1 in 6 of us avoids medical care because of homophobia

[Darryl]

Dear Friends:

It's 2017 and 1 in 6 LGBTQ people report being personally discriminated against when visiting a doctor, and nearly 1 in 5 say they’ve even avoided seeking medical care for fear of discrimination. In 1997, the percentage was, no doubt, much higher.

There were no gay men and prostate cancer support groups of any kind in 1997. In 1997, there was a series of informal meetings at one of our community members' apartments, and soon after, a formal meeting, regularly scheduled and community managed gay men and prostate cancer support group...the first of its kind in the world. That group was led by me, under the auspices of a "national" prostate cancer nonprofit, which kicked us out of their system soon after we began as a group for gay men. Malecare was created to fill that gap. And, boy, have we done a lot of good. We started the field of LGBT psycho-oncology and encouraged research specific to gay men and prostate cancer. Over 80 peer reviewed papers have been published, in addition to three books and numerous oncology conference presentations. Our Gay Men and Prostate Cancer support group model has been emulated from Australia to much of Europe. And we created the first groups just for men with advanced stage prostate cancer. But, with our growth has come with costs and we must cover them with your donations. Please don't leave the growth of our movement in the hands of "the next guy." The maxim, "If not me, then who" has formed the spine of my life as a social worker. Please take responsibility and donate to help grow our Gay Men and Prostate Cancer community. Please donate at: malecare.org/donate