THE FIGHT SOCAL'S LGBTQ MONTHLY MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2019

We are much more than a
diagnosis. Doing your research,
finding proper treatment and
enjoying your life more fully.
BY JAMES GUAY, LMFT
Many of us have witnessed or
experienced firsthand some
form of mental illness and/
or addiction. While this kind
of psychological and emotional pain is
common enough for us to have some
level of familiarity with it, it’s even more
common in the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and queer community. Why
is this and what can be done about it?
Nick, in the late 1990’s, had HIV for over
a decade and was one of the unlucky ones
where the life-saving protease-inhibitors
didn’t work for him. The first day I met him,
he was in the hospital from AIDS-related
wasting syndrome and was having his feet
rubbed by a well-known politician. He was
a force to be reckoned with, articulate and
had been involved in politics as a gay activist
fighting stigma around HIV and AIDS.
To withstand the long days and late nights
fighting for his community he used methamphetamine
to keep up his energy and reduce
his depression. Nick had been diagnosed as
having a triple diagnosis (HIV, an addiction to
speed and a mental illness).
While the above is a composite of several
of my first clients (to protect their confidentiality),
it’s an example of the resiliency,
strength and pain that we have felt as a community
for decades. Mental illness and addiction
are not intrinsic to being LGBTQ but they
are a natural result of living in a society that
is sometimes intolerant and even hateful toward
us. Thankfully, we are much more than
a diagnosis. We try to survive, thrive and do
the best we can under sometimes enormous
pressures for us to be different than who we
are. THE FIGHT is real.
30 THE FIGHT | www.thefightmag.com