Health Seeking Behaviors of LGBTQ+ Community Members
Open Access DepositedAccess to Affirming Physical and Mental Healthcare
The current literature states the percentage of adults in the United States (US) who identify as lesbian, gay, and bisexual is approximately 9.3%, and this percentage has nearly tripled from 3.5% in 2012 (Jones, 2025). An increase in adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ+) has resulted in greater representation as recipients and consumers of healthcare (Mitchell et al., 2023). LGBTQ+ adults experience significant disparities in access to physical and mental healthcare, yet the current literature fails to examine the combined influence of overlapping social identities. Using an intersectional framework (Crenshaw, 1991), the current study examined how sexual orientation, gender identity, and race/ethnicity predicted access to physical and mental healthcare among LGBTQ+ adults living in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Using data from Rainbow Families’ LGBTQ+ Community Needs Assessment (N = 441), logistic regression analyses determined that White LGBTQ+ participants, more specifically White lesbian cis women, White bisexual cis women, and White gay cis men, reported reduced access to physical and mental healthcare compared to LGBTQ+ people of color. Although unexpected, increased access to physical and mental healthcare for LGBTQ+ people of color potentially influenced by access to Whitman Walker-Health, a LGBTQ+ focused federally qualified health center, and mandated LGBTQ+ cultural competency training for all healthcare providers in Washington, D.C. Study limitations included convenience sampling in addition to an overrepresentation of White participants and small subsamples of trans and BIPOC participants, limiting generalizability of findings. Findings underscore the importance of intersectional analyses in LGBTQ+ health research and highlight the need for expanded provider training, systemic policy changes, and targeted interventions to ensure equitable access to affirming physical and mental healthcare services for LGBTQ+ adults.
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