BGSQDBureau of General Services—Queer Division
BGSQD
Named by NBC News as one of “10 LGBTQ Books to watch out for in 2020” and by Book Riot as one of the “six best books addressing healthcare system inequities,” Bodies and Barriers: Queer Activists on Health is the first book written by LGBT healthcare consumers to inform the healthcare system and make it work more equitably for all of us. The critically-acclaimed book is structured chronologically to take the reader on a journey through the major stages of life for LGBT people. At this special virtual event hosted by the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, book editor Adrian Shanker and contributing authors Dr. Imani Woody, Atticus Ranck, Liz Margolies, and Laura Jacobs will speak about the importance of LGBTQ people sharing our healthcare experiences and advocating for health equity for the LGBTQ patient population.
Check out this article at Gay City News about Bodies and Barriers, which includes an interview with Adrian Shanker! “A Diverse, Collaborative Look at LGBTQ Health,” by Sharon Papo, posted on September 9, 2020.
This event is free, but donations to support the Bureau’s work are always welcome!
If you’d like to donate to the Bureau, you can do so when you register for the event on Eventbrite. Thank you for your support!
Registration for this event is required.
Participants:
Adrian Shanker is editor of Bodies and Barriers: Queer Activists on Health and executive director of Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown, PA. A specialist in LGBT health policy, he developed leading-edge health promotion campaigns to advance health equity through behavioral, clinical, and policy changes. Adrian administered data collection for the 2015, 2018, and 2020 Pennsylvania LGBT Health Needs Assessments. Adrian serves as Commissioner and health committee co-chair on the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs.
Atticus Ranck is the Health Program Education Coordinator with the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute. He previously worked as the Health Programs and Supportive Services Manager at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania and as director of Transgender Services for SunServe, an LGBT nonprofit mental health center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Atticus has trained over one thousand individuals on various aspects LGBT cultural competency over dozens of trainings across the country. Atticus earned his MA in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Florida Atlantic University and a BA in Creative Writing from Slippery Rock University. In his free time, Atticus enjoys building and restoring furniture and is a huge Harry Potter nerd.
Dr. Imani Woody is the founding director and CEO of Mary’s House for Older Adults, Inc. She has a PhD in Human Services, specializing in nonprofit management. Her thesis is titled Lift Every Voice: A Qualitative Exploration of Ageism and Heterosexism as Experienced by Older African American Lesbian Women and Gay Males When Addressing Social Services Needs. She holds an MA in Human Services from Lincoln University and is a graduate of Georgetown University’s paralegal program. Dr. Woody has been an advocate of women, people of color, and LGBT/SGL issues for more than twenty years and is a member of the National LGBT Elder Housing Initiative and the DC Mayor’s World Health Organization Age-Friendly Cities Commission. She is also the program officer for the Older Adults Advisory Council for Metropolitan Community Churches and a board member of the LGBT Technology Partnership. She lives with her wife of seventeen years in Brookland, Washington, DC.
Laura A. Jacobs, LCSW-R, is a trans- and genderqueer-identified psychotherapist, activist, author, and public speaker in the New York City area working with transgender and gender-nonbinary, LGBT, and alternate lifestyle communities of BDSM, non-monogamy, and sex work. They serve as chair of the board of directors for the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in New York City, have been featured in television, radio, and print media, and have presented at countless community and healthcare conferences, professional associations, medical schools, and other organizations. Laura is the recipient of a 2018 Gay City News Impact Award, as well as the 2017 Dorothy Kartashovich Award from the Community Health Center Association of New York State. They are coauthor, with Laura Erickson-Schroth, of “You’re in the Wrong Bathroom!” and 20 Other Myths and Misconceptions about Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People. As Lawrence Jacobs, they worked as a musician, composer, photographer, and in less glamorous corporate middle management.
Liz Margolies, LCSW, founder and former executive director of the National LGBT Cancer Network, has served the LGBT community for over 40 years as a psychotherapist and political activist. Liz is a psychotherapist in private practice, specializing in trauma, loss, health disparities and sexuality. Margolies is a co-author on multiple peer-reviewed articles and chapters, several based on the Network’s original research on LGBT cancer survivors. As a result of her work for this underserved community, Margolies was chosen as one of the OUT100 in 2014.