Los Angeles — Equality California Institute today released its second annual Fair Share for Equality report, which includes policy recommendations from Equality California Institute and reports from co-sponsoring LGBT and social services organizations regarding the numerous disparities in health and wellbeing suffered by the LGBT community compared to the general public. These reports are part of Equality California Institute’s programs aimed at educating policymakers, the public and the organizations that serve our community to address these shortfalls and improve the lives of LGBT people.
The report is the product of a December 15, 2015 convening of 175 leaders from the LGBT community and other community organizations, educators, social service agencies and government officials. Equality California Institute launched its groundbreaking Fair Share for Equality initiative in 2015 to help address these disparities by educating our community, legislators and policymakers on how best to allocate a “fair share” of government resources to advance the health and wellbeing of California’s LGBT community.
“Through Fair Share for Equality, we invited leaders of LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations to give us their views and recommendations on the priorities and potential solutions on which EQCA and the California LGBT community should focus,” said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California. “The recommendations in this report will shape our programs for the next year and will help make sure that state and local policymakers are aware of the numerous and extreme health and wellbeing disparities in the LGBT community and how state resources can address them.”
This year’s priority recommendations include:
•Expand funding and programs to address the epidemic of LGBT youth homelessness
•Expand and implement LGBT data collection
•Create safe and supportive school environments by providing teachers and school counselors with culturally competent training and requiring suicide prevention programs in California schools
•Provide expanded programs for cultural competency training for medical and mental health professionals
•Develop state programs and strategies to address high drug prices faced by members of the LGBT community and people living with HIV/AIDS
•Modernize HIV transmission laws that single out and stigmatize people with HIV
•Develop a state plan to end the HIV epidemic in California, including increasing awareness and uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) regimens
•Ensure that economic development programs target the LGBT community to address income disparities
•Reduce violence and differential treatment for LGBT people within the criminal justice system, including through cultural competency training of police and other criminal justice government officials
•Provide healthcare to California’s estimated 250,000 LGBT undocumented immigrants.
For more information and to view a copy of the full report, please click here.
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society. Our mission is to achieve and maintain full and lasting equality, acceptance, and social justice for all people in our diverse LGBT communities, inside and outside of California. Our mission includes advancing the health and well-being of LGBT Californians through direct healthcare service advocacy and education. Through electoral, advocacy, education and mobilization programs, we strive to create a broad and diverse alliance of LGBT people, educators, government officials, communities of color and faith, labor, business, and social justice communities to achieve our goals. www.eqca.org