UCI School of Medicine Recognizes LGBTQ+ Pride Month

LGBTQ+ Pride month traces its origins to the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, an event that was the culmination of several years of LGBTQ+ activism and resistance to institutional violence throughout the United States.

On the one-year anniversary of Stonewall, the first Pride march took place in New York City in June 1970. Today, Pride month is celebrated throughout the world, with the message of being proud of and true to one’s self as important as ever, as multiple facets of American life from governmental policies to social extremism aim to curtail civil rights and access to health care for LGBTQ+ persons.

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, urges us to celebrate “Pride Without Exception.” This message means that not only should we celebrate the intersectional identities of all persons within the diverse LGBTQ+ community, but also recognize that people of all gender identities and sexual orientations, without exception, are vital to fulfilling the transformative and inclusive mission of Pride.

We applaud and celebrate the members of the UCI School of Medicine community who are working to preserve the wellbeing and pride of the LGBTQ+ community through our mission: Discover. Teach. Heal.

On June 5, the Pride flag was raised at the UCI Medical Center, an endeavor spearheaded by the UCI Health Gender Diversity Program and the UCI LGBTQ+ Equity committee. This flag represents not only the identities of our community and employees, but the work that is being done throughout the School of Medicine and UCI Health to ensure that LGBTQ+ persons receive equitable care and benefits.

The UCI Medical Center is designated as a healthcare equality leader by the Human Rights Campaign, having received a perfect score of 100 on the organization’s Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) in 2022. The HEI is the national LGBTQ+ benchmarking tool that evaluates healthcare facilities' policies and practices related to the equity and inclusion of their LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and employees. We are grateful to Dr. Cristobal Barrios and Brit Cervantes for their work to compile UCI’s annual responses to the HEI survey.

In addition to their work on the HEI, Brit Cervantes (he/they) has been praised by colleagues for consistently going above and beyond in the name of equity for the LGBTQ+ community. Brit is the program coordinator and community education specialist for the UCI Health Gender Diversity Program.

Their duties range from assisting patients and their families with navigating their social, legal and medical transition to training future and current medical providers on affirming best practices in providing LGBTQ-affirming care. Brit has also participated in crucial research projects related to transgender care, including one project examining the mental health outcomes of binding methods for the purpose of gender affirmation.

They are also the creator and chair of OC Gender Affirming Professionals (OC GAP), a network that shares resources, events and services to the transgender and nonbinary community.

“LGBTQ leaders in my life gave me the gift of showing me that there is so much power in having the audacity to be yourself fully and unapologetically,” says Cervantes. “It has been important for me to pay that gift forward by living in my own truth. I am so proud to be one of the countless LGBTQ people who are proof of how beautiful, diverse and resilient our community is.”

One shining example of how Brit Cervantes has paid it forward is through the work of Ronald Rivera, MD (he /él). 

“I am constantly inspired and honored to be surrounded by colleagues such as Brit Cervantes and the entire LGBTQIA+ Planning committee at UCI, as we continue our work to make UCI a more inclusive and loving space,” says Rivera.

A Dean’s scholar, clerkship director and director of diversity, equity and inclusion in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Rivera has been working with the education leadership and course directors to expand content about LGBTQIA+ care, sex-positive language, and social determinants of health. He has also established the badge buddy program for gender pronouns in the Department of Emergency Medicine.

A true embodiment of the “without exception” call to action, Dr. Rivera was awarded the Ally Award by the UCI Womxn’s Center for Success in 2022.  Dr. Rivera adds, “I am in awe of a community that has an incredible capacity to organize, support and change the world around them. It was not only the injustices, inequities or discrimination we have experienced that drove me to the work I do, but also the countless examples of selfless, strong and heroic individuals from our community, that shaped the hearts and minds of others to garner acceptance and political change in such a short time.”

We often think of mentorship as benefitting students, but our school is incredibly honored to work with trailblazing students who are forging a path that all faculty, staff and students can follow. Queer, Trans and Allies in Biological Sciences (QTABS) is a student-led group of LGBTQIA+ graduate students in the biological and biomedical sciences (see group photo at top of page). 

The group hosts community engagement activities, professional development events and research symposia, giving students the opportunity to build their professional brand and raise awareness and offer solutions to some of the unique challenges faced by queer scientists. Photos and reactions from QTABS’ second annual research symposium, which took place on June 9, 2023, can be found on their Twitter. The group's current executive directors are José Morán (he/they) and Stephanie Salazar (she/her), both PhD students in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and Sydney Prange (she/her), PhD student in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology in the UCI School of Biological Sciences.  

Among our medical students, Ọmọtayọ Balogun (she/they), MPH, MS1, is constantly praised by their medical student colleagues as someone who always brings the well-being of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially the Black LGBTQIA+ community into focus during class discussions and events.

Their numerous involvements and accolades include: LEAD-ABC scholar, AMSG LEAD-ABC representative, OB/GYN Interest Group co-president, Family Medicine Interest Group Health Equity Elective co-coordinator and active member of the eQuality Interest Group.

Recently, Ọmọtayọ presented their poster at Kaiser School of Medicine’s Inaugural LGBTQIA+ conference on Current Limitations in High-Impact HIV Prevention Strategies for Black Women in New York City.

“The historical legacy of medicine is one tainted by racism, queerphobia and gender essentialism. These painful ideologies manifest as poor patient outcomes and health care disparities amongst BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and disabled communities of which I am a member,” shares Balogun. “The current political changes regarding reproductive rights and gender affirming care have compelled me to embrace the role of student-activist. As I work toward a career in OB/GYN, I hope to shape the culture of the specialty to be more inclusive of patients beyond the gender binary.”

We celebrate these and countless other champions of inclusive excellence in the School of Medicine who exemplify the multitude of ways that pride can be displayed in our community.

In order to answer the call to action of displaying “Pride Without Exception,” we encourage all UCI affiliates to pursue their own avenues of engagement to promote health equity, belonging and inclusion for the LGBTQ+ community. See below for a list of ways to get involved!

Ways to Get Involved 

• If you’re a clinician, become an LGBTQ+ Champion.

  • Physician Questionnaire

• Complete LGBTQ patient-centered training.

  • There is free training available through the HRC HEI (Intranet).

  • Be sure to include our facility information: 

    • ID 55848

    • Security Password: HRC (case-sensitive)

• Join the UCI Health LGBTQ Equity Committee. Email lgbtqec@hs.uci.edu for details.

• Follow the UCI Health LGBTQ SharePoint.

• Participate in the UCI Pronoun Campaign. 

  • Campaign presentation

  • Badge stickers can be obtained from the following areas:

    • Human Resources Office

    • ID Badging Office

    • UCI Experience Office

    • UCI School of Medicine Medical Education Lobby

• Like and share #UCIPride social media posts. 

List compiled by Brit Cervantes, Gender Diversity Program, UCI.