Top 10 LGBTQ+ healthcare businesses
LGBTQ+ healthcare has long been unequal across the world. Despite improvements over the last decade, there is plenty more work to be done with regards to issues LGBT+ people face such as HIV stigma, mental health and end-of-life care.
This Pride Month, as businesses echo the benefits of diversity and inclusion within the workplace, it is paramount to consider equalities within healthcare too. Healthcare Digital therefore considers pioneering LGBTQ+ healthcare organisations who continue to champion and be active change agents for the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ individuals around the globe.
10: Mermaids
HQ: Leeds, UK
CEO (interim): Lauren Stoner
Twitter: @Mermaids_Gender
Mermaids is a UK based charity that supports transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children, young people, and their families. Last year Mermaids supported over 4000 people, and reached over 350 professionals working with young people.
The organisation was founded in 1995 by a group of parents of gender nonconforming children as a support group, and it became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in 2015.
It also works to educate and inform wider society on gender identity by helping professionals accommodate and reassure gender-diverse young people, alongside providing an advisory liaison service with EHRC, DofE, GEO and other agencies to help identify and combat poor practice.
9: Callen-Lorde Community Health Centre
HQ: New York, USA
CEO or CSCO: Patrick McGovern
Twitter: @CallenLorde
Callen-Lorde is a community health centre located in New York City that specialises in healthcare services for LGBT+ individuals. It offers comprehensive care that is free of judgement and regardless of ability to pay. Callen-Lorde pioneers research, advocacy and education to drive positive change worldwide.
True to its mission of empowering health, the company consistently shares resources and information concerning healthcare issues like gender dysphoria, monkeypox and HIV. In April 2023, the organisation assisted with a study by Journal of the International AIDS Society which focused on transgender people receiving care for HIV.
8: Fenway Health
HQ: Boston, USA
CEO: Ellen LaPointe (new CEO to be appointed in 2023)
Twitter: @FenwayHealth
Fenway Health is a Boston-based healthcare organisation focused on providing comprehensive medical services to the LGBT+ community. It centres LGBT+ people, BIPOC individuals and other underserved communities to enable local, national and global neighbours to flourish.
The organisation’s website has regular news updates concerning the communities that it serves, including the news that CEO Ellen LaPointe will be stepping down in 2023. Fenway serves a total of 33,613 patients of all different ethnicities, sexual orientations and gender identities and provides informative healthcare on matters like gender affirming surgery and healthcare, and has been assisting those with HIV/AIDS since the early 1980s.
7: Howard Brown Health
HQ: Chicago, USA
CEO: David Ernesto Munar
Twitter: @howardbrownhc
Howard Brown Health is a Chicago-based organisation that offers healthcare services to the LGBT+ community, including primary care, mental health services, and HIV/AIDS care. Rooted in LGBTQ+ liberation, it is one of the largest LGBT+ organisations in the United States.
With an annual budget of more than US$145mn, it serves more than 40,000 patients with a diverse health and social service delivery system. Its main focuses are on primary medical care, behavioural health, research, HIV/STI education and walk-in clinics, youth services, elder services and community initiatives.
6: Terrence Higgins Trust
HQ: London, UK
CEO: Richard Angell
Twitter: @THTorguk
The Terrence Higgins Trust is the UKs leading HIV and sexual health charity. It supports people living with HIV and amplifies their voices, helping people using its services to achieve good sexual health.
Named after Terry Higgins, one of the first people in the UK to die of an AIDS-related illness in 1982, his partner and family founded the organisation hoping to personalise and humanise AIDS in a public way. Today, the Terrence Higgins Trust is one of the foremost charities working to end HIV transmission and have truly paved the way for LGBT+ healthcare education and awareness.
5: Outright International
HQ: New York, USA
Executive Director: Maria Sjödin
Twitter: @OutrightIntl
Outright International is an LGBTQ+ human rights organisation dedicated to working with partners around the globe to strengthen the capacity of the LGBTQ+ human rights movement, document and amplify human rights violations against LGBTQ+ people, and advocate for inclusion and equality.
Launched in 1990 by American activist Julie Dorf as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the organisation has since campaigned for equality in international law, achieved asylum for the persecuted, created awards and written dedicated reports.
The organisation’s reach can be felt globally: it influences laws including the decriminalisation of same-sex relations in India in 2018, it supported the creation of the first trans organisation in Jamaica in 2017, and has distributed 1.59M USD in grants to support LGBTIQ organisations in Ukraine through its Ukraine Emergency Fund.
4: Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
HQ: Los Angeles, USA
President and Co-Founder: Michael Weinstein
Twitter: @AIDSHealthcare
AHF is a global nonprofit organisation and currently the largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the world.
It was founded in 1987 with the mission to rid the world of AIDS through a network of pharmacies, thrift stores, healthcare contracts and other strategic partnerships, and it currently provides medical care and advocacy to over 1.7 million people in 45 countries. Generating new, innovative ways of treatment, prevention and advocacy has been the hallmark of its success.
3: Planned Parenthood
HQ: New York, USA
Twitter: @PPFA
Planned Parenthood is a national healthcare organisation offering reproductive health services, including LGBTQ+ affirming care and information such as hormone therapy and sexual health screenings.
“Our mission is to ensure all people have access to the care and resources they need to make informed decisions about their bodies, their lives, and their future”
Founded in 1916, Planned Parenthood serves the diverse needs of local communities through its network of more than 600 US health centres, and provides education and outreach to millions of people every year. The organisation also works globally with more than 100 local organisations in Africa and Latin America to increase access to health care and education, working to foster sustainable health and education programmes.
2: LGBT Foundation
HQ: Manchester, UK
CEO: Paul Martin OBE
Twitter: @LGBTfdn
The LGBT Foundation, based in Manchester, United Kingdom, offers a range of healthcare and support services to LGBT+ individuals, including sexual health screenings and mental health support. Having first started its work in 1975, the organisation is a leading figure in the UK for LGBT+ services and now serves more than 40,000 people every year.
Through its services, the LGBT Foundation continues to help LGBT+ people who continue to face persecution, discrimination and health inequalities. It also provides educational resources and education concerning cervical screenings, gender affirming hormone therapy and fertility preservation.
1: The Trevor Project
HQ: California, USA
CEO (Interim) and founder: Peggy Rajski
Twitter: @TrevorProject
The Trevor Project is a nonprofit organisation that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ youth, with 24/7 crisis counseling available via phone, text and chat.
It hosts TrevorSpace, an affirming international online community available to LGBTQ+ youth. TrevorSpace connects over 400,000 young people across 100+ countries and six continents, helping them explore their identities, get advice, find support, and make friends in a moderated community intentionally designed for them.
Through legislation, litigation, and public education, The Trevor Project campaigns for the mental health of LGBTQ young people. This includes advocating for preventative and intervention efforts at the federal, state, and local level to address factors that place them at a significantly higher risk of suicide.
