Iris Cantor - UCLA Women's Health Center

LA County Lesbian, Bisexual & Queer Women's Health Collaborative

The Los Angeles County Lesbian, Bisexual & Queer Women's Health Collaborative (LBQWHC) was created by individuals concerned about health disparities for lesbian, bisexual and queer women in Los Angeles County. Lesbian, bisexual and queer women's health was identified as a priority issue at the 2007 Women's Health Summit sponsored by the L.A. County Department of Public Health's Office of Women's Health. In 2008, the City Council of the City of West Hollywood adopted the Lesbian Health Bill of Rights, which was written by the City of West Hollywood's Lesbian Visibility Committee. Members of the Lesbian Visibility Committee worked with the L.A. County Office of Women's Health to host the first meeting of local key stakeholders in lesbian and bisexual women's health. This evolved into the L.A. County Lesbian, Bisexual & Queer Women's Health Collaborative (LBQWHC), established in 2009.

The LBQWHC is made up of individuals and organizations with experience advocating for the health and well-being of lesbian, bisexual and queer women. Members represent health care facilities, government agencies, community organizations, and academic institutions. The LBQWHC recently completed conducting focus groups with under-represented lesbian and bisexual women to solicit their health care opinions and experiences. The data collected from this study will serve as the foundation for improving training and curriculums related to cultural competency targeting health care professionals.

The objectives of the LBQWHC are to:

  • Increase the number of health care institutions participating in the Human Rights Campaign's Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) Survey. 
  • Develop a curriculum to train physicians and other health professionals in delivering culturally competent health care to lesbian and bisexual women using pilot data from the LBWHC's focus group study.
  • Supplement existing LGBTQ+ training programs and materials with information unique to lesbian and bisexual Latinas, African Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders, veterans, and women ages 65 and over.
  • Host conferences for executives and other health professionals about health care for lesbian and bisexual women. 
  • Provide tailored training and education programs to health care facilities and health care providers about best practices for serving patients who are lesbian and bisexual women. 

LBQWHC Collaborative Members

The LA County Lesbian & Bisexual Women's Collaborative Resource Guide

The LA County Lesbian & Bisexual Women's Collaborative (LBWHC) Resource Guide is the culmination of a collaborative team effort with student interns from the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Education and Resource Center (WHERC). Mona Lisa Mardanbigi, MPH, conceptualized and developed the resource guide as a graduate student intern with the assistance of Suhitha Uppalapati in 2012. It was updated and edited in 2014 by Stephanie Wong and Riley Sandberg with the assistance of Niyanta Dave and Karen Singh, along with Ryane Daniels, Program Coordinator for WHERC, all of whom identified additional publications and provided the synopsis for numerous articles. Janet Pregler, MD, Medical Director for the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Center and Professor of Clinical Medicine at the David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine and WHERC's Director, Julie Friedman, MPH oversaw the compilation of this Resource Guide. Additional support was provided by the Human Rights Campaign.

* Resources updated May 2018

Learn more about:

For more information about the LBQWHC or to schedule a free training, please contact:

Gabrielle Pascua
Iris-Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Education & Research Center
1100 Glendon Ave, Suite 850
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Phone (310) 794-8063
[email protected]