dean's note

This Pride Month, Reaffirming the Dignity of LGBTQIA+ Populations

On a time of both progress and challenge for LGBTQIA+ health.

I have long felt that health is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. That end is our ability to live rich, full, happy lives. We want to be healthy so we can have more of the experiences that make life meaningful; more time to do what we want to do, to spend with the people we love. These experiences reflect our engagement with community, with the diversity of people and identities that enrich our world. It is community that we celebrate each June, as we mark the return of Pride Month. During Pride Month, we celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, acknowledging the many ways our LGBTQIA+ friends, colleagues, and loved ones make our world a better place. Pride Month is an opportunity to mark the progress we have made toward the full social, legal, and political acceptance of this community while acknowledging the challenges we still face in pursuit of this goal. As we do so, we reaffirm our commitment to working towards a world where all can live happy, healthy lives, no matter who they are, how they identify, or who they love. Some thoughts, then, on Pride Month, building on and echoing prior reflections on this time of year.

For a long time, progress for the LGBTQIA+ community seemed far off. The community faced stigma and a denial of basic rights. During the AIDS crisis, we saw how this contributed to a dehumanization of the gay community, as the country failed to support those who suffered from the disease. In the years since, this status quo has shifted to where we have now seen a sea change in both societal attitudes towards this community and in their political and legal status. In 2015, this culminated in the milestone Supreme Court case, Obergefell v. Hodges, which affirmed the right of same-sex couples to marry. In 2022, President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified into law this fundamental right. In 2020, the Bostock v. Clayton County Supreme Court decision affirmed that the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 cover transgender individuals. That the majority opinions in Obergefell and Bostock were both written by conservative justices appointed by Republican presidents reflects how far we have come on LGBTQIA+ rights, as do the broad, bipartisan majorities of Americans who support rights for same-sex couples and transgender individuals.

With this progress comes reason to be hopeful about the future of the LGBTQIA+ community. Yet we are still far from where we should be in ensuring the rights of this community are fully supported. The progress of recent years has sparked a backlash, the effects of which we are still seeing. This was reflected, for example, in the effort to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which was, in part, a response to Justice Clarence Thomas writing, in a concurrence with the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, that the Supreme Court might also reconsider upholding the right to marriage equality. We have also seen legislation around the country targeting transgender populations, creating new uncertainties and challenges for this community. This reflects the necessity of continuing to advance progress on LGBTQIA+ rights. It means working together to advocate for policies that safeguard the health of this community and remaining vigilant in the face of ongoing threats to the progress we have made. Progress is fragile, and history provides many examples of moments when hard-won gains were reversed. For this reason, it is on us to constantly reaffirm our commitment to supporting LGBTQIA+ rights, and to work towards a future when these rights will no longer be subject to debate.

Such a future once looked far off indeed. Recent challenges to the health of LGBTQIA+ populations are a reminder of what Pride Month, in part, means. It is important to remember that for a long time, members of the LGBTQIA+ community could not be fully open about their identities. Stigma and shame often forced LGBTQIA+ individuals to hide the truth of who they are. We should always remember where the movement for LGBTQIA+ rights came from, the dark days it has seen, so we can appreciate that progress really is possible, and that there is always the potential for a brighter day ahead. Pride Month is also a time for acknowledging the long history of LGBTQIA+ individuals making positive contributions to the world, often under conditions of challenge. The LGBTQIA+ community has always been here—living, loving, and contributing to the march of human progress. Pride Month is a time for celebrating this sometimes-overlooked history, for joyously marking our progress, however imperfect it remains, towards a future where no one has to hide their identity ever again, where all can be who they are and find the acceptance and love that make life meaningful.

Fundamentally, supporting the health of LGBTQIA+ populations is about dignity. I have long argued that dignity is core to the health of populations, and that public health should center dignity at the heart of all we do. In the majority opinion for Obergefell v. Hodges, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote of same-sex couples, “Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.” A healthier world is one where no one is denied their essential dignity because of who they are. The work of public health is the work of building such a world. This means reaching out, with empathy, to those who may be fearful of change, and who, because of this fear, lash out in hate. We should protect those who are the target of this hate while leaning into its antidote: love. Love helps us to see beyond fear, to extend a hand to those we may not fully understand, to better see our shared humanity. Love is stronger than hate, helping us to persist even in times of difficulty. We are at our strongest not when we are fighting what we hate, but when we are working on behalf of those we love. In reaffirming our commitment to supporting the health of LGBTQIA+ populations, we are reaffirming our commitment to a public health that is based on a vision of love. It is a public health that is compassionate and capacious enough to include all identities, all who wish to live and love without fear.

Thank you to our school community for all you are doing to serve this vision by keeping LGBTQIA+ rights at the heart of public health. In working to create a better world for our LGBTQIA+ friends, colleagues, and loved ones, you are helping build a better world for everyone. These concerns are at the heart of what we work for each day at the School, to create this world through our advocacy, our activism, and our ongoing commitment to the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. We are guided in these efforts by the many members of our community who have long been part of the movement for LGBTQIA+ rights. It is a privilege to work each day as part of a community dedicated to building a healthier world that supports the rights and dignity of all. 

Warm regards,

Sandro

Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor
Boston University School of Public Health

Acknowledgement: I am grateful to Eric DelGizzo for his contributions to this Dean’s Note.

Previous Dean’s Notes are archived at: http://www.bu.edu/sph/tag/deans-note/