Attitudes and Opinions of the Teaching Faculty Toward the LGBT Community

Abstract

Studies have shown physician homophobia as a barrier to health care, with LGBTQIA+ patients being more likely to delay or avoid getting care due to fear of harassment or discrimination. Objectives: Our aims and objective in this study were to determine the attitudes and opinions of the various medical and surgical teaching faculties and compare them for gender differences, if any, toward the LGBT community. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study done among 129 teaching faculty between November and December 2019 at Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, a rural tertiary medical college in southern India with regular and ongoing postgraduate training in all medical and surgical specialties, with assessment done using a structured and validated instrument, Riddle homophobia scale, meant for the assessment of attitudes and beliefs toward the LGBT community. Results: Most of the teachers in both the medical and surgical groups reported favorable positive attitudes/beliefs with statements like homophobia and heterosexism are wrong, and there is no need for the LGBT people to undergo reparative surgery; they deserve the same rights and privileges as everyone; however, there were negative attitudes and opinions reported with the statements like the LGBT people did not choose their sexual orientation and teachers themselves need to undergo introspection to be able to be supportive toward them, which is a significant source of concern. There were no differences in attitudes and opinions based on the age groups of the teachers of both the groups. Male teachers, when compared to female teachers (male:females—84:45), reported more favorable beliefs ( t2/ p value= 6.316/.0043) toward the LGBT community at p value ≤ .05. Conclusions: The teaching of sexuality, especially on the LGBT community, to medical professionals, especially teaching faculty, needs to be perceptive to the issues faced by people with different sexual orientations and identities.