Researchers have hypothesized that lesbians are at higher risk for breast cancer than are heterosexual women due to higher rates of risk factors such as obesity, alcohol consumption, nulliparity, and lower rates of breast cancer screening. Among gay men, high rates of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) were some of the first illustrated indicators of AIDS. New York and California cancer registries and the National Death Index found gay and bisexual men to be at increased risk for anal cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and Hodgkin’s disease. Survival time among gay men with cancer may also be lower than the general population; in 1996 Koblin found five-year survival rates for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (9.8%) and Hodgkin’s disease (32.8%), much shorter then the expected national rates (50.2% and 75.7%, respectively). This is most likely due to the related HIV/AIDS co-morbidity, delayed detection and treatment, poor communication between health providers and patients, and consequence of the barriers to healthcare access (Dean. L. et al, 2000). The HIV epidemic for gay men has caused life-threatening opportunistic infections, malignancies, and mental health issues but the use of “Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapies” (HAART) has sharply reduced AIDS deaths and opportunistic infections. The stigma associated with STIs in general and with homosexuality makes the statistics of prevalence rates on STIs among MSMs almost completely unavailable. Regarding family planning, the National Lesbian Health Care Survey showed that 27% of respondents said their current providers had assumed they were heterosexual, 16% felt they could not disclose their sexuality to their providers, and 11% said providers had “forced” birth control on them (Dean. L. et al, 2000).

Adolescents and young adults (ages 13-24) are the single most likely group to contract an STI. Other studies have shown that adolescent MSMs show markedly higher rates of unprotected receptive anal sex than do older MSMs and that sex with older people is highly correlated with exposure to HIV (Dean. L. et al, 2000).

A range of mental health issues trouble the LGBT population some of which are: Gender Identity Disorder (GID), physicians see GID as a “risk factor” for homosexuality and may attempt to treat it aggressively via ‘reparative’ therapy; suicidal ideations; eating disorders; alcohol & substance abuse; and stress (Dean. L. et al, 2000). Meyer (2003) describes LGBT stress as a unique type of stress that marginalized population face, saying that minority stress is unique (additive to general stressors that are experienced by all people and requires further adaptation), chronic, and socially based (stemming from social processes, institutions, and structures beyond the individual rather than individual events or conditions).