ORGANIZATION | Inducted 1999
Since 1990 as the first effort of its kind in the Midwest, the Lesbian Community Cancer Project has provided one-on-one support, direct services, and peer support groups for women with cancer and their families of choice. It has also educated medical providers about lesbian health needs.
In addition, LCCP regularly offers gynecological health clinics (with both North and South Side locations); advocacy (through programming, outreach, education, testimony at public hearings, and coalition work); a stress management clinic for women living with cancer; spiritual support services; and a 24-hour hotline, furnishing immediate encouragement, information, and referrals.
Through its various activities, LCCP not only has provided information and resources to women confronted with cancer, thus allowing them to make informed decisions, but also has educated medical providers about the specific needs and concerns of lesbians. To give one example: Following consultation by LCCP and others with representatives of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CDC added lesbians to its list of target populations for its Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.
LCCP was also responsible for spearheading the Women’s Health Survey of Metropolitan Chicago in 1994 and has shared information about development of that survey in many venues, enabling health care providers and social service agencies to assess better the health needs of lesbians and of women generally.
Knowing the value of sharing information with other health-oriented organizations and realizing that cancer is not an isolated issue, LCCP works in coalition with more than a dozen other groups, including the Chicago Women’s AIDS Project, Horizons Community Services, the Illinois and Chicago Departments of Public Health, and the National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer.
LCCP’s service to Chicago has already been recognized by Gay Chicago Magazine, the Metropolitan Community Churches, and the Human Rights Campaign Fund. The many women who have benefited from LCCP’s services especially recognize its contributions. Now the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame does likewise. (Please note: this information has not been updated since the time of the organization’s induction).