ADVOCACY

By publishing policy briefs, writing opeds, participating in media interviews, and submitting public comment and testimony—often in partnership with other institutions—Fenway staff and affiliated researchers and scientists engaged in broad efforts throughout FY 2018 to advance and disseminate LGBT- and HIV-related health policy research. Highlights of that work include the following:

 

JULY
2017

  • Fenway submitted public comment to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services urging the agency to restore a question asking respondents of the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants about their transgender status. The question had been in the survey since 2014 and Fenway wrote that it was “critical” for collecting the data necessary to “better understand the needs and experiences of older LGBT adults, and especially the needs of older transgender adults.”
  • Fenway submitted public testimony to the Commonwealth’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary on “An Act relative to the deliberate spread of contagious diseases” expressing its opposition to the bill. Fenway wrote that the bill was “crafted with the intention to reduce the likelihood that HIV-positive individuals will intentionally or unintentionally spread the disease to uninfected individuals” but that research shows such laws “exacerbate stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and thus increase the risk of transmission.”

SEPTEMBER
2017

  • Fenway submitted public comment to the American Nurses Association on its Proposed Statement “Nursing Advocacy for Gender Diverse Populations.” Fenway commended the statement and urged the organization to “provide LGBT cultural competency training to nurses.”
Developing Healthy People 2030

OCTOBER
2017

Fenway submitted public comment to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the agency’s Draft Strategic Plan FY 2018-2022. Fenway urged HHS to “add language that clarifies that discrimination in healthcare on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is prohibited” and to “[r]eemphasize that LGBT people, people who are members of racial/ethnic minority groups, rural populations, and other populations experience health disparities in a manner that is more consistent with past HHS Strategic Plans.”

NOVEMBER
2017

DECEMBER
2017

The Fenway Institute released “Executive branch actions promoting religious refusal threaten LGBT health care access,” a policy brief examining the potential impact of executive actions taken by the Trump Administration that articulate a right to refuse services to others on the basis of religious beliefs, and to refuse to hire people for programming paid for with federal funds based on religious beliefs.

Brief: Executive branch actions promoting religious refusal threaten LGBT health care access

JANUARY
2018

The Fenway Institute released “One year in, Trump Administration amasses striking anti-LGBT record,” a policy brief cataloguing the judicial appointments, support for anti-LGBT religious refusal regulations, and absence of leadership on LGBT- and HIV-related issues that marked the first year of the Trump Administration.

Brief: One year in, Trump Administration amasses striking anti-LGBT record

FEBRUARY
2018

Fenway submitted public comment to Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on the agency’s Draft U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) and Proposed Expansion Process.” Fenway urged the agency to include sexual orientation and gender identity standards in the list of required data classes for the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability Version 1.

MARCH
2018

Fenway submitted public comment to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on “Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Revision of Existing Data Collection; National Longitudinal Survey of Older Americans Act Participants (NLSOAAP).” Fenway expressed strong support for the agency’s decision “to continue to collect information about program participants’ sexual orientation” but urged to the agency to reconsider its decision to drop gender identity questions from the national survey.

APRIL
2018

The Fenway Institute released “Retaining transgender women in care: Best practices in the field,” a policy brief for clinicians outlining provider best practices and innovative programs that result in higher rates of adherence to prescribed treatments among transgender women living with HIV.

Brief: Retaining Transgender Women in HIV Care: Best Practices in the Field

MAY
2018

  • Sean Cahill, PhD, Director of Health Policy Research for The Fenway Institute, participated in a Congressional briefing organized by the American Psychological Association on the scope of new federal policies that seek to restrict LGBT people’s access to healthcare.
Equality and Equity: Advancing the LGBT Community in Massachusetts

JUNE
2018

Massachusetts lawmakers passed “An Act Relative to LGBT Awareness Training for Aging Services Providers.” The first-in-the-nation law requires that all state funded or licensed providers of services to older adults complete training in how to provide meaningful care to LGBT older adults and ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults can access services. Fenway had long advocated in support for such reform, including by contributing data for a policy recommendations report issued by the Special Legislative Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Aging.