Black Tie highlights LGBTQ healthcare awareness, announces Dessert B4 Dinner

March is LGBTQ+ Health Awareness week, and this week — March 18-22 — is National LGBTQ+ Awareness Week. March is also Bisexual Health Awareness Month; Wednesday, March 20 is National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and Sunday, March 10 was National Women and Girls with HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. And this week, with the focus so squarely centered on LGBTQ health issues, the leaders at Black Tie Dinner wanted to take a moment to brighten that spotlight and bring those health issues even further to the front of the community’s awareness. This year marks 42 years since the onset of the AIDS crisis in this country, and yet, more than four decades later LGBTQ patients in the U.S. — whether dealing with HIV or some other health issue — continue to face significant barriers in accessing treatment, as statistics compiled by Black Tie clearly show: 8 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual patients report that a doctor or other healthcare provider refused to see them because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. 29 percent of transgender and nonbinary patients reported being refused by healthcare professionals due to their actual or perceived gender identity. LGBTQ people of color report higher rates of...