Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

UChicago's Ci3 Center: Different angle on LGBTQ health
Special to the online edition of Windy City Times
by Liz Baudler
2014-11-04

This article shared 5783 times since Tue Nov 4, 2014
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Dr. Brandon Hill, executive director at the University of Chicago's Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health ( Ci3 ), described the center's objective as "to really give voice to racial and sexual minorities, with the goal of policy implications." Two recent projects within Ci3, just founded in 2012, have been LGBTQ-focused—and could impact people around the city and beyond.

The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund ( TLDEF ) serves about 300 people nationally and is connected with some major Chicago area firms. Hill explained that TLDEF has provided free-of-cost name change services to transgender identified or gender non-conforming individuals for several years.

"Anecdotally, they always thought this improved people's well-being and health, but because they're a service, they had never started to look at if it quantitatively improves health," Hill said. "So we proposed to look at before-name-change experiences of stigma and discrimination: social determinates of health like housing, employment status, and access to health care, as well as depression, anxiety and self-esteem. [Subjects] go through the name-change process with the Transgender Legal Defense and Education fund, and six months after their name change, we'll revisit some of the same things. We'll start to see if legal name change actually starts to open the door from way way way back here, like, 'OK, now I can get a job.' Well, people who have jobs may have health insurance. People who have health insurance tend to have better health outcomes."

The policy implications are clear. As Hill pointed out, "There are structural barriers that exist in changing your name, like requiring an attorney, requiring filling, posting in a public venue your former name and your new name. It's a huge structural hoop that for most people, that for most people, it's not worth it. The policy, you can change that."

This research is still in data collection, but another Ci3 project is both Chicago-centric and in full swing. South Side Stories documents the experiences of minority youth of color, including gay or bisexual youth. The youth go through a storytelling workshop, ultimately recording a digital piece with an audio-visual narrative, which can be seen online at www.southsidestories.org .

"It's really a whole process, in isolating a story or event or something that you want to convey that represents yourself, your identity, or a transition in your identity." Hill said. "There are some that are coming out stories, some that are living life stories. We've found thematic threads. They're not too long, they convey a moment in time that this person wants to express."

Efforts like this help Ci3 and partners such as the South Side YMCA, Global Girls and Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus understand the challenges communities face. Hill called number-intensive research "a good middle ground," but said that "lending face, voice, imagery: the real statistics of Chicago" can be experiential evidence to help policy specialists identify clues to where resources lack.

While other institutions certainly do health research, Hill singled out Ci3's commitment to interdisciplinarity and its focus on how structural and social determinants of health impact long-term health itself as making the center unique. For instance, they have a policy specialist on staff to demonstrate "the connection with health overall, and why policy should exist to correct [social issues] because of the health implications."

He discussed some challenges of doing Ci3's kind of research. With a different project, a summer science and technology class for minority teenagers, he said that they were literally coming up with ways to measure their results while also developing the curriculum.

"We had to kind of borrow from other disciplines to create measures that didn't exist. How do you measure cooperation? Emergence of leadership? Group cohesion? There are plenty of educational evaluators, but when you're doing it in an informal setting, it really challenges us to think differently."

Hill came to Ci3 from the Kinsey Institute, which he described as a "pinnacle of sexuality research." There, he said, he was exposed to interdisciplinary methods, and when he heard of Ci3, he was excited by the opportunity to build something "from the ground up."

"Ci3 is situated in the University as a nexus for interdisciplinary work that ties together health, sexuality, medicine and the humanities," he explained. Most of the small center's projects currently come from faculty members investigating health and social challenges, and they focus on all manner of sexual and reproductive issues. Right now Hill is the main researcher on LGBTQ issues, but as Ci3 takes on more global research and local projects expand, he hopes to hire additional researchers in LGBTQ health, while still focusing on the South and West Side.

He referenced one of the South Side Stories, that of a young man commuting on the Red Line from 95th Street to Belmont and Halsted. "That distance just seems like a world apart for him. The feeling is so distant from a sense of LGBTQ community from the South Side. It's not that it doesn't exist, but for a person who's just coming out, sometimes I think that feeling of indifference is maximized by not seeing resources in your neighborhoods." If Ci3's work starts impacting social policy, perhaps those resources will appear.


This article shared 5783 times since Tue Nov 4, 2014
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sets a new course 2024-03-18
- Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council held its first meeting of the calendar year on Feb. 28 at City Hall in the Loop under the leadership of the recently appointed chair Jin-Soo Huh. The LGBTQ+ Advisory Council is ...


Gay News

WORLD Leaked messages, Panama action, author dies at 32, Japan court, out athletes 2024-03-15
- Hundreds of messages from an internal chat board for an international group of transgender health professionals were leaked in a report and framed as revealing serious health risks associated with gender-affirming care, including cancer, according to ...


Gay News

UK health service to stop routinely prescribing puberty blockers to minors 2024-03-14
- NHS (National Health Service) England confirmed that children will no longer routinely be prescribed puberty blockers at gender-identity clinics, the BBC reported. The decision came after a review found there was "not enough evidence" that they ...


Gay News

One Roof Chicago launches youth-focused workforce development program 2024-03-14
- One Roof Chicago (ORC) is set to launch its first training, education and job placement program for LGBTQ+ young adults in late spring. This Community Health Workers and Elder Care program is a part of ORC's ...


Gay News

Howard Brown experts discuss advocacy and allyship for Chicago's trans community 2024-03-14
By Alec Karam - Howard Brown Health's Trans & Gender Diverse People's Rights & Patient Care panel convened March 12 to discuss both resources for—and opportunities to provide allyship to—the city's trans and gender diverse communities. The event hos ...


Gay News

Howard Brown Health faces October trial if settlement isn't reached with union 2024-03-13
- Howard Brown Health could go to trial over unfair labor practice allegations if the LGBTQ+ health center doesn't reach a settlement with its agreement soon. Chicago's regional director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed ...


Gay News

Pro-choice activists protest crisis pregnancy center on International Women's Day 2024-03-11
- The rainy weather on March 8 didn't deter a passionate group of pro-choice protesters from gathering in Old Town on International Women's Day. Following the opening of Women's Care Center—a crisis pregnancy center—directly next to Pl ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Altercation, mpox research, Univ. of Fla., George Santos, tech battle 2024-03-08
- Video footage uploaded to Facebook showed an altercation between a state trooper and two prominent Philadelphia LGBTQ+ leaders, the Washington Blade reported, republishing an article from Philadelphia Gay News. Celena ...


Gay News

Pride 365 event emphasizes year-round support for LGBTQ+ employees 2024-03-07
- Queer employees are queer all year-round. The need for employers to accordingly support and uplift them year-round was the core message at Howard Brown Health and Citywide Pride's Pride 365 "Out of Office to Out in ...


Gay News

AMA launches toolkit to increase screenings for HIV, STIs, hepatitis, tuberculosis 2024-03-06
Press release - CHICAGO — With disruptions in clinical care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and viral hepatitis across the U.S., the American Medical Association ...


Gay News

APA adopts policy supporting transgender, gender diverse and non-binary individuals 2024-02-28
- From a press release: WASHINGTON—The American Psychological Association (APA) has adopted a landmark policy affirming evidence-based care for transgender, gender diverse and nonbinary children, adolescents and adults, noting that recent ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 Mike Simmons discusses LGBTQ+ health disparities, child tax credit 2024-02-27
- State Senator Mike Simmons is running unopposed in the March 19 election. Simmons began representing the 7th District after the former state senator, Heather Steans, retired. He's lived in the area his entire life. ...


Gay News

Advocates call for increased HIV funding amid state's 'disappointing' pattern of flat funding 2024-02-27
- Governor JB Pritzker's proposed 2025 budget has no increase in HIV funding, continuing a years-long pattern of flat spending toward tackling the epidemic in Illinois. Pritzker outlined his $52.7 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 Kelly Cassidy discusses reproductive health, LGBTQ+ rights ahead of March primary 2024-02-26
- By Kayleigh Padar State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, running unopposed in the March 19 primary election so as to continue representing the 14th District, was first elected in 2011. During her tenure in Springfield, she has ...


Gay News

Howard Brown Health Names Robin Gay, DMD as Interim President and CEO 2024-02-23
--From a press release - Howard Brown Health's Board of Directors announced today the appointment of Robin Gay, DMD as Interim President and CEO. Dr. Gay, who most recently served as Chief Dental Officer, assumes the role formerly held by outgoing ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.