Our memo brings together information that reflects the current thinking on how to progress Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the workplace. Each month it is bursting with highlights for reflection and inspiration. Let us continue to work together to help influence social change, to achieve a safer and fairer society.

LGBTQ Pride Month is celebrated every June, in many countries, to commemorate the Stonewall uprising in 1969 in Manhattan. In the early morning hours of June 28^th police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay establishment, and forcibly removed patrons and employees from the premises leading to six days of riots. Pride month recognizes the contributions and impact of the LGBTQ community across the globe. Pride raises awareness of the LGBTQI community and the ongoing issues and need for equity and inclusion. The last Sunday of the month is Gay Pride Day marked by parades, parties, community events and speeches. The advances for LGBTQI rights have been enormous, but there is still a long way to go. 

 

BCE 2450:  Depictions of Gay relationships

AD 1347:   One of the earliest accounts of a Transwoman

1623:   Francis Baca developed the phrase “masculine love”

1624:   Richard Cornish in the Virginia Colony was tried and hung for sodomy

1649:   First conviction for lesbian activity

1868:   One of the earliest accounts of intersex identity

1924:   First but short lived gay activist group in the US

1779:   Thomas Jefferson revises Virginia law to make sodomy punishable my mutilation instead of

death

1931:   One of the first gender affirming surgeries

1952:   Cristine Jorensen was the first American to public about being transgender

1955:   First lesbian rights organization

1962:   Illinois become the first state to decriminalize same sex relations

1969:   Stonewall uprising, NYC, June 28th

1973:   Homosexuality removed as a psychiatric illness from DSM-II – sexual orientation not totally

removed from DSM classifications until 1987

1982:   Gay related immunodeficiency disorder (GRID)(AIDS)

1982:   First memorial to Gay Nazi victims

1989:   Denmark recognizes same sex marriages

1993:   Don’t ask don’t tell military policy

1996:   First Queer Straight Alliance in a High School

1997:   Ellen DeGeneres comes out on TV and is cancelled the next year

2000:   Vermont legalizes same sex civil unions

2003:   US Supreme Court overturns sodomy laws

2004:   Massachusetts is the first state to recognize same sex marriages

2011:   LGB can serve openly in the military

2015:   Marriage equality mandated by the Supreme Court in all 50 states for same sex couples

2016:   Transgender individuals can enlist and serve openly in the military

2017:   Repealed, transgender individuals cannot serve in the military

Thanks to all of you who have completed the survey. Your input was greatly appreciated! The committee will share the results once they have been analyzed by an outside source.

UPCOMING DIVERSITY TOWN HALL

Topic: “Words & Phrases with a Troublesome Past”

Date: Thursday, June 3, 2021

Time: 12:00p-1:00p

Location: Join Here Via Zoom

by Caroline Casey

There are more than one billion people worldwide – around 15% of the population – living with a disability. As consumers, they represent a market the size of the United States, Brazil, Pakistan and Indonesia combined and a disposable income of more than $8 trillion. As workers, they can ease talent shortages and add to the organizational diversity that drives better decision-making and innovation. So how can you expand your organizations diversity and inclusion initiatives to include disabled people? First by rethinking your hiring practices, including job descriptions and interviews. Second, my ensuring your workplace fully accessible, from physical environment to work-day structure and technology. Third, by innovating around products and services for those with disabilities. Read the full article here.

Patricia Bath (1942–2019) was the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology and the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent. She invented the Laserphaco Probe for cataract treatment in 1986.

Who was Patricia Bath? Patricia Bath was the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology in 1973. Two years later, she became the first female faculty member in the Department of Ophthalmology at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. In 1976, Bath co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness, which established that "eyesight is a basic human right." In 1986, Bath invented the Laserphaco Probe, improving treatment for cataract patients. She patented the device in 1988, becoming the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent. Click here to read more about Dr. Patricia Bath.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Additional Dates

Chapel Hill, NC

View the exhibition: https://artscenterlive.org/2020/06/09/pride-the-color-of-empowerment-by-gil-croy/. This work contains mature subject matter and may not be suitable for all viewers. The LGBTQ Pride empowered a generation and generations that have followed. It gives us a feeling of belonging, community, and hope. The realization that one is worthy of love, life and liberty cannot be trivialized - the gay rights battlefront has always been a fight of peace, progress and acceptance, for anyone that has been marginalized by society. Incorporating images and words, past and present injustices, social observations and the colors of the pride flag have always been a large part of my artwork. I am inspired and moved by knowing in some small way, my art is holding a mirror up, allowing one to contemplate their place and actions in our world.

Faculty are invited to join us for an informative series of presentations that provide updates on the SOM Strategic Plan, Forward Together. This strategic plan was launched in 2019 to guide the institution through the next five years and move us closer to our goal of becoming the nation’s leading public school of medicine. Now, after the first two years into the implementation of Forward Together, extensive progress has been made. To celebrate these accomplishments, discuss future goals, and answer faculty questions, a series of Forward Together Faculty updates will take place in May-June.

    Imperative Lead: Nate Thomas

    Panelists: Nate Thomas, Stephanie Brown, Kim Nichols

    To access the WebEx link on the day of the event: visit

Students from UNC's School of Medicine have arranged two important upcoming events, and they agreed to let me share with you all. 

Topic: NC ACE Women Blazing Trails: Advancing Women in Higher Education Virtual Conference

The American Council on Education Women's Network North Carolina (NC ACE) will present its annual conference, themed "Women Blazing Trails: Advancing Women in Higher Education." The virtual event will feature keynote speaker Dr. Tonya Smith-Jackson (NC A&T University): a leaders panel with President Connie Book (Elon University), Chancellor Kelli Brown (Western Carolina University) and President Pamela Senegal (Piedmont Community College); and various professional development opportunities, including sessions on leadership development programs, the executive search process, work-life integration, career mapping and…

The North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign Cultural Arts Committee is presenting The Cookout — A Celebration in Honor of Juneteenth on Saturday, June 26th, 2021, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at The Unity Center of Peace, 8800 Seawell School Road, Chapel Hill. The event will include special presentations about Juneteenth and its history, face painting, art exhibitions, dance performances, a Black vendors farmers market, music performances, and even professional wrestling! To get more information click here.

June 3: Corpus Christi, a Catholic holiday celebrating the presence of the body and blood of Christ, in the Eucharist.

June 11: Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart is a solemnity in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church.

June 15: Native American Citizenship Day, commemorating the day in 1924 when the U.S. Congress passed legislation recognizing the citizenship of Native Americans.

June 19: Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. It is observed as a public holiday in 14 U.S. states. This celebration honors the day in 1865 when slaves in Texas and Louisiana finally heard they were free, two months after the end of the Civil War. June 19, therefore, became the day of emancipation for thousands of African-Americans.

June 21: National Indigenous Peoples Day or First Nations Day, a day that gives recognition to the indigenous populations affected by colonization in Canada.

June 29: Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul, a liturgical feast in honor of the martyrdom in Rome for the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Last Sunday in June: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Pride Day in the United States. It celebrates the Stonewall Riots on June 28, 1969.

Stuart Gold, MD - Committee Chair

Alessandra Angelino, MD

Benny Joyner, MD

Christian Lawrence, MD

Denita Moore

Hadley Kifner, MDiv, BCC

Jennifer Gutierrez-Wu, MD

Jennifer McElroy

Kenya McNeal-Trice, MD

Martha Perry, MD

Nina Jain, MD

Robin Howard

Zachary Pettigrew, MD