Share Your Story - Lambda Legal's National Health Care Fairness Campaign

	Help Lambda Legal commemorate the Ninth Annual LGBT Health Awareness Week (March 28-April 1) by sharing your health care stories. The theme of this year's event, "Come Out for Health," represents a call to action for community members, advocates, service providers, and governmental officials to recognize health and wellness as an essential part of the social justice movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. One of our goals for the week is to collect 100 stories about the challenges and positive experiences of LGBT people and people living with HIV while trying to receive health care services. These stories will be delivered to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, and other public officials. As the Affordable Care Act is being implemented, your stories are needed more than ever. The law provides funding for training a diverse health care workforce. In Lambda Legal's 2009 health care fairness survey, more than half of all respondents reported that they have experienced at least one type of discrimination in care.Our stories can help show why health care providers should receive training about the specific health care needs of LGBT people and those living with HIV. Please take a few minutes and share your story today. Help us spread the word by sharing this link with all your Facebook friends. You can get more information about LGBT Health Awareness Week and order posters, flyers and postcards from the National Coalition for LGBT Health. Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, refused Janice Langbehn and her children visitation after Janice’s Partner, Lisa Pond, suddenly collapsed before a family cruise. The hospital told Janice that she was in an antigay city and state, and could expect no information or acknowledgment as family. Learn about the Langbehns below, then share your story. Please note that Lambda Legal is collecting these stories for educational purposes, so your story may be distributed publicly on the website, in publications or other printed materials. If you need assistance or advice on legal matters, you should immediately contact the Lambda Legal Help Desk. Please read before sending your submission We cannot accept submissions from children under 13 years of age. While Lambda Legal appreciates all submissions, we may not be able to use all of them for our public education campaigns. We reserve the right to edit submissions for legal and editorial reasons, and will send you the version we intend to use for your final approval before it is printed or published online. Lambda Legal also requires a signed release form from all participants (legal guardians must sign for children under 18 years of age). Please identify yourself or your child with your first and last name on the submission form. After you submit your story, we will email you a release form that you can return via fax or mail (or you can download a release form now and fax it to 212-809-0055). We strongly prefer stories with first and last names. However, if you do not wish to include your last name, you may submit a story using your first name only and no release form will be required. Please include as much detailed information as you are comfortable sharing, such as the name of the health care facility, the city and state where the incident occurred and the year in which it happened. We especially need your complete contact information. No email addresses, postal addresses or phone numbers will be published. We request this information only in the event that we may later need to contact you for more information or to request your permission to reprint your story elsewhere. Thank you for taking to time to Share Your Story! =end=