Health Equity: a powerful prescription for your health and well-being.

It's personal.

Our House is filled with people—from all races, faith traditions, and sexual orientations—who have created a work culture that is revered, cherished, and nurtured. We can all be the fullest expression of who we were created to be.

Dr. Rainbow is dedicated to the belief that every West Virginian deserves quality healthcare and a support network no matter who they love or what gender they identify as.

In the past decade lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBTQ+, people have made rapid progress in winning and securing equal rights.

Despite this progress, however, members of the LGBTQ+ population continue to experience worse health outcomes than their heterosexual counterparts. Due to factors like low rates of health insurance coverage, high rates of stress due to systematic harassment and discrimination, and a lack of cultural competency in the health care system, LGBTQ+ people are at a higher risk for cancer, mental illnesses, and other diseases, and are more likely because they are targeted smoke, drink alcohol, use drugs, and engage in other risky behaviors because of depression and anxiety.

People who are both LGBTQ+ and members of a racial or ethnic minority will often face the highest level of health disparities. For example, as the National Coalition for LGBTQ+ Health notes, a black gay man faces disparities common to the African American community as well as those suffered by the LGBTQ+ community, and a transgender Spanish-speaking woman, regardless of her sexual orientation, must navigate multiple instances of discrimination based on language, ethnicity, and gender.

Dr. Rainbow and Covenant House are here to help. We are here as a resource to connect every person to an LGBTQ+Q culturally competent healthcare provider as well as connect individuals to community services and groups to ensure that it is great to be queer in the mountains.