Canadian Health Research Funding Patterns for Sexual and Gender Minority Populations Reflect Exclusion of Women

<b><i>Purpose:</i></b> We explored the funding areas of Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (trans), queer or questioning, and intersex individuals (2S/LGBTQI)-specific health research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) mentioned in the grant abstracts. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We analyzed the publicly available database of grant abstracts funded by CIHR from 2009-2020 to examine what types of 2S/LGBTQI-specific health outcomes would be studied and in what populations. <b><i>Results:</i></b> We found that 58% of awarded grant abstracts mentioned studying sexually transmitted diseases, the majority of which was on human immunodeficiency virus. Of the funded 2S/LGBTQI grant abstracts that specified the gender of the population to be studied (n=23), less then 9% mentioned studying cisgender women. Almost 40% mentioned including trans women/girls, and 30% mentioned including trans men/boys. None of the studies examined mentioned work with the Two-Spirit community. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> These results reflect larger social and health inequities that require structural level changes in research to support the 2S/LGBTQI community.