Planning is under way for the 2021 Nursing Summit on Wednesday, September 22, 2021. Abstracts are currently being accepted for both the overall GLMA Conference and also the Nursing Summit. This year’s conference theme is “Closing the Gaps.” If you have an abstract you would like to submit to either or both, please go to the official Call for Abstracts for the submission guidelines and form.
GLMA is excited to announce new opportunities for involvement and advocacy through our trainee committee! The skinny: time flexible, skill-building involvement opportunities with short applications. The link to each application contains a full description page with outlined roles and expectations.
1) GLMA Ambassador
GLMA’s HPiT committee will highlight your accomplishments through social media and member emails. We will share an email or preferred contact information and announce your availability to help guide others seeking similar accomplishments. (Special thank you to Jona Tanguay, Cynthia Kuk, and Joshua Lidtke who took the time to spearhead this initiative and oversee its roll out!)
Apply here!
2) Queer Curricular Reform
Curricular reform combines advocacy and education while keeping those involved up to date on the clinical forefront of LGBTQ health. This committee’s efforts will provide its advocates with exposure to national health professional groups, knowledge of clinical best practices across disciplines, and the skills to advocate within health systems.
Apply here!
3) Social media
This will NOT be your college internship all over again! Social Media members will learn the current LGBTQ health advocacy landscape through generating content for social media and partnering with sibling organizations. Every movement has its message – help craft ours!
Apply here!
All are due October 6th, Sunday at midnight PST.
Sign up for committee updates and future opportunities here!
Our colleague Ralph Klotzbaugh, our first GLMA Nursing Section Budget Officer, just let us know that he has been awarded a 50k internal grant at the University of New Mexico on a study with peer-led support groups for trans folks in New Mexico. It’s through the Transdisciplinary Research for Equity and Engagement Center at the Health Sciences Center at UNM. Here are the aims of the study:
Congratulations, Ralph! I know we will hear more about your work as it progresses!
Last October, I posted the following message on this blog – and I am posting it again – because we have been having a bit of a problem with the networking emails! We are working on this – so bear with us – we will work it out! If you are on the networking list and have the link to our Kanban view to find others in your region, the link I have sent before still works! Wath for an update coming in the next couple of weeks! And if you are not yet part of the networking group, information about how to join is below!
Our wonderful annual GLMA Nursing Summit is like an oasis in the desert for those of us who are able to attend, and the highlight is networking – meeting old and new friends, finding new connections with others who share our interests and
passions for LGBTQIA+ health. But what about the other 364 days of the year? And what about possibilities a little bit closer to home? The GLMA Nursing Section networking group might help! There is nothing complicated about this group – it is simply a database that we can organize by region and showcase everyone in a gallery makes it possible to find and connect with other LGBTQIA+ nurses and allies.
If you are not already signed up, here is the link to the form to sign up! This is not GLMA membership, nor is it GLMA Nursing Section membership – it just gets you signed up for the networking database. The benefit is that you will get a link to see a “kanban” view consisting off “cards” for everyone in the group, organized by your geographical region. At this point, there are lots of regions (mostly states) that have no one – yet – and many that have only one or two people. But over time that will change, and if you are part of the group, you can help change that! Your connection of course is not limited to just your region or neighboring regions – You can explore any region to find people who share your interest, and contact them by email
The Kanban view is password protected, and you have to have the link to sign in. Once you are part of the group, you will receive an email every few weeks reminding you of he link to the Kanban view, and a reminder of the password (which will change from time to time). So join us! And if you already are in the group, encourage your friends to join us, and check the Kanban view frequently to welcome new networkers!
This is huge! The ANA has issued a major position statement advocating for LGBTQ+ populations – you can 
download it here. Our own David Keepnews played a major role in crafting this statement – thank you David for your tireless leadership!
At the Nursing Summit last year, we began what is sure to become a lasting tradition – student pop-up sessions providing a shap-shot of the ground-breaking work that students are accomplishing on behalf of LGBTQIA health! If you are a student in any program and have an LGBTQIA-related project, we want to hear from you! You will have 10 minutes for your “Student Pop-up” during which you can share essential features of your work to a very supportive and enthusiastic audience! To let us know you are interested, please complete our contact form – we will respond to discuss more details!
The GLMA Nursing Summit will be held Wednesday, October 10, at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Here is a pocket card you can share, print or forward far and wide!
Warning: This post contains sensitive content related to sexual violence.
2017 has been a year of renewed attention to sexuality, but in a different context than usual. From public protesting of sexual harassment at the Golden Globes to the resurgence of the #MeToo movement, people of all genders and sexual orientations have banded together to reclaim their sexual rights and fight against injustices in the face of political oppression. In fact, the problem of sexual violence has garnered so much attention that Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” is the Silence Breakers– those individuals that, while unique, all shared a common story of sexual harassment or abuse. We know from research that sexual violence is an especially pertinent problem for sexual and gender minority persons, who are victimized at similar or higher rates than heterosexual counterparts. But what happens when LGBT identities are brought into the conversation as perpetrators?
When Kevin Spacey was accused of harassing young men, he took the opportunity not only to apologize, but also to publicly identify as a gay man. Some outspoken LGBT figures have claimed that this admission was little more than an attempt to “hide under the rainbow” instead of taking responsibility. Now we are forced to wonder how that reflects on our communities. As identities that have historically (and inaccurately!) been stereotyped as focused on sex, LGBT identities have often been marginalized and reduced to erroneous and demeaning stereotypes. However, we can also recognize the tension between avoiding this stereotype and the fact that sexual assault is, has been, and will likely continue to be a problem within the LGBT community. Given this tension, are LGBT individuals now portrayed in an even worse light when someone accused of sexual harassment apologizes and self-identifies in the same breath?
What we can take from this movement, in the midst of all the negative and “fake” news floating around these days, is that these important issues are being discussed. People of all genders and sexual orientations are standing up for their rights, sexual and otherwise. But here at GLMA, we’re interested in linking these discussions to what we know- so we’d like to put out a call to our readers. Do you know of research linking these ideas? How might these misguided ideas of identity and behavior be inaccurately reflected in future policy and stereotype reinforcement? What are your opinions, and how can we move forward in a positive and non-re-traumatizing manner?
For anyone who needs it, resources to LGBT friendly sexual violence resources.
Recent U.S. elections (state, regional and local) resulted in a record-breaking number of history-making results – women, people of color, and LGBTQ people winning in unlikely places! Just a few days before these elections hardly anyone would have predicted the kinds of victories that happened, but they happened! This inspired us to document LGBTQ election victories in places all over the globe, and we started a list, with links to more information about the people in our “Resources” section on the GLMA Nursing website. Check it out! We know it is far from complete – we want to eventually include LGBTQ elected officials already in office at any level – from local school board, to city councils and mayors, to state legislatures. If you know of someone we have not yet listed, please let us know.
Here is our list so far – from the November 7th and November 14, 2017 elections:
Allison Ikley-Freeman – Oklahoma State Senate (Elected November 14, 2017)
Andrea Jenkins – Minneapolis City Council (Elected November 7, 2017)
Danica Roem – Virginia House of Delegates (Elected November 7, 2017)
Jenny Durkan. – Seattle, Washington Mayor (Elected November 7, 2017)
Lisa Middleton – Palm Springs, California, City Council (Elected November 7, 2017)
Tyler Titus – Erie, Pennsylvania School Board (Elected November 7, 2017)
The 2017 GLMA Nursing Summit in Philadelphia was an overall success.
Our new Chair, Caitlin Stover, and Past Chair, Michael Johnson, facilitated the events of the day.
Jesse Joad and Hector Vargas welcomed us at the start of the day.
After which, Caitlin Stover led us in an innovative “Speed Networking” exercise, enabling lots of new connections to be made.
Throughout the day, we had “pop-up” presentations of student work. These included
| Kasey Jackman | Nonsuicidal Self-Injury among Transgender People |
| Jessica Marsack | Couple’s Coping and Health Maintenance Behaviors: Exploring Dyadic Stigma in American Gay Male Couples |
| Shannon Avery-Desmarais | Cultural Humility: Is it Ready for Prime Time? |
José A. Parés-Avila led a panel discussion on Intersectionality in the LGBTQIA Nursing Agenda with Alana Cueto, Andrew Fernandez, and Christina Machuca. We also heard from Jeffrey Kwong, Walter Bockting, Kasey Jackman, Billy A. Caceres on the Program for the Study of LGBT Health at Columbia University Medical Center.
After lunch, we gave our annual Nursing Excellence Award to the Mazzoni Center, Philadelphia’s Center for LGBTQ Health and Well-Being. Pictured below is Ralph Klotzbaugh, our immediate past Budget Officer, with Dane Menkin of the Mazzoni Center. Dane also gave a presentation entitled “Transgender Care: Protected, Honored, and Provided by Nurses”
Jessica Landry and Todd Tartavoulle presented the preliminary results of the ongoing Louisiana State University educational initiative, Delivering Culturally Sensitive Care to LGBT+ Patients.
As always, we also broke out into smaller skill-building workgroups. Stay tuned for more information on those!
During our business meeting, we confirmed our Leadership Team for 2017-2018:
Caitlin Stover, Chair,
Caroline Dorsen, Chair-Elect,
Michael Johnson, Past Chair,
Diane Verrochi, Recorder,
Tracey Rickards, Budget Officer,
Shannon Avery-Desmarais, Student Representative,
Laura Hein, GLMA Board Liaison,
and our continuing Web Team.
Next year, we’ll be having the 2018 GLMA Nursing Summit on October 10 at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. We hope to see you then!
Squeezing in a fourth article before the Nursing Summit on September 13. Here is the citation information to get started:
Morabia, A. (2017). Note From the Editor-in-Chief: Who Wants to Exclude Older LGBT Persons From Public Health Surveillance?. American Journal of Public Health 107(6), pp. 844–845. Retrieved September 1, 2017 from http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303851.
This editorial examines several concerns around both the decision to remove a demographic question on sexual orientation from the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants and the rationale given for doing so. Morabia particularly takes a look at the methodology used to survey rare groups (and the lack of understanding that this decision showed) as well as the importance of doing so to ensure the health of these groups is given consideration in developing policy and allocating resources. (This decision was reversed in June of this year.)
What are your thoughts on this editorial? Do you feel that it balances concerns around health equity with concerns around methodology and whether the decision-makers understood it? What might you have said/done differently if you were to write a similar opinion piece?
Those are just some starter questions. Please don’t let them limit you!
Also, please suggest any articles you would like to discuss here. It’s helpful if they’re freely available online, but that’s not an absolute requirement.
GLMA Nursing 