Government ‘lagging on gay health’

Gay and lesbian health is fast becoming a battleground for the next election with a new national lobby group created to pressure the federal government.

The Health Alliance, composed mostly of AIDS Councils including ACON, has been formed to set a national agenda for GLBT health and lobby on the federal stage.

The Alliance claims the health inequities of the GLBT community have been ignored by governments because of a systemic denial of sexual identity in publicly funded data.

They have demanded a question on sexual identity be included in the 2011 Census and in all research funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council.

“When we identify the immediate issues for the community, like aging or drugs and alcohol, they ask us where’s the evidence that GLBT people are affected,” Victorian AIDS Council general manager Mike Kennedy said.

“That evidence isn’t being recorded in public research because funding applications approved by governments haven’t considered sexuality, except in areas of HIV and STIs.”

Kennedy said the alliance sprang from a recent meeting of AIDS Councils to discuss agendas for the upcoming election.

“A number of the issues weren’t specifically HIV/AIDS-related, but social determinants of health for the broader gay and lesbian community,” he said.

The key issues identified by the alliance are aging, sexual health, drugs and alcohol, mental health, violence and homophobia, indigenous health, rural issues, relationship recognition and discrimination.

“It’s really clear in the run-up to the election that both sides of politics have already flagged mental health and drugs and alcohol as significant issues for the campaign,” Kennedy said.

He points to community-specific research such as the Private Lives study from La Trobe University to demonstrate that alcohol and tobacco rates are higher in the GLBT community than the general population.

“We’re also hearing anecdotally there are barriers that GLBT people experience in trying to get access to existing services,” Kennedy added.

The Alliance has also called for changes to legislation that financially discriminates against same-sex couples entering aged care.

ACON is one of the member organisations, having moved away from an HIV/AIDS-only focus to include broader GLBT health.

A formal launch will take place in Canberra in August.