The beginning – 2013 Summit

The first GLMA nursing Summit was held on September 18, 2013 at the GLMA Conference in Denver, Colorado.  It was an exciting day focused on action, with almost 50 nurses in

attendance.  After brief presentations by Mickey Eliason and Bill Cody setting the framework for action and change in nursing on behalf of LGBTQ health, the group formed 5 groups to propose action plans.  The groups focused on nursing practice, education, research, policy, and organizational climate.

One of the recommendations that came from each of the workgroups was the need to form a nursing entity focusing on LGBTQ health – one that would become a “home” for LGBTQ nurses and allies who are actively engaged on improving LGBTQ issues in nursing.  The group expressed a strong desire to do this as a part of GLMA, because of our desire to be involved with other health professionals who share the commitment to improving LGBTQ health.  As a result a workgroup was formed to develop a proposal for such an entity!  The members of the workgroup were:

Peggy Chinn, RN, PhD, FAAN
William Cody, RN, PhD, FAAN
Edwin Craft, Dr.P.H., M.Ed., LCPC, GLMA Vice President for External Affairs
Mickey Eliason, PhD
Sarah Fogel, RN, PhD
Laura Hein, RN, PhD, GLMA Chair for External Affairs Committee
Michael Johnson, RN (PhD student)
Fidelindo Lim, RN, DNP
Katie Oppenheim, RN, BSN
Marianne Snyder, RN (PhD student)

Founding Documents

Nursing Section Proposal

The proposal establishing the GLMA Nursing Section was approved by the GLMA Board of Directors on July 12, 2014.  Thank you to Ed Craft, Vice President for External Affairs, and nurse board members Sarah Fogel and Laura Hein for advocating for this action!

Nursing Section Proposal Final July 12,2014

2014 Election of Leadership Team

Our first leadership team was elected at the Business meeting of the Nursing Section, held on site during the GLMA Nursing Summit on September 10, Baltimore 
Maryland.  The ballot posted below shows candidates who were on the ballot at the time of the election. You can also download a bio sheet above for each of the candidates on the ballot.

Since this was our first election, we developed a one-time process as follows:

• Ballots were distributed at the registration desk on the morning of the Nursing Summit on September 10, 2014. The ballots were numbered sequentially to confirm that all distributed ballots are returned at the time of voting, but no record will be made connecting the ballot and the voter.
• Everyone who was present at the Summit and who completed the “Commitment to Join” form before 11 am on September 10 was eligible to receive a ballot.
• During the business meeting at 12:45 pm all the candidates on the ballot were introduced by Board member Sarah Fogel.
• Sarah then called for floor nominations of additional candidates. All on-site nominees affirmed their willingness to serve if elected, and provided a brief oral biographical sketch.
• Everyone with a ballot wrote in the name of the additional candidate.
• When the Chair declared that voting is closed, monitors collected the ballots, tallied the votes, and announced the outcome of the election.

Ballot for Election of Leadership Team on September 10, 2014

Advance Candidates Bio Sheet