Video Expert:

Tari Hanneman is the Director of the Health and Aging Program at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. In that capacity, she oversees the annual LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Index, the Long-Term Care Equality Index, and other projects related to LGBTQ health and aging.

Tari has over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector, primarily focused in the areas of health and women’s issues.  Prior to joining HRC, she served as the initial Director of The Women’s Fund of Winston-Salem where she led all aspects of developing The Fund’s programs and brand in the community.  Prior to her move to North Carolina, she served in a number of roles at The California Endowment, one of the nation’s largest health foundations. She has also worked for elected officials and non-profits focused on the environment, reproductive rights and HIV.   

LGBTQ Health Access in Rural and Urban Areas

The big difference in rural versus urban is going to be access to care and the number of available providers, and then whether or those providers are going to be LGBTQ friendly. If you have a huge menu of providers to choose from you’re likely to find some that are going to be LBGTQ friendly, culturally competent, and aware, but, if you have a very small slice that’s going to be a lot harder. In some places, you may only have one hospital in town and it may be a critical access hospital, it’s the smallest of the hospitals there are and it may not have the capacity to invest in the best policies and practices around LGBTQ competencies.

In some places there are no providers we work with a lot of youth gender clinics, working with transgender youths and a lot of times we hear of families having to travel hundreds of miles to go to a clinic”. In regards to policy “The Equality Act would provide consistent and explicit non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people, across all key areas of life; employment, housing, public spaces, public accommodation services, federally funded programs and jury service. To watch the entire discussion click here.

Additional Reading:

HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index: Rising to the new standard of equitable and inclusive care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer patients and their families.