Being openly gay saves lives by facing down fear

[davidinalameda]

http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0511/21/A09-388116.htm

After painstakingly hiding his gay feelings since boyhood, radiologist Wayne Wolfson finally got the shove he needed to begin his journey out of the closet -- a heart attack.

The none-too-subtle warning two years ago that life is short prompted Wolfson to tell his secret to close friends, a married couple who directed him to a gay-friendly psychologist. This time, it was the physician who got the doctor's order: Head directly to Affirmations, Metro Detroit's gay community center.

There, after circling the building five times on a wintry Saturday morning, Wolfson, then 47, ducked into "Coming Out Over Coffee," an informal drop-in session in which people of all ages and backgrounds share the fears, hopes and joys that accompany the first scary steps toward being a self-respecting openly gay person.

[Stepup2]

1. Stress in its many guises is

a powerful force and is often predictive of poor health outcomes.

Studies conducted in communities of color have demonstrated the matrix of stress, discrimination and/or fear of discrimination can be deadly. IMO it is not too far an extrapolation to make the assertion the studies conducted in communities of color hold correlations for members of GLBT community as well. As invisible minorities, it is easy to take for granted what you give up to stay in the closet...things like your health.

Research into the relationship between perceptions of discrimination and health outcomes is long overdue in the GLBT community. As far as I know, GLBT is yet to be included as a special population at the CDC, although here is a mention on the website.

The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association has a website and a service to assist people in locating GLBT friendly providers in a given region.

http://www.glma.org/