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LGBT Disparities Reduction Act

Posted by Melanie Nathan, September, 15, 2015.

This call to action to urge California Governor Jerry Brown to support the LGBT Disparities Reduction Act, AB 959, has been sent tout by EQCA – please participate and pass around:

As LGBT people in California, we are invisible. We’re invisible because the state isn’t counting us – and we need your help to change that. Click here to urge Governor Brown to support AB 959, which would ensure that sexual orientation and gender identity data are collected along with other important demographic information that help determine state policies and funding.

If we’re not counted – we don’t count, at least not when it comes to the state budget.

This means that unless you take action today there will be:

• Not enough help coming for the 40% of homeless kids who are LGBT;
• No new support for lesbians who remain significantly at higher risk for breast cancer;
• Too few resources for gay and bisexual African American men, who are twice more likely than their white and Latino peers to become infected with HIV; and,
• No new programs for the 45-74% of transgender people who smoke, potentially deadly for those taking estrogen.

California tracks age, race and ethnicity, disability and other important demographic information on government forms and surveys. This data is use when setting policies and allocating funds for health and social services. But sexual orientation and gender identity are not being tracked, and as a result, we’re not seen. Our essential healthcare needs are not adequately met. And startling disparities exist between our health and well-being and that of the general population.

Click here to help make the LGBT community visible in California. Ask our state to see LGBT people by supporting AB 959 – the LGBT Disparities Reduction Act. Our ally – Governor Brown – can continue his strong leadership on LGBT issues. And this one is crucial, at the very core of our health and well-being.

Please take this critical step today and sign our letter telling Gov. Brown to sign AB 959.

All of us are part of the rich fabric of our golden state. With your help today, California will see us and count us as such.

In solidarity,

Rick Zbur
Executive Director