Public Health Proportionality for Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

Abstract Public health programs and policies for sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth must consider their unique health needs. These include developmental and social predictors of health related to sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. SGM youth may experience social inequities such as anti-SGM discrimination, stigma, threats to human rights, and intersecting forms of marginalization that are associated with important health disparities. This requires considering unique bioethical and human rights imperatives pertaining to public health programs and policies for SGM youth. Proportionality provides a tool for doing so when bioethical and human rights imperatives might be in contention. By using proportionality as an analytic tool, public health professionals can establish policies and programs for SGM youth that minimize competing bioethical hazards and adhere to human rights principles. Doing so can simultaneously help not only protect SGM youths’ human rights and minimize their mental and physical health risk but also to enhance the effectiveness of public health programs for both SGM youth and the general population.