Why this woman wants other LGBTIQ+ people to receive equal treatment for cancer

Veteran TV and radio broadcaster Julie McCrossin has a personal experience with cancer. She says a new 'world-leading' resource can help other members of the LGBTIQ+ community living with the illness.

Julie McCrossin, 68, says kindness and reassurance is "what you're desperate for when you're facing cancer". Source: Supplied

Key Points

• Nearly one in two LGBTIQ+ people report discrimination in healthcare, according to new findings.
• Research showed LGBTIQ+ people suffer up to six times higher rates of distress when diagnosed with cancer.
• The Cancer Council has developed an 80-page booklet specifically designed to help LGBTIQ+ people diagnosed with cancer

When 68-year-old Julie McCrossin was diagnosed with stage-four oropharyngeal cancer, the illness was so advanced that surgery was no longer an option.

“It was the biggest shock of my life,” Ms McCrossin said.

“It shocked me to my core. It confused me and made it hard for me to absorb information.”

Nearly ten years after that first diagnosis and a lengthy course of radiotherapy, Ms McCrossin says she should be clear, but that the anxiety over recurrence remains.

Ms McCrossin has been out as a lesbian woman since she was 18.

She received treatment in the inner city of Sydney and says she did not face medical discrimination.

Julie received radiation therapy as part of her treatment for her oropharyngeal cancer. Source: Supplied

But according to new findings, nearly one in two LGBTIQ+ people report discrimination in healthcare.

“If I had had any sort of prejudice or misunderstanding or even hostility and discrimination, while I was so shocked by a life-threatening illness, it just would've been dreadful,” Ms McCrossin said.

The 'Out With Cancer' research project, conducted by Western Sydney University, also finds LGBTIQ+ people suffer up to six times higher rates of distress when diagnosed with cancer.

Professor Jane Ussher from Western Sydney University says distress can be caused by various forms discrimination in healthcare, including mis-gendering people, not being inclusive of their partners in care, and in some cases, outward hostility.

“We really need to be providing education and training, practice guidelines, and resources that healthcare professionals can pass on to their patients. We need healthcare systems to be signalling that they’re culturally safe, that they’re LGBTIQ+ inclusive,” Professor Ussher said.

‘World-leading’ resource

Now, the Cancer Council has developed an 80-page booklet specifically designed to help LGBTIQ+ people diagnosed with cancer, as well as their friends and family.

“One of the things that the research identified was that the cancer information didn’t answer the questions that LGBTIQ+ people had at that moment of diagnosis,” said Jenni Bruce from the Cancer Council.

Jenni Bruce from Cancer Council says the booklet was developed in tandem with research by Western Sydney University. Source: Supplied

The resource will be made available in hospitals and practices around the country, where there may not be as much support for the LGBTIQ+ community as in metro areas.

For Ms McCrossin, it’s an invaluable piece of information not only for cancer patients, but the wider community.

“Kindness and welcome and reassurance is what you're desperate for when you're facing cancer.”

'LGBTQI+ People and Cancer: A guide for people with cancer, their families and friends' will be launched during Sydney World Pride 2023 at the Cancer Council’s stand at Mardi Gras Fair Day in Sydney. The information booklet is also available online at the Cancer Council website.