Citizenship rights, discrimination, and stigmatisation of LGBTI students by health care services at a South African rural-based university

Abstract

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) individuals experience stigmatisation and discrimination in their everyday lives. These experiences are noted in South Africa, even though its constitution of 1996 is recorded as the first constitution in the world to explicitly provide for non-discrimination against people based on gender and sexual orientation. This article highlights the findings of an interpretative phenomenological analysis study conducted in a South African rural university. The purpose of the study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences of LGBTI individuals with regard to utilisation of the health care services in a South African rural university. The findings of the study focus on citizenship rights and the discrimination that LGBTI students experience in accessing health care services. The main forms of discrimination reported are the heterocentric nature of services and treatment at the campus health clinic and the heteronormative prejudice held by university health care personnel. Recommendations are made to address the problematic social exclusion that arises from heterocentric delivery of health services and highlight the equal rights of LGBTI students to health care that addresses all students’ needs, regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, in a South African rural university.