LGBTQIA+ patients: A positive experience

As healthcare professionals the first thing we learn is to treat our patients with dignity and respect. Part of treating patients with dignity and respect is addressing them by the appropriate name and/or pronoun. In light of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual or allied (LGBTQIA+) Pride month we are going to discuss how to be respectful to the LGBTQIA community.

When in doubt, respectfully ask:

• What pronouns do you prefer?
• What name do you go by?
• What is the difference between Gender and Sex?
• Gender is one's chosen identity, regardless of biological traits. Sex is the biological traits one is born with; their chromosomes expressed as "XX", "XY" or other variations.
• Learn the terminology:
• L-Lesbian: women who are mainly emotionally and physically attracted to women
• G-Gay: one who is emotionally and physically attracted to a person of the same sex; often refers to men who are attracted to other men
• B-Bisexual: one who is emotionally and physically attracted to both women/females and men/males
• T-Transgender: people who identify or express their gender as the opposite of their biological birth sex
• Q-Queer/Questioning
• Queer: all-encompassing term, not gender or sex-specific, people who think of their sexual orientation or gender outside the societal norms
• Questioning: people in the process of figuring out their identity or sexual orientation
• I-Intersex: a person who was born with both male and female sex organs
• A-Asexual/Ally
• Asexual: a person who experiences little or no sexual attraction to others
• Ally: any person who actively support the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community, but is not a member of the community

Resources:

National LGBT Health Education Center, (Aug 2020). LGBTQIA+ Glossary of terms for health care teams. Retrieved from lgbtqiahealtheducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Glossary-2020.08.30.pdf