What barriers can sometimes prevent lesbians from having access to good healthcare?
There are many barriers that prevent lesbians from gaining access to adequate healthcare services. Some of these barriers include: • homophobia, a fear or hatred of homosexuals, which could result in a healthcare professional refusing to provide care to a lesbian; • heterosexism, or assuming that everyone is heterosexual; • other types of prejudice such as racism and sexism or biases against people living in poverty, or against immigrants; • healthcare professionals who are not trained in the healthcare needs of lesbians; • a bad experience in the past with a healthcare professional and/or the healthcare system; and • disinformation, or misconceptions about the health problems that could affect lesbians and the importance of screening tests. Lesbians as well as healthcare professionals can have these misconceptions. These barriers can result in poor health care. For example, a health practitioner may propose birth control methods to a lesbian patient who does not need them. A doctor ma
