Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Windows - September 21, 2006
Ethan Jacobs, ejacobs@baywindows.com
For people looking for a primary care physician, one good place to start is the Fenway Community Health Center (7 Haviland Street, Boston, 617.267.0900), which offers a range of both medical and mental health services aimed primarily at the LGBT community.
"One of the things that's good about the Fenway, we have doctors who are culturally competent in all aspects of the LGBT community," said Phil Finch, Fenway's vice-president of communications and development. "We have doctors who are gay men. We have doctors who are lesbian women. We have doctors who have years of experience with the transgender community."
The Fenway offers STD screenings, including confidential walk-in HIV testing on Wednesday afternoons. And for all their services Finch said Fenway has a policy of not turning anyone away because of an inability to pay.
"We take all major health insurance programs. If people are not able to pay or they don't have insurance they can work with people in our financial service area to put together a program," said Finch.
For young people, specifically those ages 13 to 29, another option for culturally competent healthcare is the Sidney Borum, Jr., Health Center (130 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.457.8150), a program of JRI Health. The center focuses on providing healthcare to underserved youth populations, including LGBT youth, and it provides a full range of services from primary care to mental health services to HIV counseling and testing to substance abuse counseling.
Another resource for people searching for LGBT-friendly health care is the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA). GLMA's web site (glma.org) includes a directory of providers specializing in everything from general practice to OBGYN to dentistry to mental health to HIV/AIDS care. Searchers can also narrow their search to providers knowledgeable in transgender health issues, as well providers who are knowledgeable about and supportive of alternative sex practices like BD/SM, leather and other fetishes. The GLMA web site warns that while all providers on the site have "indicated a commitment to non-judgmental care of LGBT patients," GLMA does not do background checks on the providers, so use the site at your own risk. Also, GLMA is currently redesigning its database, so the search function may not always work properly. If you have trouble using the database you may have to contact GLMA directly to get a list of providers in your area.
For gay and bisexual men, another local health resource is AIDS Action's Men's Action Life Empowerment (MALE) Center (571 Columbus Ave., Boston, 617.450.1987). The MALE Center is a wellness center that offers free confidential rapid HIV testing by appointment only Tuesdays and Thursdays. The center also holds social events, movie nights and other programs bringing together gay and bi men to socialize and to discuss issues in gay and bi men's health.
For members of the transgender community, finding healthcare can be an even greater challenge. Beyond finding primary care physicians experienced with transgender patients, there's also the difficulty of finding mental health practitioners, endocrinologists, surgeons and other providers who specialize in transgender care. Beyond the above-mentioned resources, one way to get plugged into the network of trans-friendly providers is to visit the website of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC, on the web at masstpc.org), which features a Wiki resource where people post information on transgender-related resources, including information on transgender healthcare providers. Anyone can add or edit information to the Wiki, so visitors to the site have posted both positive and negative experiences about many of the providers listed.
MTPC also offers specific resources for college and high school students seeking information about transgender-related resources, including health resources. M. Barusch, MTPC's clerk and a Boston University School of Law student, coordinates an MTPC e-mail list for college and high school students, and she said the list is a great way for students to find out if there are any providers with experience working with transgender patients at their school's health center. In many cases Barusch said even if there are supportive providers, health center staff may not know who they are or where to direct trans students. On the student e-mail list Barusch said there are students who can direct their peers to the trans-friendly services on their campus.
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