Why Sexual and Gender Minority Care is an Oncologic Imperative

In the most recent ONCOLOGY On the Go hosted in collaboration with the American Psychosocial Oncology Society, Daniel C. McFarland, DO, spoke with Charles S. Kamen, PhD, MPH, about health equity for sexual and gender minority groups in oncology.

Sexual and gender minority groups, who constitute approximately 9.3% of the US population, experience significant and preventable disparities across all stages of the cancer care continuum, according to Kamen.1 He detailed how these inequities are largely driven by minority stress: the chronic psychological and emotional burden resulting from anticipated and experienced prejudice, discrimination, and stigma within health care settings.2

McFarland and Kamen highlighted that a lack of comprehensive sexual and gender minority training in medical education often leaves clinicians feeling unprepared, compounding the patient’s anxiety and mistrust.

The path to correcting these disparities requires a fundamental shift to cultural humility: the readiness to acknowledge one’s own lack of knowledge and learn directly from the patient’s lived experience. The most critical, actionable step discussed was the systematic, safe, and affirmative collection of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) data.3

Kamen emphasized that SOGI data is a clinical tool, not just a demographic marker. When collected routinely—ideally non-verbally via intake forms—SOGI data are used to:

1. Ensure Biologically Appropriate Surveillance: Confirming that all necessary cancer screenings are offered based on the patient’s existing organs, regardless of current gender identity.
2. Facilitate Relationship-Centered Care: Appropriately recognizing and engaging the patient’s partners and chosen family; a critical component of sexual and gender minority support networks.
3. Tailored Psychosocial Navigation: Moving beyond a general "disparities mindset" to an "equity mindset" by using SOGI data to connect patients with LGBTQ-specific psychosocial resources that directly address discrimination-related distress drivers.

McFarland is the director of the Psycho-Oncology Program at Wilmot Cancer Center and a medical oncologist who specializes in head, neck, and lung cancer, in addition to being the psycho-oncology editorial advisory board member for the journal ONCOLOGY. Kamen is an associate professor in the Department of Surgery, Cancer Control (SMD) and holds joint appointments as an associate professor at the Center for Community Health and Prevention and the Department of Psychiatry (SMD) at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

References

1. Jones JM. LGBTQ+ identification in U.S. rises to 9.3%. News release. Gallup. February 20, 2025. Accessed December 3, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/48n8j8bd
2. Minority stress. American Psychological Association. Updated November 15, 2023. Accessed December 3, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/5n888ynr
3. Learning resources — collecting sexual orientation and gender identity data. National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center. Accessed December 3, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/4btrn5y3