2018 LGBT Health Forum

LGBT People of Color: Health, Rights, and Respect
Wed, 11 July, 2018 11:00pm

On the evening of Wednesday, July 11 the LGBT Health Policy & Practice program at the George Washington University held the 6th annual LGBT Health Forum coinciding with the summer residency of the class of 2018-19. The Forum is the program’s annual public event where leaders, experts, and activists tackle topics related to the health of the LGBT population, locally and nationally. Past topics include Transgender Health, Global LGBT Health, the DOMA decision and ACA, and Religion and LGBT Health. Past speakers at the Forum have included Bishop Gene Robinson, Jim Obergefell (Obergefell v. Hodges), Kris Perry and Sandy Stier (Hollingsworth v. Perry), former acting Attorney General Walter Dellinger, Mara Keisling (National Center for Transgender Equality), and T.R. Reid (The Healing of America). Last year’s forum on Lessons from the Marriage Equality Victory was broadcast live on C-SPAN.

This year the Forum addressed LGBT People of Color: Health, Rights, and Respect. Black, Latino, and other marginalized racial and ethnic communities face significant challenges and substantial disparities in health and access to culturally competent care. For LGBT people of color, these challenges are even more daunting. A powerful group of speakers, all experts in their field, came together for a panel discussion that illuminated the connection of access to culturally competent and dignified health care to human rights, social justice, and improved health outcomes and economic prosperity for all.

Our panelists included:

Dr. DeMarc Hickson (moderator), Executive Director, Us Helping Us, Washington, DC

Dr. Jonathan Lassiter, co-editor of Black LGBT Health in the United States: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Muhlenberg College

Local transgender activist Ruby Corado, founder of the “Casa Ruby” shelter for transgender and LGB youth and adults in Washington, DC.

Harlan Pruden, a First Nations Cree scholar and activist from northeast Alberta, Canada, and co-founder of the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society in New York City.

Dr. Carlos Rodriguez-Díaz, Associate Professor at the School of Public Health of the University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences Campus and sexual health promotion and HIV prevention expert.

Guillaume Bagal, President of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance in DC and former Public Policy Associate at Whitman Walker Health

Shari Lynn Johnson, Traveling Diversity Professor, instructor of courses on Dynamics of Racism and Human Sexuality, and researcher in community (re)building/organizing, critical intersectionalities, gerontology and queer studies

The Forum ran from 7 to 9 p.m. on the evening of July 11, 2018 in the Auditorium in room 113 of 1957 E Street, NW on the GWU campus. It was open-to-the-public and there was no charge for admission. 

 

Listen to the Forum

 

For more information, please call 202-994-6316 or write to [email protected]

 

Share This Event