Health inequity by design: LGBTQ+ youth homelessness and a path towards health justice

The health inequities facing the LGBTQ+ community are well documented despite limited resources towards addressing these issues. Traditional frameworks have failed to account for the role of stigma at various levels, namely public, self and structural, that perpetuate these inequities. Health justice has emerged as a framework that explicitly addresses both stigma and power dynamics as key areas that must be targeted to truly effect change. Focusing on LGBTQ+ youth homelessness, I examine how stigma operates across systems including healthcare, housing, and social systems, and how power embedded within systems reinforces inequities over time. After contextualizing these issues within the framework, discussion regarding non-reformist compared to reformist reform is addressed to better understand how past frameworks can fall short in their reform efforts.