Building a Foundation: LGBTQ+ Terminology, Concepts, and Affirming Communication

This webinar was presented live on April 30, 2020.

The LGBTQ+ (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer) community is now firmly rooted as a vibrant and vital component of the American cultural landscape. Despite this growing acceptance, many healthcare providers still lack understanding of the community's fundamental components, such as sex assigned at birth or gender identity, and the healthcare sector has lagged in addressing the community's specific needs.

Join three experts in the LGBTQ+ space as they explain how dietitians can best define their own roles and maximize the value of their services in supporting this population. These experienced and knowledgeable experts from a variety of practice and professional settings and will help clarify concepts and terminology, provide ways that dietitians can affirm all LGBTQ+ individuals in the clinical environment, and explain best practices to promote health equity.

CPE Level: Level 1
CPEU 1.0
Learning Need Codes: 1040, 3020, 5390

Performance Indicators:

• 10.2.8 Establishes the plan of care, directly addressing the nutrition diagnosis in collaboration with the patient in defining the time, frequency and duration of the intervention.
• 1.3.6 Develops and implements culturally appropriate strategies when delivering service.
• 2.2.2 Considers and respects the opinions, creativity, values, beliefs and perspectives of others.

Learning Objectives

1. Define and distinguish sexual orientation, sexual behavior, sex assigned at birth, gender identity, gender expression, and sex development
2. Describe what they will do to affirm the sexual and gender identities of all individuals in the clinical environment (students, patients, faculty, and staff)
3. Identify one best practice for including sexual and gender minority health equity content that they will integrate into their own practice

Speakers

Rabia Rahman PhD, RD, LD

Rabia Rahman Ph D RD, is an Assistant Professor and Dietetic Internship Director in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Saint Louis University. She received her Bachelor's, Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Saint Louis University. Her research interests stem from her extensive work in the field of eating disorders and involve weight bias, eating pathologies, and care for the transgender population.

Jessica Halem, MBA

Jessica Halem is the LGBTQ Outreach and Engagement Director for Harvard Medical School where she oversees the recruitment and support of LGBTQ medical students and the integration of materials related to sexual and gender minorities into the overall curricula.

Lindsay Birchfield, MS, RD, CD

Lindsay's (they/them) formal education defines them as a Registered Dietitian, but they prefer to identify as a health and body activist. Lindsay is committed to undoing the dehumanizing and fatphobic legacy of diet culture and traditional dietetics. They strive to work in partnership with their clients to help clarify an authentic and intuitive sense of their own ideas of health, nourishment, and recovery.