By Greg Halbleib
BLOOMINGTON – A local clinic is being formed to make health care more comfortable for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning community.
Len Meyer is executive director of Central Illinois Pride Health Center, which is still in the planning and fundraising stages. Meyer said many LGBTQ members are not sure how aware or sensitive medical personnel are to them.
“Is my doctor going to call me by my birth name, or are they going to call me by my preferred pronoun now and my gender identity?” Meyer told WJBC’s Susan Saunders. “That’s a huge fear, and when you walk into a doctor and your only choices are male and female and you really don’t fit that category, that causes huge anxiety.”
Meyer developed the idea while researching a senior project at Lincoln College.
“I reached out to the Prairie Pride coalition here in town, and they said that it’s a great idea and let’s do whatever we can to support it,” Meyer said. “It started in May of last year and it’s just been a whirlwind.”
More information on the plans and fundraising is at cipridehealthcenter.org.
Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].