SPH Pride Month Statement
June is LGBTQ Pride Month, established to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York and the worldwide movement to which it gave birth. We as members of the UIC School of Public Health wish to take this opportunity to express our celebration of the LGBTQ community, and our commitment to action in support of LGBTQ health and rights. This year’s Pride Month has seen two momentous events on the national front. On June 12, the Trump Administration announced its reversal of Obama-era non-discrimination protections for transgender people in health care, thus clearing the way for health-care providers and insurers to deny services to and otherwise discriminate against LGBTQ people. On a positive note, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 15 affirmed that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act does in fact cover the employment rights of millions of gay, lesbian and transgender workers. We recognize health equity, respectful treatment and freedom from workplace discrimination as universal human rights and central public health issues, and we urge every reader to stand up and voice their opposition to any actions designed to constrain rather than protect the health and rights of LGBTQ persons.
At the UIC School of Public Health, we are committed to supporting our LGBTQ students, faculty, staff, and community in their journey to health and wellbeing. We support concrete actions already taken within SPH as well as in the broader UIC community to show respect for and promote the rights of LGBTQ persons. Examples include:
- Making efforts to elicit and correctly use a person’s preferred personal pronouns
- Faculty representation on the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People (CCSLGBTQP)
- Zero-tolerance policies for discrimination based on sexuality or gender identity
- Designated all-gender restrooms (which are on every floor in the SPH building )
- Inclusion of gender-affirming surgeries under Campus Care, the UIC student health insurance plan
- Access to a graduate concentration and an undergraduate major, minor and elective courses in Gender and Women’s Studies
- A broad array of programs, workshops, and events held at the Gender and Sexuality Center and elsewhere on campus
- Research that informs social justice and health equity for LGBTQ persons
As Public Health professionals, we pledge to reflect on our work with a broad equity lens, and to stand together as students, staff, faculty and community partners to say unequivocally that LGBTQ rights are human rights, and we will fight for them today, tomorrow, and always.
Signatories Heading link
Wayne H. Giles, MD, MS
Dean of the School of Public Health
Nadine Peacock, PhD
Associate Dean, Diversity and Inclusion
Susan Altfeld, PhD
Associate Dean, Academic Affairs
David DuBois, PhD
Associate Dean, Research
John Slavick
Assistant Dean, Student Affairs
Kaye Oberhausen
Assistant Dean, Advancement
Supriya Mehta, PhD
Interim Associate Dean, Global Health Program
Jeni Hebert-Beirne, PhD
Interim Associate Dean, Community Engagement
Karin Opacich, PhD
Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Public Health
Arden Handler, DrPH
Division Director, Community Health Sciences
Brenikki Floyd, PhD
CHS Applied Practice Experience Advisor
Lorraine Conroy, PhD
Division Director, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Lisa Powell, PhD
Division Director, Health Policy and Administration
Dr. Ron Hershow
Division Director, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Christina Welter, DrPH ’10
Interim Director, Doctor of Public Health Leadership program
Frank Cervone
Executive Director, Information Services
Robin Buell Sylvester
Director, Research Services
Christopher Hollenbeck
Chair, SPH Staff Committee
Kamil Czarnowski
Director, Human Resources
Christina Brown
Director, Development
Sara Giloth
Director, Donor Relations
Robert Schroeder
Director, Communications and Marketing