LGBTQ+ Health Community

I'm reposting what I posted in the Nurse Educator Community

Hi all.  I have spent some time this summer exploring the issue of transgender issues for healthcare, particularly as they present in the nursing classroom.  As a cis, heterosexual woman this is new territory for me.  I feel that I have received woefully little training in my clinical and educator roles.  I have tried to be an ally for LGBTQ+ individuals in my life and work.  I haven't always been correct in my approach to handling the issues that can come up.  For example, I've stumbled and over apologized when using an incorrect pronoun for a student.  This situation ultimately called too much attention to the situation.  I've failed to step up when an offensive statement was made by a colleague. In this situation the colleague compared the challenge of being gender affirming in caring for a transgendered person to caring for a pedophile that had raped children.  This forced a student to speak up for the transgender community. This makes the student feel vulnerable and unprotected in the learning environment. I give these examples to point out that these situations are real and do need attention from our professional and education communities.

I started this journey at the request of my student, the afore mentioned student that was forced to speak up.  They asked me if I'd be willing to ask that the faculty have additional training on the creation of gender affirming classrooms. They also asked to advocate for inclusion of gender affirming care in the content of the program.  I feel that the 1st request was a priority and something that I would receive less pushback on.  There was pushback to be sure.  We are living in a political climate that is becoming increasingly willing to target the transgender population. We will not have as much support since the DEI initiatives have been rolled back.  The second request required more tact.   It is always an issue when requesting to add or remove content from course content especially in the pre licensure training of nurses.  

A colleague and I got together and agreed to speak at the final faculty meeting for the spring.  We requested to speak to the faculty during the fall professional development days to present resources to the nursing faculty to make them feel more informed on these topics. We would look for resources and follow up with what we found. Again, there was some pushback, but our director accepted our offer of taking on the topic.

Here is where I am on this journey.  I share this here in case you have a desire to follow what I've learned.

1. We watched the 30 minute, Fostering An LGBTQIA Inclusive Workplace that was part of our PD catalogue.  

2. I did a brief lit search and found the article  doi: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8085635/pdf/BLT.19.249086.pdf

3. Found the UCSF LGBTQ Resource Center Online Educational Modules & Training | LGBTQ Resource Center 

•  Exploring this site helped raise my awareness of the issues that arise for students in the classroom 

4. Attended the National Transgender Healthcare Summit hosted by UCSF.  

• Attending this summit raised my awareness of the healthcare disparities that exist for the transgender and non-binary community.  I was really impressed by the research being conducted, the policy efforts that are being made, and the knowledge gap that exists for most healthcare settings. The research being done by participants at this conference is yielding significant data.
• Trans Dudes with Lady Cancer
• the GENDER book

5. Found gender affirming resources offered by NLN that already exist in the materials currently used for our geriatric content. 

• This helps address the second part of the request to include more gender affirming content.  If our current content can be made more inclusive, this may allow the information to not displace other necessary content.

I hope that you are able to benefit from the information I have posted here.  I encourage you to discuss these issues both as they effect students and the quality of healthcare.

------------------------------
Claire McConnell RN DNP CNE
Visiting Lecturer
Philadelphia PA
United States
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These are wonderful resources. Thank you for sharing! I hope others will share also.

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Christina M. Bricker, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, FAHA
Family Nurse Practitioner, Faculty, Researcher
Florida, USA
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Original Message:
Sent: Thu August 07,2025 12:50 PM
From: Claire McConnell
Subject: Gender Affirming Classrooms

I'm reposting what I posted in the Nurse Educator Community

Hi all.  I have spent some time this summer exploring the issue of transgender issues for healthcare, particularly as they present in the nursing classroom.  As a cis, heterosexual woman this is new territory for me.  I feel that I have received woefully little training in my clinical and educator roles.  I have tried to be an ally for LGBTQ+ individuals in my life and work.  I haven't always been correct in my approach to handling the issues that can come up.  For example, I've stumbled and over apologized when using an incorrect pronoun for a student.  This situation ultimately called too much attention to the situation.  I've failed to step up when an offensive statement was made by a colleague. In this situation the colleague compared the challenge of being gender affirming in caring for a transgendered person to caring for a pedophile that had raped children.  This forced a student to speak up for the transgender community. This makes the student feel vulnerable and unprotected in the learning environment. I give these examples to point out that these situations are real and do need attention from our professional and education communities.

I started this journey at the request of my student, the afore mentioned student that was forced to speak up.  They asked me if I'd be willing to ask that the faculty have additional training on the creation of gender affirming classrooms. They also asked to advocate for inclusion of gender affirming care in the content of the program.  I feel that the 1st request was a priority and something that I would receive less pushback on.  There was pushback to be sure.  We are living in a political climate that is becoming increasingly willing to target the transgender population. We will not have as much support since the DEI initiatives have been rolled back.  The second request required more tact.   It is always an issue when requesting to add or remove content from course content especially in the pre licensure training of nurses.  

A colleague and I got together and agreed to speak at the final faculty meeting for the spring.  We requested to speak to the faculty during the fall professional development days to present resources to the nursing faculty to make them feel more informed on these topics. We would look for resources and follow up with what we found. Again, there was some pushback, but our director accepted our offer of taking on the topic.

Here is where I am on this journey.  I share this here in case you have a desire to follow what I've learned.

1. We watched the 30 minute, Fostering An LGBTQIA Inclusive Workplace that was part of our PD catalogue.  

2. I did a brief lit search and found the article  doi: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8085635/pdf/BLT.19.249086.pdf

3. Found the UCSF LGBTQ Resource Center Online Educational Modules & Training | LGBTQ Resource Center 

•  Exploring this site helped raise my awareness of the issues that arise for students in the classroom 

4. Attended the National Transgender Healthcare Summit hosted by UCSF.  

• Attending this summit raised my awareness of the healthcare disparities that exist for the transgender and non-binary community.  I was really impressed by the research being conducted, the policy efforts that are being made, and the knowledge gap that exists for most healthcare settings. The research being done by participants at this conference is yielding significant data.
• Trans Dudes with Lady Cancer
• the GENDER book

5. Found gender affirming resources offered by NLN that already exist in the materials currently used for our geriatric content. 

• This helps address the second part of the request to include more gender affirming content.  If our current content can be made more inclusive, this may allow the information to not displace other necessary content.

I hope that you are able to benefit from the information I have posted here.  I encourage you to discuss these issues both as they effect students and the quality of healthcare.

------------------------------
Claire McConnell RN DNP CNE
Visiting Lecturer
Philadelphia PA
United States
------------------------------