ArticleWhy a cancer conference focused on the queer community? "We [LGBT people] are so often left out of the research and the articles that are written, especially the more marginalized parts of the community, like transgender people," explains Margo Mercedes Rivera-Weiss, WCRC's Community Outreach Manager. "We wanted to make a place for LGBT survivors of cancer to come and get information, to meet others. When we go to the doctor we are not always given appropriate care. It's not always easy to get."
The queer community as a whole has specific needs that are often ignored by the mainstream medical world. For instance, accumulating evidence suggests gay men are at elevated risk for anal cancer, while lesbians, because they receive gynecologic care less often than heterosexual woman, may be at greater risk for morbidity and mortality from gynecologic cancers.
