Missouri Coalition Pushes State to National Leadership on LGBT Health
Missouri might not top many LGBT people’s lists of great places to live, but after today you might want to rethink the charms of the Show Me State. For the last year a local coalition has been pushing adoption of LGBT-welcoming policies at hospitals. In this week’s release of HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index, Missouri zoomed from 37th in the country to sixth in the number of local LGBT leader hospitals.

We don’t see policy changes this quickly very often, especially when they require many companies to adopt new policies. What’s the secret to this unlikely success? A few years ago Missouri Foundation for Health funded a partnership with the local Equality Federation partner, PROMO, and SAGE Metro St. Louis. My project, LGBT HealthLink, was also brought on board to provide them with technical assistance. With funding and staff and policy expertise all in place, the Missouri team got down to business to see what they could change to affect LGBT health disparities in their state.

If you just look at the situation today, you’d think they immediately stumbled on the equivalent of oil and a match for policy change, but, like many good projects, they started slowly. First they mapped the policy environment; then they tried a few different strategies for change. One of the things they identified was a big gap: While most hospitals were required to have LGBT-nondiscrimination policies by the agency that accredits them, they could find little evidence of those policies by searching. And if we can’t find them, then patients couldn’t either.

For a while the PROMO staff played nice with the hospitals, trying to build relations and seeing how to move the changes gradually. Some hospitals did respond, but the work was crawling forward. Eventually, we switched to a different tactic, blanketing many hospitals with letters pointing out that these policies were required. Then, of course, the PROMO staff person, Andrew Shaughnessey, was there following up with multiple phone calls offering to help them with policy resources. The new strategy, which we’ve taken to calling the “terrier approach,” worked. Eventually even the hospitals that said they weren’t interested started to call Andrew back. And if they needed LGBT-cultural-competency training as part of the new policy changes, Sherrill Wayland from SAGE was ready to step in to set up in-person trainings at a moment’s notice.

The upshot of all of this work was that, while in 2013 seven hospitals had LGBT-nondiscrimination policies in place, now 31 do. While seven hospitals protected LGBT status in employment, now 30 do. While two had achieved Healthcare Equality Index leader status in 2013, now 19 have. Today several of those hospitals are putting out their own press releases lauding their LGBT-welcoming policies. It’s a far cry from 2013, and that means much better access to health for thousands of LGBT people in Missouri.

What I want to see now is this amazing level of success replicated. I’ve worked in policy change for a very long time, and trust me, a model to change policies this fast comes extremely rarely. While they had a funder in Missouri giving them the time to experiment with different strategies, any other community center or equality organization in another state can take advantage of that work and just do what worked for them. Nicely, the PROMO team has documented their steps really clearly in the LGBT HealthLink blog. See the first post about it here.

Kudos to everyone in Missouri. From the amazing staff team at PROMO and at SAGE to Missouri Foundation for Health, who cared enough to invest, and the many hospital systems who jumped on board, this is an amazing job by all, and it’ll really affect the health of the LGBT communities in your state.

Now who else wants to do it for their states?

www.huffingtonpost.com/scout-phd/missouri-coalition-pushes_b_5992222.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Teen Internet Sensation Brendan Jordan Among Celebs Fighting Back Against Bullying

If you have a Facebook account you’re probably aware of Brendan Jordan. The out 15-year-old was definitely ready for his close-up when stole focus from a Las Vegas reporter and showed the camera he had all the right moves. Here it is if you missed it last week or just want to watch it for the 45th time.

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YALL WHO MADE DIS ITS PERFECT ???????????? IM CRYIN ????

View on Instagram

To commemorate National Spirit Day, an initiative that millions of queer people and straight allies participate in each year to help end anti-LGBT bullying, Brendan recorded this message for all of his new fans.

Carregando

 

  (My voice sounds so gay) HELLO EVERYONE! Remember to wear purple for today’s #SpiritDay to support Anti-Bullying. So let’s all Take A Stand Against Bullying and support the #LGBT community together! ????   Visualizar no Instagram

Scroll down to see a random array of celebs who posted messages of their own.

Tara Reid

Chargement

 

I support no more bullying it’s hurtful and wrong! #spiritday #gopurple   Afficher sur Instagram

Sean Maher

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  Taking a stand against bullying. #spiritday @caspervandien @mannyaroyo @glaad   View on Instagram

Laverne Cox

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By @christinajpacelli “A vision in purple! @lavernecox lights the Empire State Building purple for this important day, #spiritday. Wearing a @renttherunway @nhakhanh dress, and @mcldesign @jennifermillerjewelry and @lele_sadoughi jewelry. #TWord @GLAAD #lavernecox” via @PhotoRepost_app #livemytruth

View on Instagram

Demi Lovato

Let’s show LGBT youth we’ve got their backs. Stand up against bullying for #spiritday! t.co/DIdb3ah3Pt ???????????? pic.twitter.com/gBgMQqqHip

— Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) October 16, 2014

Sean Hayes

#HazyMillsProductions is purple 2day for #SpiritDay 2 stand up against bullying & 2 show our support for LGBT youth. pic.twitter.com/GtjMNVy29T

— Sean Hayes (@theseanhayes) October 16, 2014

Bob Harper

Wearing purple today to stand up against bullying & support LGBT youth #spiritday Join us at t.co/WZ73TkIMNo pic.twitter.com/bmmcYa32Gb

— Bob Harper (@MyTrainerBob) October 16, 2014

Alaska Thunderfuck

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Today is #spiritday and so today, we wear purple. I’ll admit, I’ve been known to wear purple on occasion. Today we stand together to empower LGBT youth. Wear purple and have some spirit.

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Jeremy Kinser

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/pKl3svR0mwI/teen-internet-sensation-brendan-jordan-among-celebs-fighting-back-against-bullying-20141016

LA LGBT Center PPT
All-staff meeting presentation about Vanguard Awards for Development Department.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KiKKUM-PYg&feature=youtube_gdata

WATCH: Brian Brown Admits 'Of Course We Would Go to Russia'

Want to know how to make Brian Brown squirm? Ask him about what he’s been up to in Putin’s Russia.

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Sunnivie Brydum

www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2014/10/16/watch-brian-brown-admits-course-we-would-go-russia

Megan Mullally Explains How 'Will & Grace' Avoided Politicizing Its Gay Message
Eight years after ending its iconic run on NBC, “Will & Grace” is still regarded as an essential cultural game-changer for the representation of gay characters on television — just ask Joe Biden. The secret behind that success, according to Megan Mullally, is that the show’s progressive stance on sexuality “slipped in under the radar.”

Mullally, who played the millionaire alcoholic Karen Walker on “Will & Grace,” looked back on the series during a conversation with HuffPost Live’s Ricky Camilleri about her Broadway show “It’s Only a Play.”

Few shows had featured prominent gay characters before “Will & Grace,” Mullally said, and when they did — like when Ellen DeGeneres’ character came out in her eponymous sitcom’s famous “Puppy Episode” — politics often got in the way of acceptance.

“Because [Ellen’s] show was already established and she had established her character as sort of this blonde, blue-eyed girl-next-door, when she came out, then the next episode just couldn’t be, like, crazy adventures at the bowling alley,” she said. “They had to keep addressing the subject of her being gay, so it became slightly politicized.”

“Will & Grace” did experience its share of criticism, including the idea that it presented stereotypes of homosexuality rather than a nuanced portrayal. Mullally responded that “you can’t please all the people all the time,” and the show’s writers also kept negative responses in mind as they wrote.

“The gay-bashing was kind of built in to the scripts, so that if you’re so inclined, your work was done for you,” Mullally said.

Watch Mullally discuss “Will & Grace” in the video above, and click here for the full HuffPost Live conversation.

Sign up here for Live Today, HuffPost Live’s new morning email that will let you know the newsmakers, celebrities and politicians joining us that day and give you the best clips from the day before!

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/16/megan-mullally-will-grace_n_6000022.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Benedict Cumberbatch amused by gay fan fiction written about his Sherlock Holmes

‘It’s usually me getting it — I’m biting Watson’s dog tags’

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gregh

www.gaystarnews.com/article/benedict-cumberbatch-amused-gay-fan-fiction-written-about-his-sherlock-holmes171014

35 Celebs, Politicians and Personalities Who Went Purple in Support of LGBT Youth for Spirit Day: PHOTOS

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2014/10/spirit-day-celebs.html

Debate LGBT Santa Cruz de la Sierra – Bolivia
Agradecimiento especial al Dr. Fernando A. Arce Martinez Director Dptal. de Capacitación de Derechos Ciudadanos CDC.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRLMxgMVYsE&feature=youtube_gdata