The National LGBTI Health Summit will be held August 25-29, 2004, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
     The Summit brings together LGBTI health activists, peer educators, caregivers, researchers, health department staff, community leaders, funders, and consumers to discuss how to improve our health as LGBTI individuals and communities.
      Workshops topics include: LGBTI Leadership in Public Health; Health Care Experiences andAccess to Health Care among Rural LGBT Persons; Never Forget? Memory, Gay Cultures and the Generation Gap; Queer Women's Experiences of Birth; Diga No al Estigma/Say No to Stigma; Giving Voice to the Seldom Heard: Qualitative Research Skills 101; and The Best LGBTI Health Outreach Programs of 2003/2004.
     The LGBTI Health Summit is the only national grassroots health conference focused on these communities. "This year's National LGBTI conference comes at a critical time as LGBTI communities face a series of attacks on basic civil liberties that have a direct impact upon our health and well-being," says David Acosta, Summit collective member.
"In this election year, LGBTI communities must meet, discuss, plan, strategize and articulate our health needs to insure that our issues are not overlooked at the federal, state, and city levels."
     Among the challenges facing the community are improving heart health for lesbians, addressing the growing use of crystal meth in the gay male community, and continued violence against the transgender community, say organizers. There is an urgent need to expand health care and prevention services for gay and bisexual men of color as HIV rates in this community around the nation are among the highest.      There is an ongoing need for efforts to educate the medical community and other health care and social service providers on the health and psycho-social needs of intersex individuals and LGBT communities in general.
      Recently, the Michigan House of Representatives approved a bill that would allow health care providers to discriminate against lesbians, gay men and other community members for reasons of "conscience" or religious belief. "Clearly we are facing a time when extremists are pulling out all the stops," said Stewart Landers, co-convener of the Summit. "LGBTI persons are increasingly being shown to face health care disparities due to access and community risk factors," says Jodi Sperber, co-convener of the Summit. "For example, several research studies have found higher rates of smoking among various segments of the LGBTI communities. More research needs to be done, and funds are currently shrinking for work in this area."
     For more information, check out www.healthsummit2004.org or contact Summit coordinator Thomas Lewis at tlewis@jsi.com