Queer Wellness

In this episode, we will discuss Queer wellness on the holistic health and resilience of LGBTQ+ individuals by actively countering the chronic trauma and stigma caused by societal discrimination. We will discuss competent mental health support, gender-affirming care, and specialized sexual health services, while we emphasize community connection and peer networks, intersectionality, and systemic barriers. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

A colleague who is a cater and takes orders for funerals and parties and all that, so was invited to by them the facility nurse of the ART center where they pick the ART drugs to come to a their family meeting, their funeral come and take an order and go and do. This guy arrived there and hugged the nurse in front of the family. And they took the order, given give them very affordable order and left. They didn't care whether you are HIV positive or not. All they know is that once it's this lady that has brought you to come for the job and have said you are highly recommended, we will not be given to you.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

From navigating healthcare systems to finding affirming spaces and practices. Join us as we dive into how we can better support our well-being and live healthier, more fulfilling lives. Let's talk. So, how are we all feeling? I would like to start with that question.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

I'm so excited because um for me this topic is like a very interesting topic for me. So I'm all here to vibe.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Okay, so in one word, how can you describe how you're feeling? Good. Okay, Razzie.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

I would say I'm feeling yeah, excited. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Okay. Well, when it comes to queer wellness, it's it's quite a sensitive topic to hold a discussion on, considering the fact that your sexuality alone puts your whole life in jeopardy. Your your finances take a strain, your in the workplace, your your occupational wellness is put on strain, your physical wellness is put on strain, your your your spirituality, your spiritual wellness is put on strain. Like everything concerning wellness as a queer individual is put on a strain. And this is why we are having this conversation. Can we address the key health concerns when it comes to the queer community? What are some of the health concerns? I've already talked of the financial wellness and all of that being put on shape, but what are the key ones that to you as individuals you think should be a priority when it comes to wellness?

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yeah, so um as queer people, first of all, the acceptance, the personal acceptance of who you are itself is a problem. So um mostly I will speak from my perspective as a queer person, what I have been through. Um as a queer person, I go through depression, I go through stress, um and and sometimes I go through rejection and loneliness. So all these things are uh things that impede on my mental well-being. Um also, even we live in a situation where the economy itself isn't really good. So it's it doesn't even favor everybody. And let me put myself as a queer person who is marginalized, you know. Um, my financial well-being is also at stake. So picking all these things together and also looking at how do I even navigate within my family, putting all these things together, these are challenges that I go through, and um it's it's it's a problem for my wellness or mental well-being.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Yeah, I mean, thank you so much for putting this across there. I'm just going to talk generally on this subject because it's a very touchy subject for me. When you look at the queer community in general, there's a lot of stigma and discrimination when it comes to our health sector. Um, a clear example is when we look at our effeminate um men when they go to hospitals, some hospitals that are not really well trained in handling key population issues, they tend to be stigmatized. Especially when an effeminate man is um talking about um in our wax or anything around their and in our sometimes they end up being preached stigmatized or maybe being just outside in the hospital, it becomes very problematic for them. So we see that a lot of uh people will only assess the DIC to assess their health needs, and others will also do the self-medication, which is very problematic. And when we look at our masculine representing women, it becomes a problem for them because sometimes they go to the hospital and nurses will be asking them, Are you a man or a woman? That's a very stupid question to ask somebody because they came there for health, and sometimes too, they cannot just assess SRHR needs because um something like cervical cancer checks or anything that has to do with their private path, it becomes difficult for them. Especially, hey, are you a man or a woman? And a whole lot of comments that are made, so you find that um masculine representing folks do not, or and non-binary folks do not assess uh SRHR needs. And when we also look at um the queer community in general, it becomes difficult for them, especially when a woman attends a hospital and they are like, Why are you not having sex? Why is your vagina this close and all that? Those are like very uncomfortable questions that when people go to the hospital, they have. And also, it's just people not respecting the patient charter for me. Because it's either maybe some of the nurses don't know what is in the patient charter, or maybe the patient also don't know what is in the patient charter. So it becomes like very problematic for people to assess health. And also when you look at our mental health sectors, you will realize that there are a lot of pastors, people that are using religious sentiment to be uh to to like moderate the space, and so it becomes problematic for a queer person to go in there and come back um very soon. They are either going and coming back more damage or they are coming back prayed for or anything, so it becomes a very crucial place for them to go. And also talking about economy, they can't even pay for it. So the little money they get to access these kind of things, there are a lot of barriers that are blocking them.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Sean, is there something you would want to say? And I want to also say that the deliberate attempt to erase square identities, square lives, and existence to make us invisible has given room to more concerns in the health sector of where persons who have pledged, given an oath to serve all, to give, do their just their work. They take your pressure, relate you to a doctor, and you get treatment. That is just their basic work they're supposed to do, rather hide behind their perceived knowledge and what they think is right or wrong to deny uh queer persons the basic right to health care services. And looking at sexual rights as well, queer people are not even given that the right to the sex. So I'm queer and I want to have kids, also be able to determine how those kids should come. It shouldn't be in the proverbial system whereby I must be married, be ordained, be accepted by a church, a fate before. So I should so going even look at how we even shan't look at our sisters who do the exemination. Most of the facility institutions will go and even ask you, go and bring your husband or your boyfriend you want to do this with, whilst the person may not even want to share, the person just wants to have a kid for herself, and they're determining our bodies and determining what the body should look like, determining the standing against the abortion and making it for seen people, so queer people who are even raped will not have that leverage to decide what to do with their bodies, and it's it's so alarming to the extent that people know the right thing, the health system knows the right thing, the health workers know the right thing, but once it's about queer persons, everything right is thrown to the dogs, and we are it is okay to be erased, it's okay to be made invisible, it's okay to be denied services and the justification. Oh, it's choir, so I can't serve somebody with square, and that alone takes away the human factor in us, and that is not right. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Yeah, that's true. It looks like all these challenges that we face when it comes to healthcare, the the point of intersection for me has got everything to do with mental health. Because even for a queer person to get up and walk into a hospital to get treated for something, they there is always a mental struggle. There are a lot of what-ifs, because then, as a queer person, even your health, the system is so fucked up such that your health is subjected to the discretion of your health caregiver. So if you are fortunate to be treated by a queer-friendly nurse or doctor, then you get the best treatment that should be given to you. But if you find yourself to be unfortunately attended to by a toxic or homophobic healthcare giver, then you'd stand a chance of being altered or stigmatized and all of that. So it's got everything to do with mental health, one way or the other. Every other wellness affects our mental health as individuals. So can we can we talk about some experiences that we may have had or we have heard someone has had that has got to do with assessing healthcare as a queer person? How did it go for the person? Do you know anyone or have you ever been in a position where your access to healthcare was a barrier because of your sexuality? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:46

I think for me, I've not experienced any stigma or discrimination in accessing any of the healthcare. But um, a story has been shared to me, which we had to direct them to one of the DICs, and the nurses were able to like channel them to the right assess. So there was a masculine representing person and their partner going to the hospital. And said immediately they got their the nurses, started making faces, and then um, when they called them and they were going together, the nurses were like a husband and a wife. So they couldn't also just open up to like really talk about what was going on and why they came to the hospital. So they had to like leave the place, also considering the fact that they have to consider their safety and security, so it was a problem for them.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

I was I was okay. Razi, do you have something to share?

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah, um, you know, personally, I have not um been discriminated against due to my sexuality or anything, but um I've had some cases on my decks where um one person who is very um effeminate, an effeminate guy went in to do an SCI test and from there the person started preaching, you know, the the health um practitioner started preaching to this this guy. Meanwhile, the guy hasn't told like this person this person hasn't told practitioner that I got it through this or that. Like so it's when I heard it, I was so I was so angry. I was so angry and I was like, This is the main reason why a lot of queer people do not want to access their health facilities and they would want to self-medicate. Well, for instance, they've seen that they have something, they'll go and buy some bomb or whatever, they will use it over there and they are okay because and it will be compounding the the the you know the sicknesses, and by the time you realize it's it's a it's a whole different thing. So um that that that's that's the experiences that I have gotten so far, um, looking at where I sit.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Sean, can you speak to this?

SPEAKER_01 13:58

It's it's a lot we've gathered over the years, and it is um perceived that the health system should actually work and give access to all, but access has become limited in the sense that the the nature of our health institution says that everything is put in the open, go to our OPDs. So the moment you arrive, where they take your weight, you add the whole multitude of persons are sitting there doing things over there, and then you are also supposed to come and climb a weight and check your blood pressure and all and join a queue to also go and see the doctor. So that's there is no the access is so limited to purposes. How many of us will be ready to get to such a place and now sit looking very feminine or masculine? And then when you get up every time, you know how they move from one chair to another. Every time you get up, the next person is watching you, watching your gestures, and you are there to solve something that has nothing to do with sexuality. But everybody rumors and say things you some even say to your face, and some even call out health workers that why are they wasting time on you when they perceive human beings are here, and that alone one person is experienced since a thousand away. And look at the how it's exacerbated to where we are people of color. Queer people are also women, also the youth, and then a queer person who is also a woman who's also having intersex condition, and now forced into marriage and cannot have the fertility issues are happening, and now cannot also get the right system where that person can actually get the help. So the access is there, but not for us, and they give it to us, it's a privilege. So even those that we have to constantly train, hide behind the HIV and the STI program to train for years before out of 10 we can get two who will be open to us a bit to help us navigate the health system, and even those they are lambasted, they are insulted by their colleagues. Hey, uh, this people, your your HIV nurse, hey, your people have come to look for you. So now no male should come look for that nurse. Any young male look for that nest is that HIV person, any female look for that nurse is a lesbian, and it's the the human factor in the hypocritical oot to self is no more there. So, how many places can we boldly say we go? So we do a lot of self-medication, we call each other. Last time you said this was happening to you, what did you use? So I change because if you buy and the thing is not gone, it's all gone, something small, you're like, okay, need to take more dosage. You haven't shy to go back there and buy again because your mind is that hey, they'll be like, as for you, draw a mind, yes. Look at how even access to condoms, if not for programs, and and condoms have even been limited to only gay men.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Yeah, even lubricants, like they say if you use lubricants, you are a queer person, like gay man, like that that policy.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

They see a wooden dummy. Why are you having this? It is, and now even our court, supreme court, just declared that using sex toys is nothing as illegal. Who died out of sex toys, for God's sake, who would die out of sex toys? But sometimes the human nature of the laws and the things work against us to the extent that health access becomes a uh uh what do you call and until you need it so badly before you go for it? But it becomes a privilege, a privilege, and it shouldn't be so, it should be there for all, no matter who you are thinking.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Okay, so listening to all the concerns that are being raised here, my next question is do we think the healthcare system is a safe space for queer persons?

SPEAKER_00 18:01

It is not, it is not even for um allies who work within the space, it's not safe for them because we've had um cases whereby um an ally was like they call me the the gayness, that's the name they call me, yeah, gayness. Well wait here or in a gay four nurses her own um colleagues were saying that. So just imagine a person who is not a queer person but just an ally and just doing a job. I wouldn't even say she's an ally, she's just doing a job, a human job. They're attacking her. How much more someone who is a queer person? When you go there, we we we all know how even the guests, how they look at us, yeah, how they how they they respond to um some of the things that we do see, especially when we are going to do this normal checkups, in terms of this um STI checkups, sometimes we just uh wake up and be like, I want to go and test for HIV, for HIV and other things. I just want to do it, you know. And the moment you go and you start testing, the first question they sometimes they will ask you is, Are you in a relationship with a guy? That's whoa, ask you like and I'm whoa, like come on, why are you asking this question? You get it? So it's it's a problem, it it's it's a problem which is not safe.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

A colleague who is a cater and takes orders for funerals and parties and all that, so was invited to by them the facility nurse of the ART center where they pick the ART drugs to come to their family meeting, they have a funeral, come and take an order and go and do. This guy arrived there and hugged the nurse in front of the family, and they took the order giving, give them very affordable order and left. They didn't give in because the moment it is this nurse who have brought you and the whole family in this nurse deals with only HIV persons, they didn't care whether you provide good service, they didn't care whether you are HIV positive or not. All they know is that once it's this lady that have brought you to come for the job and have said you are highly recommended, we will not be given to you. And it has gone on so much that on even and as if that nice have even exposed this person to the family, to everybody. So sometimes the good they are even trying to do, they they they meet you in town, oh, it's my client, and that client is say, then their whole family will like hey, this one to be one of them, but they think they are being you, and then sometimes they they meet people and say, Oh, I'm also a committee, but I'm just like you. We shouldn't accept that thing as if they want to, as if they are doing us a favor. Well, nice, oh I'm also like you, hey, we are all MSM here, we are all this thing here. No, you cannot be like me because you are not. Identify and accept your uniqueness, respect me, and I hear that with tolerate. Sorry, it's as if you don't really like it, but uh let me just give them something. No, if you can't accept who I am as I've accepted, then leave it straight away. So the disparity in the health system is such that it's now a privilege to be healthy in Ghana as a queer person. Yeah, it's now a privilege as a queer person to even go to the hospital with another friend, a mere friend accompanying you without being looked at anyway. It's now so scary even for queer people to even go to become health workers. Because these days say all the male nurses are part of the community, which should not be so. It's it's a calling. So people should be able to go do those works and give us service.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Okay, so um when we we we've talked about health care in general, which is quite a broad topic. Now we want to look at um approaches to ensuring wellness of queer individuals. And I'm not just limiting it to um physical health. We are looking at all emotional, we are looking at physical, we are looking at mental. What measures or what tips can you give to queer individuals from any of their wellness umbrellas?

SPEAKER_03 22:30

Personally, I think that one of the messages that we should drive on this podcast is that mental health um activities or wellness activities is something that we should practice every day. It's not seasonal because you have if you are not mentally well, you cannot focus on your education, you cannot work well, you cannot even relate to your partner, you cannot even be a functional human being to live a very productive life. So, what I would drive in answering this question is that wellness and well-being should be something that you should always check that do you have a balance than that? It means that when it comes to your spiritual life, do you have a balance? When it comes to your emotional or psychological well-being, do you have a balance? Are you living in a very toxic environment? Are you living or having habits that will hinder you? Are you also putting yourself in harm's way? Are you also in a relationship that is also belittling or putting you in a very condescending um space? Are you also prioritizing yourself to say that um, yes, I deserve some wellness or I deserve self-love? Because let's be realistic. We need to give people to grace but not giving grace to ourselves. So that alone becomes like a very big challenge on our mental health. We know that our mothers are tired women because of how society programs them. And gradually it's trickling down to the youth. Because you see that somebody is working, they are paying them 500 CD, and they are saying that I'm giving my sister my by you. How much are you eating? People are not eating well, people are not sleeping well, people are abusing drugs. Some of them not because they want to abuse, but some of them are genuinely escaping from things they can't deal with. And our mental health system here is not also good great. We are either going to spaces where they have is full of pastors, before you start talking, they will finish the sentence for you, thinking you are their child. You are not their child. They have never lived your reality, they have never lived your similar reality, and that becomes a problem. So, now how do we prioritize wellness and well-being with the little that we have? When we need to give ourselves grace in everything that we do, we should know that we do the best with what we have. That also just cuts out some slacks. If you have 500 CD, live within it. It's okay to be ambitious, but sometimes giving yourself those grags, also know that social media is not real. Do not let somebody put pressure on you on social media. Because sometimes with that, it gives us this unhealthy competition where somebody is standing somewhere, you will say that this person has taken a picture of somebody's car, so it's their car. And then you will give yourself unnecessary, even if it's their car, be where you are, live within your realities that this is where I am and I'm doing well. That also not being wasted. Also, this message is going for family members. Stop draining people. Let family stop draining people. We have fed into too much toxic family system where it will get to a time people are saying that you are working, you have to take care of your uncle, your niece. No, I need to take care of me first, and then when I'm okay, I can't look at bringing somebody or taking somebody on. We should also look at those toxic family narratives in our educational system. How do we incorporate wellness in there? Wellness is just not the physical education that we go, but the way we even approach some students. How are we talking to students? Not also contributing to favoritism in school, teacher also marking somebody, using vowers onto somebody, the fact that the person is different from you, you don't understand. People are being targeted. We should check that. Also, in the educational system, there should be wellness for teachers, and counselors should not be forced on people. Don't say that uh when I look at you, you are going through something and then they force you to counseling, right? Counselors, counseling should be free, and also counselors in school, when students talk to you, let it be a safe space for them. If there's the need for you to bring parents, please make sure that you are using the tool as a counselor to engage meaningfully, and also our educational system creates healthy educational sectors. Just because we attend mission school doesn't mean that the school is perfect. Just because there's a church in the school doesn't mean that everything there is perfect. Let's investigate teachers, teachers that are defying students, teachers that are bullying people. Let's also check within all that. And also when we come to our community, we should also create a system where we should ask questions, give people grace, then constantly assume and discriminate. When we look at our communities, anytime we see infeminist people, we put them to the kitchen. But when it comes about sexuality, we discriminate upon them. When we look at masculine representing people, we just leave them at football. But people can be doctors, they can be everything. So, how do we now move from the mindset that we have and then we move forward? That those are things that we need to put in place. And also, young folks, you don't always need money to prioritize wellness and well-being. Taking that walk, having that conversation with that person that you want to have. Also, just making time for yourself, knowing that this is good for me and this is not good for me is also wellness. Sitting in that church or laughing with your friend is also wellness. You don't need to drive that car before it becomes wellness, you don't need to buy that shoe before it becomes wellness. Let's narrow down wellness to sometimes things that money cannot buy.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Well, thank you. Everything actually writes it down, you know. Um, but there's this thing I would want to touch on, which is um before you can even prioritize wellness as a career person, you have to be very, very self-conscious. You have to know yourself because sometimes there are certain things that you are going through and you yourself, you don't even know that it is even worrying your mental um health. So, as our mental well-being, so as a queer person, you have to be self-conscious and treat yourself with with respect and dignity. The moment you start treating yourself with respect and dignity, even whatever people say about you, you don't care at that moment. At the same time, um again, we have to be very, very financial, like financially, like we have to inculcate the habit of financial discipline as here. People, yes, of course, we can we can party, we can spend, we can do all those kind of things, but we should make sure that we spend in budget. We have to spend within our budget, we have to spend what we have and not what we don't have. And as Chica said, the social media out there and those kind of things. It's not real, it's not real. You are seeing me traveling, you are seeing this person traveling, going here, going here, going here. Exactly. Doesn't mean doesn't mean that person has it. No, the little you have, you should be content with it because contentment can help you um build your what your your mental well-being. You know, we can also have our personal activities, so our activities, maybe painting, drawing, you know, taking walk, all those kinds of things. Where are the libraries again? Libraries, reading, working, sitting with friends, you know, all these things are things so we can identify what's what is wellness for us. We can look at things that are wellness for us, that work for us, and we can use it. And by us, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

So let me add a little that uh we should do more community-based initiatives, community-based resources, thank you, community-based safe spaces and environments, invest back in our community and make sure that it is for us, by us, with us, and nothing without us as well. Let us lead in our initiatives, lead in our programs. We have programs that we can do just for the community, like the cervical cancer clean, uh, screening and all that we do, the youth-led programs, the mental health healing sessions, the movie nights, the places for people to heal and feel belonging. The nurses and health work intentionally give support to bail and community members who can become the lawyers, the doctors, the caregivers that we need so that we can easily access. And then when we give those support for them to go there, they should also not get there and neglect the community and start working for others. Let's be intentional about planting people in power, planting people in places where decisions are made, yeah, by putting people in authority so that this discussion five years from now will be different. We'll have a new club of younger and more hungry persons who will be visionary, will be determined to make sure that we succeed at all costs. Let's be intentional about creating our own space for us by us.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

Everything that is mentioned here is very essential to our uh wellness in general because um for me uh it's it's been should I say therapeutic to find myself in spaces of belongingness and community, and this is something that the heteronormative world never gave to me. I have found my community and then I have found my safe space amidst the community and it has held me to get over a lot of things that used to baffle me on a regular. So I think all these things have been well noted. And what I would also want to ask next is that looking at let's let's narrow it to the community. What are the with regards to mental health? I mean, what are the options that queer persons have when it comes to mental health care in the community?

SPEAKER_00 33:13

Within the community, I think there are organizations that run mental health initiatives.

SPEAKER_03 33:19

Maybe I can share some.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 33:21

So I think that within the community, I know that there are organizations that have trained counselors that is on standby to give psychological first aid. There is also creation of safe space where people have like the healing sessions and all that. I know that the organization also creates wellness sessions where we have the community games that activists play. Mind you, all these games are not sexual. I'm saying they are not sexual because people have said queer communities full of sex. No. Um they are not sexual. There are games, there are places where I know that people encourage people to read. Yes. I know that an organization encourages people just to read, like a book lab. And there are people that also does wellness activities like the sip and paint, have like the normal conversation. So, yeah, that's what we can share now on the podcast. But I know that people are also incorporating wellness in their activities as an organization. People taking pause break, people going on wellness retreats, and just having some psychologists give one-on-one counseling with people, and people just creating an enabling space for people to just thrive.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Okay. Thank you for tuning in to this episode on Queer Wellness. We've explored the various dimensions of wellness, recognizing the unique needs and strengths of our community, whether it's mental, physical, or emotional health, prioritizing our well-being is essential to living authentically and fully. I hope today's discussion has given you some insight and tools to enhance your wellness journey. Remember, taking care of yourself is an act of empowerment. Until next time, keep striving for wellness in every aspect of your life. This initiative was brought to you by Capacity Ghana and Resilience Sisters Ghana. Same time next time. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_04 35:25

Ma'am, I'm gonna need you to uh pay in this cup. I'm going off a minute. She went off for many. Don't panic. Ooh Drank too much, goddammit. Shut that door, don't stand it. She's too loud, can't stand it. I can't stand it. Basically, I've been in the basement. Beautiful when you ooh me, no I don't even. If it's what you make, when you make our gun eat up, I need I gotta be told me the me, but fuck me, but I'll be the side, it's not gonna be four months of my baby, I got these on the kiddy. No one pissed the money, oh no that we live in the baby, but must have been more fucking must eye on the line, I'm a line, I'm gonna put it on the wheel.