Transgender Inclusion within Organizations Serving the LGBT Community: A Transgender Awareness Week BrownBag Webinar with Talia Mae Bettcher and Susan Forrest


In honor of Transgender Awareness Week, on November 11th at 2:30pm EST/11:30am PST the Network for LGBT Tobacco Control will be hosting a BrownBag Webinar on transgender inclusion about Transgender Inclusion within Organizations Serving the LGBT Community: A Transgender Awareness Week BrownBag Webinar with Talia Mae Bettcher and Susan Forrest. We will have our first ever co-lead Webinar with Network member Susan Forrest and Dr. Talia Bettcher who will co-lead a Webinar on Transgender Inclusion in Health and Community organizations/agencies serving, or that could potentially serve, transgender people. Types of agencies could include Departments of Health, cessation groups, LGBT organizations, Tobacco Control organizations, Health Centers, etc. With their cultural competency training experience, Talia and Susan will speak to how organizations can be more inclusive of the transgender community in general with mention of how even LGBT-focused cessation programs can be more inclusive of trans individuals.

Susan and Talia will introduce the call with a 15 minute presentation, and then we’ll have 45 minutes of discussion. The discussion will allow others to discuss how organizations can be trans competent in other ways like through data collection. This webinar is open to all, and is a great opportunity for folks looking to learn more about transgender inclusion and for folks who have experience and information of their own to share with others.

About the Presenters: Talia Mae Bettcher is the Director of the Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities at California State University in LA whose academic interests include Transgender Studies with published articles on transgender and feminist topics. Susan Forrest is an HIV Resource Specialist for the Community Assessment Service Center and Community Activist who’s planned and organized several trans-focused events and organizations. The two perform transgender cultural competency trainings to various organizations and agencies and have a website called “Learning Trans” which is a project to produce, and to highlight trans community-produced knowledge.

About the BrownBag Series: It’s about linking people and information: The BrownBag Networking call series is designed to be an open space for, you guessed it, the Network. So pull up a chair and enjoy a virtual lunch with us to network, share, and collaborate with collogues from around the country. For descriptions of past BrownBag Webinars, see our blog.

To register, click here.

by Emilia Dunham

Published by Emilia Dunham, MPP, MBA

Emilia Dunham is currently a Project Manager at MassHealth/Department of Public Health, and formerly the Project Manager of the Life Skills project at The Fenway Institute, an HIV intervention study for young transgender women. Emilia worked at Fenway for 7 years, first as a Quality Control and Regulatory Assistant mainly involved with biomedical HIV prevention trials, before serving as the Program Associate for The Network for LGBT Health Equity, a network instrumental in many national LGBT health policy improvements. She is also involved with the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, serving as a Steering Committee member and the Policy Committee Co-Chair, an organization largely responsible for the recent passage of the Trans Rights Bill. Additionally she serves as a member of the Massachusetts Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, Co-Chair of the Recommendations Committee. Emilia received a Bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University. There she served as President of the LGBTQ student group where she planned programs such as Pride Week, Transgender Day of Remembrance, and AIDS Week. In addition, she advocated for LGBTQ inclusive policies and programming on campus such as a Gender Neutral Housing program, an LGBTQ Center and the expansion of Women’s Studies to Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Emilia recently earned a Master of Public Policy and Master of Business Administration in health policy and management from the Brandeis Heller School School for Social Policy and Management.

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