Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the Veteran and service member community and highlights the importance of recognizing that the various populations represented by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) acronym are distinct groups. Sexual and gender minorities (SGM), including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals, are an increasingly open, acknowledged, and visible part of society. Tumultuous changes have taken place in the past decade in regard to the SGM populations in the civilian population as well as the military and Veteran population. A recent study of Veteran sexual minority women compared with non-Veteran heterosexual women noted that sexual minority women Veterans had three times the odds of poor physical health than their non-Veterans peers. The term homosexual was first created in the 1800s to categorize those who engaged in same-gender sexual behavior as sick or deviant. Transgender people are among the most socially stigmatized of sexual minorities, facing discrimination in most aspects of their lives.