Ottawa Hospital creates research chair in gay men’s health
In Ottawa, one in five gay patients refuse to disclose their sexual orientation to their health care provider for fear of facing stigma, according to The Ottawa Hospital.
This is one of the reasons why The Ottawa Hospital Foundation wants to create a comprehensive health care program that will help improve access to appropriate care for gay men.
“Some patients will face judgment, especially in the face of their sexuality. Not just judgment, [but] some doctors simply will not understand the reality of gay men,” said Ottawa Hospital Foundation research assistant Maxime Charest.
Same-sex marriage has been legal for 12 years in Canada, but there are still many improvements to be made in the healthcare system to make it more accessible, according to Roberto Ortiz Núñez, director general of MAX, which promotes health among LGBT men.
“We still encounter a bit of heteronormativity, so they assume we have a wife, that we are going to have children. All the questions we are asked or are not being asked will have an impact on the services we are going to have,” Núñez said.