Act Queer! Teleconference: Healthcare Agenda for the LGBTQ Community
This is the first of a new monthly teleconference series called Act Queer! QEJ has started as a part of our national public education work. The purpose of Act Queer! is to connect grassroots LGBTQ racial and economic justice organizations with national queer and/or allied coalitions and organizations to share information and strategies on racial and economic justice issues.
Our May 21, 2009 teleconference was on what the healthcare debate means for queer communities.
To hear the each presenter, press play on the audio player. Read materials from each presenter just below the audio player.
Katie Gjertson, AFL-CIO Health Care Reform Now. Reviews the timeline of the upcoming health care bill, how the plan is likely to be structured, Labor’s role in reform and their position on H.R. 676 (the universal coverage bill also in Congress).
Health Care for America Now June 25 Lobby Day Flyer
AFL-CIO Health Care Reform talking Points
Eesha Pandit, MergerWatch/Raising Women’s Voices. The fight to protect reproductive health access in the health care reform, how reproductive justice issues in the legislation also impact LGBTQ folks, and grassroots efforts to impact the healthcare debate.
Materials from Raising Women’s Voices:
Principles for Quality, Affordable Health Care for All
Rebecca Fox, National Coalition on LGBT Health. LGBT inclusion in healthcare reform, and the strategies being used to ensure LGBT issues are included in reform, expanding definition of family for coverage, and advocacy for transgender specific care.
Materials from National Coalition on LGBT Health:
Guiding Principles for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Inclusion in Healthcare Reform
Ajamu Sankofa, Private Health Insurance Must Go Coalition. Focuses on the history of a single-payer system, fallacies of the so-called public/private option and that the Conyers plan and Sanders plan are the plans that would end the crisis.
Materials from Private Health Insurance Must Go:
Recent Bill Moyers Show on Single-Payer Health Care Debate (video)
April 2009 Protest: Your Ass Isn’t Covered (Youtube Video)
If you have questions, comments, or know of other resources or events related to this topic, please feel free to post in the comments section!
Tell Your Senators to Support LGBT Data Collection in National Health Survey!
Contact Your Senators and Urge Them to Support an LGBT Demographic Question to the National Health Interview Survey
The addition of an LGBT demographic question to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) would provide more accurate and complete data on LGBT communities, which would allow federal prevention appropriations and programming to target vulnerable LGBT populations.
Thanks to advocacy efforts, 46 Representatives in the House supported the addition of an LGBT question to the NHIS. Now Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) is circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter in the Senate to rally support for appropriating the $2 million necessary to add this question to the NHIS. Contact your Senator today to ask them to sign o nto the Whitehouse Letter in the Senate. To contact your Senator, please call the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121, tell them your state, and ask to speak to your Senator. When you are connected to your Senator’s office, ask for the staff member who works on Health and Human Services appropriations.
Tell them that you are a constituent who supports appropriating an additional $2 million for the National Health Interview Survey and that you would like them to sign on. In order to sign on, they need to contact Jordanna Davis in Senator Whitehouse’s office by close of business on Friday, May 1.
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
Persistent gaps in information about the gay men, bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) - including gay men and MSM of color - mean that fewer than 8% of gay and bisexual men surveyed in 15 cities received group-level HIV prevention services and only 15% received individual-level interventions.
The bottom line is 85-92% of all MSM at risk for HIV do not encounter prevention intervention services. Most transwomen, also, experience exclusion from prevention programs, and the rate of HIV in this hard hit community is estimated to be as high as 69% (limited data available suggests a range of 14-69% transwomen HIV prevalence).
We need accurate and complete data on LGBT communities, so that federal prevention appropriations and programming will target the communities that bear a disproportionate burden of HIV risk and vulnerability.
Demand Congress Count LGBT People! We have less than a 48 hour window to call for LGBT health data collection!
Thanks to advocacy efforts, 46 Representatives in the House supported the addition of an LGBT question to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Now Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) is leading the charge in the Senate to rally support for appropriating the $2 million necessary to add this question to the NHIS that guides health policy, funding and programs nationwide.
As of Friday, April 24, only 1 of 100 Senators signed on to support LGBT health data collection!
Call your Senators now. Tell them that to end AIDS, LGBT people cannot be ignored in federal surveys any longer. Ask your Senators to sign on to the Sen. Whitehouse “Dear Colleague” letter about LGBT health data collection by Tuesday, April 28.
Contact your both of your Senators by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 (two calls). Tell the operator your state and ask to speak to your Senator. When you are connected to your Senator’s office, ask for the staff member who works on Health and Human Services appropriations.
To locate your U.S. senators’ names, click here.
Talking points
- I urge you to sign on to support the Sen. Whitehouse letter asking for LGBT data collection in the largest federal health survey, the National Health Interview Survey.
- LGBTs have many acknowledged health disparities, but until the federal health surveys stop ignoring us, our hands will be tied in getting the data that’s needed to eliminate these disparities.
- VERY IMPORTANT: For the Senator to join this important effort, please contact Jordanna Davis in Senator Whitehouse’s office by close of business on Tuesday, April 28th.
This is the springboard to getting LGBT people on the Census, and it’s the single thing that would completely change LGBT health overall. So please call your Senators now and insist they sign on to this letter!
Call Script
My name is [NAME], and I live in [CITY, STATE]. Thanks for taking my call. I’m calling to encourage Senator [SENATOR'S NAME] to sign on to the Sen. Whitehouse “Dear Colleague” letter about LGBT health data collection by Tuesday, April 28th. LGBT people have many health disparities, including high rates of HIV. Until the federal health surveys stop ignoring LGBT, our hands will be tied in getting the data that’s needed to eliminate them. For the Senator to join this important effort, please contact Jordanna Davis in Senator Whitehouse’s office by close of business on Tuesday, April 28th. Thank you.
Please make your calls by Tuesday, April 28th. Let us know how your call went by emailing champ@champnetwork.org.
Thanks for taking action,
Vanessa and all of us at CHAMP.