Dr. Jack Drescher says individuals who care for themselves are better able to succeed in helping a greater cause, such as gay equality. (Photo courtesy Drescher)
Every New Year, individuals make plenty of healthy resolutions — eat better, exercise more, take time out to relax more. The thinking for making these promises, backed up by medical research, is that by taking some of these small steps, a person can be fit not only physically but emotionally, and better able to handle crises.
Of course, most of the resolutions are broken by February and people fall easily back into the old habits of smoking, eating fast food and lying on the couch for hours.
But what if people — especially people fighting for gay and transgender equality — followed through on taking better physical and emotional care of themselves? Would that not only help the individual but the entire gay civil rights movement?
“It’s a very good question,” said Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York-based psychiatrist. Drescher is author of “Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man” and is editor-in-chief of the “Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy.”
“They teach doctors and therapists that you first have to take care of yourself. When you’re on an airplane and the oxygen mask falls, you put it on yourself first before putting one on the child in your care. Because doing that helps you to help take care of others,” he said. “If you don’t, you burn out.”
But Drescher, who recently wrote a book chapter on health care disparities for gay people, said it’s actually quite hard to know how to physically and mentally care for gay people because of such things as distinguishing behavior from identity.
For example, some men who have sex with men don’t identify as gay, which leads to a problem with health care messaging when it comes to HIV and AIDS prevention, Drescher said.
Reports from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention continue to show that men who have sex with men are the group hardest hit by HIV and AIDS each year. Despite knowing condoms can help prevent HIV infection, many men continue to practice unprotected sex and put themselves at risk for contracting the virus that still has no cure.
While some reports show depression, drug abuse, “condom fatigue” and medical advances in treating HIV as factors leading to gay and bisexual men taking more sexual risks, there really is no good, solid answer for the health habits of gay men — or lesbians.
“There’s a bigger problem, particularly in the last eight years, in what we’re trying to do in determining healthcare needs [for LGBT people] — and that’s no one [in the government] wants to fund the work,” Drescher added.
HEALTHY ACTIVISM
Dr. Glenda Corwin, an Atlanta therapist who is a lesbian, said if people don’t care for themselves as individuals, their desire to help the overall gay equality movement is hampered.
“Anytime you are involved in something that takes commitment and leadership, you need to have good judgment,” she said. “Part of political activism is to be energetic, you need to be on your toes, thinking really clearly as well as have physical energy. This energy can be lost if you neglect yourself.”
Many people involved in political activism, such as the fight for gay equality, tend to think their personal welfare is not as important as the welfare of the overall community. But when a person neglects their own wellbeing, the overall movement suffers.
“This tends to be a problem with people connected with political activism,” she said. “We all need to have some balance.”
Among gay men and lesbians especially, Corwin said, there is an abundance of substance abuse. Lesbians also tend to smoke more than their straight counterparts while also eating more, leading to unhealthy lifestyles.
But what is the number one thing to staying healthy? A good social network, Corwin said.
And if you want to march in the streets against Proposition 8, lobby for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or work to get your employer’s non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity, being in top mental and physical form can only help, added Joel Ginsberg, executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association.
“There’s a greater likelihood change will occur the more people care for themselves,” he said.
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