Record #: R2018-418   
Type: Resolution Status: Adopted
Intro date: 4/18/2018 Current Controlling Legislative Body: Committee on Health and Environmental Protection
Final action: 6/27/2018
Title: Call for hearing(s) regarding LGBT Health Databook and encouraging further actions be taken by City of Chicago ensuring health equity for Chicago's LGBT communities
Sponsors: Mell, Deborah, Cappleman, James, Lopez, Raymond A., Ramirez-Rosa, Carlos, Tunney, Thomas, Waguespack, Scott, Quinn, Marty, Osterman, Harry, Villegas, Gilbert, Mitchell, Gregory I., Hairston, Leslie A., Maldonado, Roberto, O'Shea, Matthew J., Reboyras, Ariel, Munoz, Ricardo, Hopkins, Brian , Smith, Michele, Burnett, Jr., Walter, Scott, Jr. Michael, O'Connor, Patrick, Solis, Daniel, Laurino, Margaret, King, Sophia D., Pawar, Ameya, Taliaferro, Chris, Arena, John, Ervin, Jason C., Curtis, Derrick G., Beale, Anthony, Foulkes, Toni, Sawyer, Roderick T., Moore, Joseph, Dowell, Pat, Silverstein, Debra L., Zalewski, Michael R., Sadlowski Garza, Susan, Reilly, Brendan, Thompson, Patrick D., Austin, Carrie M., Harris, Michelle A., Moreno, Proco Joe, Mitts, Emma, Santiago, Milagros
Topic: COMMITTEE/PUBLIC HEARINGS - Committee on Health and Environmental Protection
Attachments: 1. R2018-418.pdf

Type: Title:

 

 

Committee(s) Assignment:

 

Santiago (31) Resolution

Call for hearing(s) regarding LGBT Health Databook and encouraging further actions be taken by City of Chicago ensuring health equity for Chicago's LGBT communities Committee on Health and Environmental Protection

 

RESOLUTION

 

 

 

Call for a Hearing on the LGBT Health Databook

WHEREAS, Approximately 146,000 Chicago adults publicly identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, representing 7.5% of the City of Chicago's population; However

WHEREAS, For the first time in Chicago history, the Chicago Department of Public Health presents data on the overall health of transgender adults and lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth (ninth through twelfth grades), young adults (eighteen through forty-four years of age) and older adults (forty-five years of age and older) living in Chicago in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Health Databook; and

WHEREAS, The goal of the new LGBT Health Databook is to cover a wide range of health topics of importance to the LGBT community; and

WHEREAS, The Chicago Department of Public Health recognizes that the health disparities reflected in the report are results of social factors that disproportionately impact LGBT persons. There is nothing inherent to being LGBT that drives these disparities; and

WHEREAS, The health disparities examined in this report stem from social factors including discrimination that still disproportionately impacts LGBT persons; and

WHEREAS, In all stages of life, lesbian and bisexual females are more likely to be smokers than heterosexual females; and

WHEREAS, While older LGBT persons and older heterosexuals report similar levels of overall well-being, young adults in both groups exhibit very different levels of well-being; and

WHEREAS, The Chicago Department of Public Health is dedicated to ensuring the accurate surveying of transgender and gender non-conforming (GNC) Chicagoans to better measure the challenges and opportunities specific to these communities; and

WHEREAS, Transgender and GNC adults are less likely to report good overall health. In addition, these adults are far more likely to report psychological distress than their cisgender peers; and

WHEREAS, The Chicago Department of Public Health should be commended for the accomplishments of the LGBT Health Databook. However, future work must be done to ensure health equity for Chicago's LGBT community; and

WHEREAS, The City Council of the City of Chicago recognizes the importance of full understanding of the LGBT Health Databook; now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, assembled this eighteenth day of April, 2018, call on the Committee on Public Health to hold a public hearing regarding the LGBT Health Databook and further actions that need to be taken by the

 

 

City of Chicago prior to the next regular meeting of the Chicago City Council. The Commissioner of the Department of Public Health and any other party deemed relevant by the Committee Chair will be asked to participate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DEBORAH MELL Alderman, 33rd Ward

CARLOS RAMIREZ-ROSA Alderman, 35th Ward