Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies - Volume 28, Issue 1, 2025

Research has shown that the LGBTQ+ community – which encompasses sexual and gender minority individuals (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other queer identities) – experiences health disparities and barriers in accessing healthcare. The current work examined the two sides of the coin of healthcare discrimination: on one hand, the consequences of healthcare discrimination events in LGBTQ+ patients (Study 1, N = 237) and, on the other hand, the predictors of LGBTQ+ attitudes among healthcare professionals (HCPs) (Study 2, N = 234). Through two cross-sectional survey studies in European samples, we identified that LGBTQ+ patients who have experienced healthcare discrimination exhibit reduced trust in healthcare systems, increased LGBTQ+ minority stress, and more healthcare-avoidance behaviours. Also, predictors of positive LGBTQ+ attitudes among HCPs included contact with LGBTQ+ people in the social circle; higher emphasis on the Harm/Care and Fairness/Reciprocity Moral Foundations, and lower emphasis on the Purity/Sanctity principle; as well as being female, politically liberal, non-religious HCP, or living in an urbanised area. These findings add to the body of literature of LGBTQ+ health disparities and are used for recommending practical interventions, with the aim of maximizing access to healthcare for this population who already has a vulnerable health status.

This article explores women’s religious exit in the Netherlands. It draws on life story interviews with women who disengaged from orthodox Calvinist churches and Apostolic communities. Women’s religious exit is assessed in terms of experiences of liminality, with a focus on negotiations of notions of self, others and belonging. In conversation with the empirical data, liminality is conceptualised as a gendered two-fold trajectory of transformation at the level of faith and knowledge, and social relations. I suggest that a perspective on intersectional liminality helps us deepen our understanding of how women leave their religious traditions, and more specifically, what it means to disengage from encapsulating religious communities in a Western European context.