Privacy Concerns

The fifth challenge features concerns that practitioners will share our information without consent. These concerns can push us to seek alternative sources of care, withhold information, or avoid accessing services.

NONCONSENSUAL DISCLOSURES 

• “When I was younger, a big challenge was finding healthcare that wasn’t connected to my family and parents – healthcare that I could access myself, without needing their transportation, consent, or insurance coverage. I’m not out to my parents and so, I wouldn’t want them to disclose certain things to my family.”
• “My parents didn’t know I was sexually active or in a relationship and I was asking about things like birth control. I had similar concerns when I was talking about my mental health. When I was younger, I was worried about those things because I was under the age of consent. If I talked about certain things, the practitioner would have the ability to discuss those to my parents, so that added to my worries.”
• “I’m covered under my parents’ insurance but that means I have to disclose all my procedures or what I want to get covered because they are the primary contact.”
• “There are some clinics who are like ‘We are queer!’. What can happen there is if you go in and you’re not out to anyone, and you’re going there because they provide a specific service, you can get outed for that for going to the building.”