Coming Out About Lesbians and Cancer

The Lesbians and Breast Cancer Project was a community-based participatory study conducted in Ontario, Canada, in 2003.

We interviewed twenty-six lesbians diagnosed with a ‘woman’s cancer’ (twenty-two with breast cancer, three with gynecological cancer, one with both) about their experiences of treatment, cancer care, and support, and their feelings and ideas about changes in identity, body, sexuality and relationships.

A primary goal of this project was: “to know about how oppression, and the strengths in lesbian communities, affected lesbians’ experiences with breast and gynecological cancer.”

This project was made possible with the generous support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Ontario Chapter.