For one of my diary entries, I found that LGBTQIA+ people of color were more likely to get COVID-19 more than any other group, and this was not because of disregard of guidelines on their part, but because of a history of medical racism as well as homophobia that has caused this issue. Beginning with medical racism, this is not a problem that is unique solely for African Americans, all people of color can fall victim to this, but they are the minority that has been effected the most because of this system injustice. African Americans have suffered through poverty, segregation, poor living conditions, and more that can have a severe impact on their health, causing them to be more likely to get sick. However, they are unable to get the appropriate care they need because of income and lack of medical facilities near them. They make less money than their fellow white Americans, meaning they do not have enough income to pay these medical bills out of pocket, and they also get snubbed when it comes to insurance. In many southern states, they have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which means “African Americans and other people of color are most likely to fall within a coverage gap—meaning they earn too much to qualify for the traditional Medicaid program, yet not enough to be eligible for premium tax credits under marketplace plans” (“Racism, Inequality”). This is only one example out of many where people of color suffer because of the color of their skin.
Switching over, the LGBTQIA+ community has also faced discrimination for their identity. People in this community are more susceptible to mental illnesses, which can then lead to addictions, self harm, and other risky health decisions. This requires them to visit the doctor more than the average heterosexual person, but they still get mistreated. Mistreatment can include purposefully dead-naming or using wrong pronouns or straight up denial of services or less medical screenings. Because of the instances such as these, both of these groups on their own are more at risk, yet they are treated medically worse. If you were to combine the two, like with intersectionality, it is clear to see how these overlapping identities can lead to them being more at risk for diseases like COVID-19. All of this stems from years of racism and prejudice woven into laws and practices that made it seem like this was okay to do. Obviously since then, things have gotten better, but better doesn’t mean its fixed. It is clear to see that this issue is still affecting LGBTQIA+ POC today .
.
Works Cited
“Op-Ed: How We Can Address Homophobia at the Doctor’s Office”. Advocate, 27 July 2015, http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/07/27/op-ed-how-we-can-address-homophobia-doctors-office.
“Racism, Inequality, and Health Care for African Americans.” The Century Foundation, 19 Dec. 2019, https://tcf.org/content/report/racism-inequality-health-care-african-americans/.