Caring for Lesbian and Gay People

What should you say if your patient is struggling with her sexuality? How do you respond to your married patient when he discloses to you his same-sex sexual history? To which medical studies do you turn when you need to know more about club drugs? As physicians and health professionals, you want to provide the best possible care for your patients, but medical schools and other health care teaching institutions do not generally provide comprehensive information on how to approach caring for sexual-minority patients. Allan D. Peterkin and Cathy Risdon have written Caring for Lesbian and Gay People – the first medical guide to offer busy clinicians practical, accessible, and evidence-based information to help in the care of gay and lesbian patients.

The authors begin with an overview of the history of medical relations with lesbian and gay patients, providing advice and guidelines for strengthening the doctor-patient relationship and raising the standard of care for all patients. The book then delves into a range of specific clinical issues, such as risk profiles for particular illnesses, screening for and managing sexually transmitted infections, and HIV in the primary care setting. Subsequent chapters cover such wide-ranging topics as mental health care and the effect of homophobia on relationships, same-sex parenting, the role that body image plays in health, and unique populations, such as lesbian and gay ethno-racial minorities, the transgendered, rural lesbian and gay people, and elders. Each chapter includes practical tips (advice on inclusive language, for example) and summaries, along with references, of written and online resources. Comprehensive and detailed, this work covers physical and mental health across the life cycle, with equal emphasis on women's and men's health.

Based on more than twenty years of patient care and contributions to medical education and community development, this indispensable resource will greatly heighten the quality of care clinicians, health care practitioners, and educators can provide to their patients, and will in turn provide patients and consumers with the means to take an active role in their own health care.

Allan D. Peterkin is a professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Toronto, where he heads the Program in Health, Arts and Humanities.


Cathy Risdon is a professor and chair in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University.