June is Pride Month, a time to celebrate the resilience and recognize the fabulousness of the LGBTQ+ community and its diverse perspectives, experiences and contributions to society and to movements for equality and justice for all.
Yet, while we can rejoice in the advances made over past 50+ years since the Stonewall uprising galvanized the LGBT community and its allies to fight for legal protections and full equality, we know that LGBTQ persons still face significant risks and dangers, and lack protections for fundamental rights and dignity in many US states. Transgender women of color and other gender non-conforming people suffer disproportionately from bullying, violent attacks, murder, self-harm and death by suicide. Recently, we have witnessed how at least 15 US states have chosen to actively target transgender youth through discriminatory bills.
At the University of Maryland School of Public Health, our CDC-funded Prevention Research Center works all year round to advance the well-being of the LGBTQ+ community through research, service and training around issues of mental health and the creation of LGBTQ+ cultural competence training programs for behavioral health organizations. The PRC’s research and advocacy aims to eliminate existing health disparities and related social injustices experienced by LGBTQ+ persons.
Join the PRC mailing list to learn more about their work and how you can get involved.
Take a look at some of the recent resources and research publications from the UMD Prevention Research Center team:
Factsheet: Research and Practice with LGBTQ+ Populations: What You Need to Know
This document provides researchers and service providers with definitions of sexual orientation and gender identity, information on the LGBTQ+ community and the health needs of LGBTQ+ people.
- Publication: Sexual Minority Disparities in Health and Well-being as a Consequence of the COVID-19 Pandemic Differ by Sexual Identity (LGBT Health)
- Publication: Police Harassment and Psychosocial Vulnerability, Distress, and Depressive Symptoms Among Black Men who have Sex with Men in the U.S.: Longitudinal Analysis of HPTN 061 (SSM Population Health)
- Webinar: Beliefs About Referring LGB Clients: Exploring (Un)Ethical Clinical Practices with Dr. Christi McGeorge
- Publication: Teacher Support Moderates Associations among Sexual Orientation Identity Outness, Victimization, and Academic Performance among LGBQ+Youth (Empirical Research)
- Publication: Sexual Identity Differences in Health Care Access and Satisfaction: Findings from Nationally Representative Data (American Journal of Epidemiology)