Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer Health-Care Experiences in a Military Population

ABTRACT

This study aimed to understand the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer of former military service members. Data for this analysis was collected from the two open-ended survey questions as part of a larger online survey. The analysis was performed using the web-based data analysis application Dedoose. Eighty-eight qualitative responses were used. Analysis of the responses revealed five main themes: (1) identity, (2) negative experiences, (3) impact of experiences, (4) policy, and (5) positive experiences. These findings can influence future military research by focusing on the effects of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, negative and positive experiences, and the impact of those experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
• DADT
• LGBTQ
• service members
• veterans
• health
• healthcare

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a grant from the TriService Nursing Research Program, Uniformed Services University (HU000182TS02, Principal Investigator: LTC Pedro N. Oblea, Jr., PhD). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views, policy of the funding agency, the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, US Marine Corps, US Coast Guard, the Department of Defense, or the US Government.