Cancer in the LGBTQ Community

Cancer is a complicated disease with multiple points of study and intervention, expressed as a cancer continuum. The sequence varies between health departments and organizations, but is generally understood to include prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and end-of-life care. This falsely suggests that all cancer patients move along each step of this line, but not every cancer has a known risk factor and not all cancers lead to death; some people enter the continuum at the point of diagnosis. LGBTQ people, however, experience disparities at every point on the cancer continuum. Accepted wisdom suggests that “cancer doesn’t discriminate,” but the health care system that provides care often does, and early experiences of discrimination by LGBTQ people increase their later risk for multiple types of cancer. ...