Abstract
There is a paucity of research on gays and lesbians with cancer and the sexual consequences of the cancer and its treatments. It may reasonably be assumed that the sexual issues facing all men and women during and after treatment for cancer apply to gays and lesbians; however, are there special circumstances or issues for this group of people? It is suggested that between 2 and 3% of the population would self-identify as gay or lesbian [1] and so most oncology care providers would expect to see some gays or lesbians in their practice each year. There is of course regional variation with larger metropolitan cities having greater numbers of gays and lesbians and so one could reasonably expect that oncology care providers in these cities would see more gay/lesbian patients. But perhaps the central issue is that many gays/lesbians do not disclose their sexual orientation to their health care providers, deeming it either not necessary to their care or they limit who they tell.
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Katz, A. (2011). Gay and Lesbian Patients with Cancer. In: Mulhall, J., Incrocci, L., Goldstein, I., Rosen, R. (eds) Cancer and Sexual Health. Current Clinical Urology. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-916-1_26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-916-1_26
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