‘#WeNeedAButton’ Campaign Calls for Empathetic Healthcare for the LGBTQIA+ Community

The #WeNeedAButton campaign, an initiative launched by WaxOh.com and DatingPositives.com designed to encourage patient-matching sites and other organizations to identify queer-friendly providers, today launched in the lead up to PrideFest and at end of World Pride celebrations in New York.

WaxOh!, the news media site produced by DatingPositives, addresses many queer community issues including the discrimination, humiliation, negligent care and, in some cases, outright denial of necessary medical treatment at healthcare institutions and providers, stemming from healthcare professionals overlooking the unique needs of queer patients or on the basis of religious freedom. WaxOh!, readers have shared many negative healthcare experiences, leading the site to drive this commitment to shining a light on their stories, and the many others of discrimination faced by the queer community in the U.S.

A limited number of cities, including New York and San Francisco, have passed an LGBTQIA+ bill of rights that has addressed some of this discrimination and made finding queer-friendly doctors easier—but this is not enough.

The ‘#WeNeedAButton’ campaign, launched 50 years after Stonewall, demands change and accountability in healthcare delivery to the queer community. The first goal for the campaign is shifting the onus of finding a queer-friendly doctor from the patient to the provider. #WeNeedAButton calls for all major patient-matching sites to include a button indicating which doctors are queer-friendly.

“Queer people often have no way of knowing whether or not their healthcare provider is queer-friendly until they have a negative experience. This makes the process of finding a trusted medical professional stressful,” says Zachary Zane, LGBTQIA+ health journalist and ambassador to #WeNeedAButton. “The simple step of adding a button means a world of difference in the queer community’s simple search for a dignified healthcare experience.”

#WeNeedAButton is spreading awareness by harnessing the power of social media. People can show their support by showing off their assets. The campaign is encouraging those who stand with the community to post a belfie (a butt selfie) in solidarity, using the hashtag #WeNeedAButton.

#WeNeedAButton is supported by The Phluid Project, Bisexual.org, Hairrari, Hudson Cutler and other partners.

WaxOh! will have a photo booth at PrideFest on Sunday, June 30th, where people can come and get a “butt portrait” taken, get a chance to learn more about the campaign and see other people’s photos.

For more information visit: www.waxoh.com/weneedabutton

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