Navigating healthcare can often be an intimidating experience for many of us. The clinical environment, the impersonal interactions, and the uncertainty about whether our needs will be understood and respected can make even routine visits daunting. But for members of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly those who have historically faced exclusion and discrimination, accessing healthcare can be more than just nerve-wracking – it can be traumatic. Shockingly, studies have shown that 56% of LGBTQ+ individuals report experiencing discrimination from their healthcare providers, with over 25% of transgender patients being refused medical care (Lambda Legal).

In the face of these challenges, the Tegan and Sara Foundation (TSF) stepped up to help. Led by a team of philanthropic strategists at APCO Impact, in 2022 the Foundation launched an initiative that’s transforming the landscape of inclusive healthcare: the LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory.

The Tegan and Sara Foundation was founded by Canadian musicians Tegan and Sara, who have openly identified as queer since they launched their career in 1998, and have been outspoken feminist advocates for LGBTQ+ equality and gender justice. The essential message that underpins their worldview and identity is inclusion. The Tegan And Sara Foundation is an extension of their work, identity and longstanding commitment to supporting and building progressive social change.

Tegan and Sara came to our team in 2015 with a request to help them understand how to give back to the LGBTQ+ community that had supported them throughout their career. After embarking on a listening and learning tour to inform the work, the Foundation launched the next year with the mission to improve the lives of LGBTQ+ women and girls. This work is critically important because LGBTQ+ women and girls face greater socioeconomic and health disadvantages compared to their male, heterosexual & cisgender counterparts. We also know that centering LGBTQ+ women and girls in programs often has a ripple effect to other historically excluded LGBTQ+ communities, including transgender individuals, queer people of color, and other disadvantaged LGBTQ+ groups.

Healthcare has been at the center of our work with the Tegan and Sara Foundation since the beginning. An early partnership with GLMA, the largest membership association of LGBTQ+ healthcare providers, informed our work in the space. GLMA had developed a resource of queer healthcare professionals, but the information was often outdated and the website could be challenging and wonky to use.

At APCO Impact, we led the Tegan and Sara Foundation in creating an exciting vision: A brand new LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory, with a beautiful user-friendly interface, the most updated provider data, and the ability to scale to thousands of provider entries.

Read the full article about TSF’s LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory by Kika Chatterjee, Stephanie Green Benn, and Alia Nitake at Global Washington.