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The rise of LGBT healthIt was the norm for medical practitioners to view homosexuality in a pathological perspective, as homosexuality was included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders up to the early seventies of the last century. In 1973 homosexuality was removed from the DSM (Rose, L. 1994). The women’s liberation movement challenged societal assumptions on gender roles and identities and empowered the gay liberation movement to demand civil liberties for sexual minorities. By the 1980s there existed a number of networked clinics, mental health programs and provider groups that aimed to improve sexual minorities’ health. These loosely knit organizations noticed a high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among MSMs (men who have sex with men), and recognized the need for safer sex interventions. In the mid 1980s, in USA and many other countries, when the AIDS epidemic was brought to attention, federal health services and sexual minority health centers joined to provide counseling and care to those living with HIV/AIDS. A decade later, approximately 100 organizations collaborated to form the National Coalition for LGBT health which aimed to advocate for these causes. In the USA, Department of Health and Human Services recognized these issues when it included lesbians and gay men as a group that faces health disparities in Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health, and gave support to the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (Mayer et al, 2008). In Lebanon, a program named the National AIDS Program (NAP) was established in the early 90’s to promote awareness on safe sex practices and on STIs/HIV/AIDS, and also to provide clinical counseling for population at risk and LGBT community. |
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