BOOKS
A Diverse Look at LGBTQ Health
Editor Adrian Shanker joined by contributors at virtual forum
BY SHARON PAPO
The COVID-19 pandemic
has placed conversations
of health equity back at
the forefront of our lives.
The emergence of a new virus that
quickly swept the world and took
more than 100,000 American lives
has caused many of us to think
about the importance of accessing
healthcare when we need it.
The release of a critically acclaimed
new anthology, “Bodies
and Barriers: Queer Activists on
Health,” out now from PM Press, a
Bay Area independent publisher, is
timely. This book includes essays
by 26 queer activists from around
the world. Contributing authors
write about barriers to affi rming
health care for LGBTQ people of
all ages. From informed consent
for intersex children, to social service
navigation for the queer community,
to caregiving concerns for
LGBTQ older adults, this book is
comprehensive and relevant for
these scary times we are living
through.
In a virtual event at the Bureau
of General Services — Queer Division
(bgsqd.com) on September 17
at 7 p.m., the book’s editor, Adrian
Shanker, who is the executive director
of the Bradbury-Sullivan
LGBT Community Center in Allentown,
Pennsylvania, will moderate
a conversation with contributors
Laura Jacobs, a trans and genderqueer
psychotherapist who writes
about transgender people accessing
care; Liz Margolies, the founder
and executive director of the National
LGBT Cancer Network who
writes about cancer among community
members; Atticus Ranck,
a health program education coordinator
at the New York State Department
of Health AIDS Institute
who writes about addiction and recovery;
and Dr. Imani Woody, the
president of Mary’s House for Older
Adults in Washington who writes
about health and housing for LGBTQ
elders.
In an afterword to “Bodies and
Barriers,” Kate Kendell, who led
the National Center for Lesbian
Adrian Shanker, editor of “Bodies and Barriers: Queer Activists on Health.”
“Bodies and Barriers” is out now from PM Press.
Rights for 22 years, wrote:
PM PRESS
Throughout my career, I’ve been
involved with some of the LGBT
movement’s greatest fi ghts: marriage
equality, nondiscrimination in
the workplace, parenting rights, inclusion
in sports, ending conversion
therapy, protecting youth, elders,
and LGBT families. The common
thread that links all these issues is
health and well-being. It is not possible
to be a healthy, vital person if
you are under assault for who you
are. Precisely because so many
LGBT individuals struggle with stigma,
safety, acceptance, and belonging,
COURTESY OF MICHELE KARLSBERG
many in our community still
struggle with high rates of mental
and physical health challenges.
Despite the odds, our movement
for LGBT liberation has come far. In
my 22 years leading the National
Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), I
had a front-row seat to our national
progress. Out of nothing and in the
face of hostility from our own government
we built the HIV/ AIDS
infrastructure in the 1980s to fi ght
back and save our men and everyone
impacted by the pandemic.
When I started at the NCLR in the
1990s, LGBT parents routinely lost
custody of their children as they
came out of heterosexual marriages.
Now, sexual orientation is not a
basis for losing custody. In the early
2000s, many openly wondered if
we should fi ght for the freedom to
marry or if such a fi ght would be
successful in their lifetimes. In 2015,
we won marriage nationwide at the
U.S. Supreme Court.
We’ve come a long way from the
time when LGBT people were dying
left and right from a treatable virus
to witnessing some of those early
AIDS activists marrying longtime
partners. But the LGBT community
still experiences open hostility and
disregard from health care professionals,
some LGBT health needs
are still not covered equitably by
health insurers, and policy makers
still sometimes lack the political will
to advocate for equitable policies for
our community.
From obstetricians refusing to
treat lesbians, to gay men being
ridiculed for wanting a prescription
for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP),
health care professionals can do
better. Policy makers can do better.
All of us can do better.
Our movement for equality, for
liberation, has been breathtaking in
its gains. But we still fi ght for our
humanity, our health, and our happiness.
The priority for a new generation
must be the health of every
one of us and the promise of a long,
healthy, fully embraced life.
I recently had the opportunity to
chat with the book’s editor, Adrian
Shanker, about “Bodies and Barriers.”
SHARON PAPO: Why was it important
to you to edit this book?
ADRIAN SHANKER: The US
government defi nes health equity
as “the attainment of the highest
levels of health for all people.”
Health equity is a dream not yet
realized. For LGBTQ people, many
of us have had negative experiences
seeking healthcare. But the
training programs that students in
health professionals receive often
don’t share our stories. As healthcare
consumers, LGBTQ people’s
stories need to be heard — and
we need healthcare workers and
policy makers to hear them. “Bodies
and Barriers: Queer Activists
on Health” weaves together diverse
stories that need to be heard.
PAPO: The book was released
just as COVID-19 started to affect
us. Are there any lessons in the
book that apply to this time we are
living through?
SHANKER:Obviously the book
was written and edited before
COVID-19, however it is very relevant
in this moment. No, COVID-19
doesn’t somehow have better gaydar
than our own community and
seek out queer people’s bodies to
infect. But LGBTQ people are absolutely
more vulnerable to this vi-
➤ BODIES AND BARRIERS, continued on p.34
September 10 - September 23, 2 32 020 | GayCityNews.com
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