Experiencing rejection and discrimination as a gay or bi man

Gay or bisexual men experience a variety of rejection by their family, friends and social environment for not being heterosexual. For this reason, gay or bisexual men can have a higher chance to develop mental health disorders, obesity, smoking and unsafe alcohol and drug use. This can come from being bullied on a daily basis, homophobic jokes or harassment, being assaulted on the street or having to hide a part of yourself in social situations because of the fear being rejected. Gay and bisexual men also experience many different types of stereotypes, too. For example, that they all have HIV.

Research shows that gay or bisexual men have reduced access to medical care if compared to heterosexuals. This has several different causes: Many gay or bisexual men have had bad experience with health care providers, due to homophobia shown by healthcare professionals.
Furthermore, health care providers, especially in rural areas, are not well informed about LGBTQ health issues. Also, gay men can have difficulties communicating with their health care provider because of the fear that they have a homophobic provider. All of these reasons lead to that gay men not wanting to go to screenings and are more likely to have higher levels of for example some cancers.

Health care providers who are working with gay and bi men should be empathetic and not make assumption that “all” gay and bi men have a high risk to have certain disease or mental disorders. Moreover, health care providers should not be heteronormative, meaning that they treat everyone as heterosexual. Rather they should be open to all sexual orientation and should make an effort to create an environment which is fair and appropriate for all sexualities and gender identities.