Dear School of Nursing Community,
I write today to mark the month-long celebrations of LGBTQIA+ Pride and the 53rd anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York in 1969.
When I think about all the progress made by the LGBTQIA+ community since the Stonewall Riots, I cannot help but be taken aback by how recent all of that progress occurred. The Stonewall Riots occurred 53 years ago. For many of our students, that may seem like a long time, but for me and for many of in our community, it feels like just yesterday.
While the Stonewall Riots occurred 53 years ago, much of the progress in expanding LGBTQIA+ rights have occurred in the last 30 years. Pride Month became a nationally designated commemorative month in 1995. Since then, numerous Supreme Court cases have ruled in favor of LGBTQIA+ rights. Lawrence v. Texas, decided in 2003, affirmed that the legal concept of a “right to privacy” extended to decisions made between consenting adults. More than ten years later, Obergefell v. Hodges determined that the fundamental right to marriage is guaranteed to same-sex couples – legalizing gay marriage across the United States in 2015. Finally, just two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity was illegal.
These important achievements and judicial milestones would not have been possible without the tireless work of advocates, many of them BIPOC, undaunted by the obstacles continuously placed in their way. They fought, day in and day out for incremental change. We as healthcare leaders, are charged with continuing their work.
The path forward will not always feel easy and the progress we make will not always feel monumental, although it is in continuing to push forward with incremental wins that we will see the most change. And change we must. We continue to have so much work to be done. Access to gender-affirming care remains incredibly challenging for so many individuals. Healthcare must continuously challenge itself to be more deliberately intersectional and eliminate micro-aggressions. And we must continue to protect the mental health and well-being of our LGBTQIA+ youth especially as legislatures and governors seek to endanger the progress for which we have worked so hard.
I never thought I would see the day that I could state publicly that I am out gay man, be legally married, and also be your Dean. The progress is truly remarkable, and yet, as we’ve seen time and time again, cases can be overturned, laws can change, and progress can be lost. We owe a gratitude of debt to our early pioneers for equal rights for all LGBTQIA+ persons.
And so, I call on each one of you. As nurses, we must be loud, we must be proud. We must “say gay,” we must protect our trans youth, and we must show that under our care, as the most-trusted profession, we treat all persons with dignity, respect, and PRIDE!
With pride and resolve,
Dr. Ken White
Dean and Professor
School of Nursing