Special Issue on Gay/Lesbian Health

Abstract

When the Call for Papers was drafted and sent out—to NGOs and activist alliances across Canada, and in the UK, Ireland, Australia and the US; and to historians and academics in the field of gay and lesbian studies; and to various individuals—I think that neither Cheryl nor I truly knew what to expect. We received some correspondence disputing the grouping of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Peoples as reaffirming the “medical” use and scientific degradation of queer peoples’ bodies and histories. The “disease” model of non-heterosexualities is still very much in many people’s consciousnesses, not least those who have been historically named as deviant, aberrant, unnatural, perverse or sick—which includes every lesbian, gay man, bisexual and transgendered person you can name or imagine. Given the history of attacks—both physical and discursive—upon the “truths” of our lives and the consequent neglect and marginalization we often still endure, this does not surprise me. </jats:p