More are searching for a doctor by affinity group:

Several Web sites can help consumers find doctors and other health care providers with specified characteristics, including race, religion and sensitivity to sexual orientation.

The sites — which list physicians who are African American, Christian or “gay- or lesbian-friendly” — are putting a new spin on affinity-group marketing, a tactic usually associated with insurance or real estate sales.

“We feel that, with so many pressing medical issues for blacks, that we need to make sure that our medical issues are attended to,” said Salli Purnell, marketing director for BlackDoctorFinder.com, a Web site based in Norfolk.