Massachusetts Department of Public Health LGBT 2009 Study

Massachusetts Department of Public Health just released a new study. they frequently have pretty good needs assessments and LGBT health studies. The study compares the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents to heterosexual and non-transgender residents. Here's the REPORT in PDF.

Some of the more startling info: about 31 percent of transgender respondents said they have considered attempting suicide in the past year, compared to just 2 percent for heterosexual residents, 4 percent for gay and lesbian residents and 7 percent for bisexual residents.

Respondents were asked about their smoking history and current smoking status. Gay men and lesbians (11.3%) and heterosexuals (11.8%) had lower percentages reporting current smoking,compared to bisexuals (14.0%) and transgender persons (15.4%). I don't think this is shocking (although these usage rates are much much lower than what we have seem for Michigan in the LGBT community as a whole-31%) however, I do find it interesting that Bi folks have quite a few similar health behaviors and negative health outcomes as trans folks.