Senator Wiener Calls for Greater Focus on Impacts on LGBTQ Community of COVID-19

San Francisco - Today, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) released the following statement regarding the impacts of COVID-19 on the LGTBQ community, the need for better government focus on the LGBTQ community at all levels, and the Trump administration’s new attack on LGBTQ healthcare access:

“The LGBTQ community is being badly harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, yet our community is either being ignored in the pandemic response or actively harmed. We just learned what we already suspected: that LGBTQ people are being disproportionately damaged by layoffs and other pandemic-caused economic harms. And we know that LGBTQ people are at heightened risk for serious COVID-19 symptoms, due to higher rates of HIV, cancer, smoking, and homelessness. Yet, despite those facts, the Trump administration is proposing to make it legal for healthcare providers to refuse to treat LGBTQ people. Neither the federal government nor state government is collecting data on the pandemic’s impacts on the LGBTQ community. And, in general, our community is being ignored. As we move through this pandemic, we need to ensure that the LGBTQ community - and all marginalized communities - are receiving the focus and resources they need to survive and thrive.”