Creating a welcoming office for LGBTQ patients

- Jennifer Middleton, MD, MPH

The current issue of AFP highlights "Caring for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Persons: What Clinicians Should Know" along with an accompanying editorial describing "The Responsibilities of Family Physicians to Our Transgender Patients." Both articles discuss the importance of tangibly demonstrating openness to transgender and gender-diverse persons by displaying "transgender-affirming materials," training staff regarding inclusive language and behavior, and adopting intake forms to offer more than just binary descriptors of "male" or "female." Several additional resources are available to family physicians to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals feel comfortable accessing healthcare in our offices.

The American Medical Association's Population Care website includes a page on creating an LGBT-friendly practice. The AMA emphasizes providing visual clues that your office is LGBTQ-friendly such as brochures, posters, and a nondiscrimination statement. There's a link to a podcast with more suggestions and information about listing your practice in the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) Provider Directory.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services' Adolescent Health website includes a section on Ensuring Inclusivity of of LGBTQ Youth. Their resources focus on inclusivity regarding contraception access and teen pregnancy prevention efforts. One handout stresses that "sexual identity is separate from sexual behavior" and cites data that LGBTQ teens are at higher risk of pregnancy than their heterosexual, cisgender peers.

Your office might also consider participating in a "Safe Zone" training session, described in more detail at the Safe Zone Project's website. LGBTQ individuals may seek out signs such as a "Safe Zone" emblem as a visual clue that they are in an accepting and affirming healthcare site.

We cannot deliver the best care to our communities if some members of our communities feel unsafe entering our offices. Educating ourselves - and our residents - is essential. The AAFP has a curriculum guide for family medicine residencies on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health, citing data that the majority of family medicine residents rate their training on LGBTQ health as "fair or poor."  The AFP By Topic on Care of Special Populations also includes a subheading on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Persons if you'd like to read more as well.