Dr Ranj Singhon 30 years of LGBTQ+ healthcare
Since I started medical school almost 30 years ago — and qualified 10 years later — I’ve seen so much change, particularly when it comes to LGBTQ+ healthcare. And yet we still have so much to do. As Attitude celebrates its 30th anniversary, and February’s theme for LGBTQ+ History Month 2024 was medicine and healthcare “under the scope”, it feels pertinent to look back on some of the biggest advances we have made so far.
So much of LGBTQ+ history is intertwined with health and wellbeing. We are a community that has been — and still is — disproportionately affected by certain conditions, both physical and mental. But at the same time, members of the community have also been responsible for some of the biggest contributions in these fields.
HIV/AIDS care
The work done to battle HIV and AIDS has led to the most notable developments in LGBTQ+-
related care we have ever seen.
After the first cases were detected in the 80s, HIV/AIDS was initially dubbed GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency). If you watched It’s a Sin, or indeed you lived through the 80s, you’ll know about the devastation HIV/AIDS has caused. The era was marked by the proliferation of terms like the ‘gay plague’, reflecting how the virus spread more easily among men who engaged in same-sex relations. The impact, particularly for gay and bisexual men in that decade and beyond, was significant, and the ripple effect is still felt today.
In 1986, the UK government launched a nationwide HIV/AIDS education campaign, also known as the ‘Don’t die of ignorance’ or ‘tombstone’ campaign after the imagery it used. It sought to arm every household in the country with essential information about AIDS. Widely hailed as one of the most impactful advertising campaigns ever, it had a lasting effect on STI transmission in the UK. But at the same time, its petrifying imagery contributed towards terrifying a generation of young gay men and stigmatising their sexuality.
1995/1996 One of the biggest breakthroughs against HIV and AIDS arrives in the form of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). It offers renewed hope and extends lives, transforming HIV/AIDS from a grim prognosis to a manageable chronic condition. Triple combination therapy using antiviral drugs becomes standard, and the viral load test is developed, providing vital information about disease progress
