The American Cancer Society (ACS) published a study claiming that “minority stress” affecting LGBTQ individuals increases their propensity to develop cancer.
“Minority stressors” include “prejudice, rejection, discrimination, and internalized homophobia,” reads the Cancer Facts & Figures 2024. These stressors are linked to “unhealthy behaviors” within an LGBTQ individual and “increase cancer risk.”
Those who have “minority stress” are “more likely to express gene mutations that are functionally related to cancer, and to have chronic side effects of cancer treatment,” the study adds.
LGBTQ cancer survivors are more likely to have “poor physical and mental health, have higher prevalence of cigarette smoking and heavy alcohol use, and frequently experience homophobia and discomfort expressed by health care providers,” the ACS wrote, noting that these circumstances “reduce quality of life for cancer survivors.”
The “discrimination” experienced by LGBTQ individuals also leads to stress, according to the study.
“More than half of LGBTQ+ adults have experienced harassment, including slurs, microaggressions, sexual harassment, and violence, and 1 in 3 have experienced discrimination simply trying to use the bathroom,” ACS said. “This discrimination is most common among people of color and extends to health care settings.”
The number of Americans identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer has continued to rise over the last several years, according to a poll from Gallup.
7.6% of American adults now consider themselves LGBTQ, up from 5.6% four years ago.
Much of the LGBTQ identification comes through generational shifts, according to the survey, as Gen Z and Millennials are “far more likely” than older generations to consider themselves LGBTQ. Gallup noted that “each younger generation is about twice as likely as the generation that preceded it to identify as LGBTQ+,” with “more than one in five Gen Z adults” identifying as LGBTQ.
