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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2002)
february 1 .2ÛÛ2 ? fr in a t l i v i d i m e w s f you are a lesbian, do you feel comfortable with your health care provider? Are you able to he out in your doctor’s office, or do you feel you must walk into a closet to get Volunteers compiling lesbian health decent health care? T he concern of two Portland lesbians might lead to an easier way of finding lesbian-friendly health care in the Port land metropolitan area. The two women want to help create a direc Erin Sexton accompanied a friend to a med tory similar to the one available through the ical appointment and was stunned when her W omen’s Therapy Project. This resource guide physician insisted the womans sexual orientation would provide information about traditional and was an iasignificant factor in her health care and alternative health care providers who offer a les bian-friendly atmosphere to clients. yelled at them. She knows now that “people ask their friends [about safe medical prac titioners], but if you’re new to town, it’s hit or miss.” Miriam Volpin learned about the plight of “a lesbian diagnosed with can cer who moved out of the area because she didn’t know of any resources local ly where she could get help being out.” Consulting a nationwide database to find any lesbian-friendly physicians around Portland, she found only one listing—one supportive physician in a community that boasts a large lesbian component. | Not that there aren’t more, but it’s | not that easy to find such a health 1 care provider. Most of them don’t “ have the phrase “lesbian-friendly” $ tacked up on their walls. Sexton works for the H am bleton Project, “Lesbians do not tend to their health needs which serves lesbians with cancer and other life- because of a fear that they won’t be in a safe place,” threatening conditions. She and Volpin, a vol Volpin says. A number of women agree with her. unteer, have decided on a course of action to Members of Hambleton and the Lesbian Q m m u- confront what both see as a serious lack of nity Project, intrigued by presentations made at resource information for Portland-area lesbians board meetings, have agreed to provide resources and volunteers to help make the directory a reality. seeking medical care. will it be for a lesbian to pass that first level, only to discover her health care provider is intolerant of her choices or ways of expressing her sexuality? Volpin also is concerned about lesbians who directory by Patricia L. MacAodha express gender ambiguity. How are they going to find doctors who understand the dilemma of a stone butch who has to undergo a vaginal exam? How does she go through this process with any Barbara Turrill, a Portland-area therapist and kind of comfort when she doesn’t even relate to member of the LCP board, heard about the project that part of her body? These are only a few of the through a presentation by Sexton. She thought the idea made sense and became involved as a challenges facing the women who have com mitted to this project. member of the steering committee. She especially Adequate financial support is vital; so is find is interested in how the project “will reflect accu rately who’s friendly and who’s ing enough interested volunteers to make it take off. Committees already exist to create a ques not friendly.” tionnaire, do outreach, develop marketing tech W hat does make a provider niques, oversee distribution and identify the best lesbian-friendly? How will the software to do the job. The time length estimated for pulling the "Lesbians do not tend to whole project together and having the guide their health needs because ready for publication is 18 months, but much depends on determining how it will be o f a fear that they won't financed. Fund-raising ideas are in process, including a search for appropriate grant be in a safe place" money. Kristan Aspen, LCP program director, — Miriam Volpin looks forward to this cooperative adven ture. She suggests the best thing is to get project address the variety of started, “and if we don’t end up with the money, we’ll put it on hold until we get the money.” J H different health care needs and many kinds of lesbian identities Volunteers should contact Erin Sexton at for the women to be at ease 503-335-659/ or hambletonproject@yahoo.com. with their providers? The next meeting will start 6:30 p.m. Feb. 20 in Simply being able to tell one’s doctor “1 am a les Room 329 at Portland State University’s Smith bian” or “My spouse is a woman” might be enough Memorial Center, 1825 S.W . Broadway. for some, but lesbians face a wider range of problems beyond this primary level of identification. P atricia L. M ac A odha is a Portland free-lance W hat about those who have piercings or writer. 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