainstream; they lack conventional
jobs that offer medical insurance and cannot afford to buy
their own. And many more are fearful of being judged,
lectured to, mistreated or perhaps even reported to
their employers, their spouses or the police if they seek
medical help for even the most ordinary of complaints.
Simple problems fester until they become chronic, serious,
or even life-threatening.
medicine. Some of the people I meet have spent a small
fortune on herbal remedies without much improvement,
but still refuse to see a mainstream physician. While I'd
be the last one to trash alternative medicine, I find it
unfortunate when anyone overlooks important potential
treatments simply because they're administered by the
medical establishment they distrust.
active, employed or un- deserve competent, caring,
nonjudgmental health care. Nobody should be harmed,
suffer unnecessary pain or illness or injury, because their
sexual behavior makes them too fearful or ashamed to seek
treatment. It is well beyond the time for sexual minorities