Pride and Pandemic: Vulnerabilities to COVID-19 Among LGBT Adults in California

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Kathryn O'Neill, a policy analyst at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, shared findings from two reports she authored that describe the characteristics of the LGBT community in California with an emphasis on factors which increase vulnerability to the COVID-19 pandemic. The reports, which use data from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research's California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), showed that LGBT adults in the state are significantly at risk for health and economic harm from COVID-19. Among those risks, more than 200,00 LGBT people in California have one or more high-risk medical conditions including asthma, diabetes, heart disease, or HIV; 612,000 were living below 200% of the federal poverty level prior to the pandemic; and 134,000 lack health insurance. LGBT economic risks are related to factors such as poverty level, race/ethnicity, gender identity, housing, food security, and employment status.

Speakers

Kathryn O'Neill

Kathryn O'Neill

Upcoming Events

Thursday, October 09, 2025

Webinar // 12:00 PM — 1:00 PM

California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) Annual Data Release

What percentage of Californians experienced a hate incident? Housing or food insecurity? Asthma attacks from wildfire smoke? Medical debt or delays in accessing needed health care? What are some of the challenges facing Californians and who is most affected? Join us on Thursday, October 9, for the annual California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data release, where we'll share findings from the 2024 survey.

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Thursday, October 30, 2025

Training Webinar // 12:00 PM — 1:30 PM

California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) Data User Training: October 30, 2025

Join the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research as we host a data user training on Thursday, October 30 to demonstrate how to use CHIS' free online health query tool AskCHIS™ to get data on a wide range of health topics.

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