Dear Editor,

With the recent article making the rounds regarding Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton’s statement about having no room for LGBTQ+ discrimination in the health sector, questions have been asked as to whether this assurance is reasonable.

The statement came while addressing a Gleaner Editors’ Forum looking at issues surrounding access to mental health care by LGBTQ+ Jamaicans last Wednesday.

For years, the marginalisation and discrimination experienced by LGBTQ+ people have contributed to the very barriers in accessing health and social services which, by extension, are exacerbated by the fact that many health-care workers lack the necessary knowledge and abilities to treat with and care for people from the community.

Similarly, it would not be the first time an assurance like this is being given regarding the position of non-discrimination within the health ministry. In 2017 for instance, while addressing a reception hosted by the LGBTQ+ lobby group Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) and Viiv Healthcare Positive Action Programme for participants in public health, Tufton said his ministry will cater to the health-care needs of all Jamaicans and does not condone any form of stigma and discrimination in the public health-care system. Fast-forward four years later, can we say that this promise has been fulfilled in its entirety?

To date, it has been noticed that stereotypes of all kinds can have an impact on the way LGBTQ+ people living with mental health issues are treated, both within the LGBTQ+ community and within the mental health system. People who identify as LGBTQ+, who also happen to have mental health issues, often experience a double stigma or dual alienation in which they feel they are not accepted within the mental health community because of their LGBTQ+ identities and are also not accepted within the LGBTQ+ community because of their mental health issues.

We need more practical interventions as opposed to just promises and commitments. We need more policies to better serve and protect our community on the basis of non-discrimination and access to services afforded to all regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, health status, etc.

In an effort to help combat this issue, there needs to be a more inclusive strategy, focused solely on mental health to encapsulate the specific mental health needs related to gender identity and sexual orientation as a priority. The strategy should seek to facilitate increased understanding by professionals and the public of the differences in mental health related to gender and sexual orientation as well as improve the capacity of LGBTQ+ organisations to address the stigma of mental illness and to work with local mental health stakeholders to support the community.

Lamar Grant

Policy, Advocacy & Research Officer

TransWave Jamaica

lamar@tranwaveja.org