People in Oxford County 'perceived to be unsupportive of LGBTQ,' report says

A new report released byOxford County Public Health says that most LGBTpeople feel unsupported by the people in their community.

The report is the first comprehensive look at what life is like inOxford County for members of the LGBT community and what health services are available to them.

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It showed that "the broader community of Oxford County was perceived to be unsupportive (i.e., not accepting) of LGBTQ people," according to an Oxford County Rainbow Coalition Survey.

"It's sad and happy at the same time for me," said DavidKnezevic. "We have a lot of work to do, but I'm also proud of the progress that we've made."

"I've been out in Woodstock just over 15 years myself," said Knezevic, who came out partly through high-school and remembers his friend being told they couldn't bring their same-sex partner to prom.

Knezevicsaid he wasn't surprised by the report, which said "only one quarter of participants felt a sense of belonging to the community."

"One of the things that bothers me isthat while there's growth there I'm still sort ofsaddenedby the fact that we're still sort of having this conversation."

Transgenderexperience

Transgenderpeoplesaid they hadto "educate health care professionals about their specific needs as a trans person," according to the report.

One third of transgender respondents had "a primary health care provider tell them that they did not know enough abouttrans-relatedcare to provide it."

"For me, that was a significant finding," said Gayle Milne, Chair of the Oxford County Rainbow Coalition and Oxford County public health nurse.

"We need to be recognizing the needs of our trans community and as healthcare providers educating ourselves as to what they might need in their healthcare."

Milnesaid the results line up with what she suspected after hearing stories of transgender people trying to use the healthcare system.

She said the coalition will use the report to "prioritize our work and make sure that the work that we do has meaning for LGBTQ people in Oxford County."

Reports Origins

Jaysen Richards was working in the health care field in Oxford County when the study was first proposed.

"I was happy to see that it wasn't as bad as it had been from when I was working," said Richards, who no longer lives in Oxford County but continues to work and volunteer in the area.

"It's a small town, right? So it takes time for things to develop and for people to come into the21stcentury."

"Since we've started the survey things have been getting better. There's been a lot of community motivation and some program implementation that's worked and it's kind of nice to see that there's starting to be a shift."

Richards calls some of the findings "unfortunate" but said it's good to have a baseline.

"I think that's what the survey has given us," said Richards. "It's given us a tool to make Oxford County better and it also shows that there's people in Oxford County that want to make it better."

Shift in attitudes

All three said that while the report does highlight areas for improvementthere are already a number of major steps being taken by the community.

"There are businesses that are recognizing some of the needs of the community," said Milne. "There's a support group that's meeting once a month, there's businesses that have taken on having gender neutral bathrooms for clients."

"Slowly we're seeing more change," said Milne. "We're getting requests for education which when we first started in 2011 we did not havethose requests."

Milne saida Pride committeeis running events for Pride month, including a Family Day at Southside Park on Saturday.

"We're definitelyseeing some change in our community and it's very exciting to be a part of it."

She said one of the key moments for her as an ally was watching the Pride flag raised at Museum Square in Woodstock for the first time last year.