New COVID-19 outreach campaign connects with bilingual LGBTQ Californians

A California LGBTQ advocacy group is launching a bilingual text messaging and social media campaign to connect gay people of color with up-to-date information on COVID-19 and vaccines.

The effort by Equality California, the California Department of Social Services and the Center at Sierra Health Foundation is intended to reach a community that disproportionately is suffering the pandemic’s health and economic consequences.

“We understand how critical accurate information is when it comes to combating COVID-19,” said Rick Chavez Zbur, executive director of Equality California Institute, at a press conference announcing the effort. “That’s our goal to ensure LGBTQ+ Californians have access to accurate information, resources and support.”

The educational campaign will include conducting outreach through text messaging, mail, email and social media, as well as organizing town halls.

“We try to always reach our community where they are,” he said. “A high percentage of LGBTQ Californians are Latino and many do speak Spanish as their primary language.”

About 34% of the nearly 1.7 million LGBT adults living in California are Latino, according to UCLA Williams Institute research director Kerith J. Conron.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted underlying social inequalities that need to be remedied in order to promote long-term health for LGBTQ people, particularly LGBTQ people of color,” Conron said.

A UCLA Williams Institute report released last month found LGBT people of color experienced higher positivity rates of COVID-19 compared to non-LGBT people of color and non-LGBT whites. LGBT people of color were also 50% more likely to personally know someone who died of COVID-19 than other groups.

Additionally, LGBT people of color were twice as likely to say they had difficulty paying for household goods and were three times more likely to report difficulty paying for housing when compared to non-LGBT whites.

Last summer, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced the state would begin collecting data regarding COVID patients’ sexual orientation and gender identity to better understand the pandemic’s impact on the LGBTQ community.

This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 11:45 AM with the headline "New COVID-19 outreach campaign connects with bilingual LGBTQ Californians."