Foundation gives lesbian health grant to Mautner Project

The Lance Armstrong Foundation, founded by cancer survivor and Tour de France champion, on Monday announced a grant of $5,000 to the Mautner Project for Lesbians With Cancer to support the organization's lesbian cancer survivorship program. The grant was the first ever given by the foundation to a gay health group. "The Lance Armstrong Foundation works to promote all areas of cancer survivorship," said Douglas Ulman, the foundation's director of survivorship, in a press release announcing the grant. "Through our partnerships with dedicated organizations like the Mautner Project, we will continue to enhance the quality of life for cancer survivors everywhere." The Armstrong foundation works to promote the optimal physical, psychological, and social recovery and care of cancer survivors and their loved ones. "We are proud to partner with [the foundation in its] quest to improve the quality of life for all cancer survivors and their families--regardless of their sexual or gender orientation," said Mautner executive director Kathleen DeBold. "The Lance Armstrong Foundation knows that although doctors, researchers, and insurance companies may discriminate against LGBT people, cancer does not." Founded in 1990, the Mautner Project provides education, support, and services to women who are living with a cancer diagnosis, caring for a partner or family member with a cancer, or coping with the loss of a loved one. The project also provides programming, training, and technical assistance to local groups seeking to improve lesbian health and wellness. The foundation grant will be used to develop a technical manual designed to be used by agencies to replicate Mautner's cancer survivorship program in local communities.