The Union College Psychology Department Speaker Series and Honors Colloquium welcome
Marlow Guerrant, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, Union College
for a public lecture
“We’re people, not numbers or guinea pigs”: Participatory Approaches to Address LGBTQ+ Health Inequities
Thursday, February 13, 2025
12:45 - 1:50 PM • Karp 105
Lunch and refreshments will be provided
Same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States in 2015 and has been associated with improved health outcomes for LGBTQ+ populations, both through improved access to care associated with marriage benefits and because it signaled an increase in LGBTQ+ acceptance. This shift highlights the impact of macro-factors such as policy and social climate on group and individual well-being. However, some within the LGBTQ+ community have critiqued same-sex marriage for diverting from much bigger structural problems which remain unaddressed. Recent headlines discussing access to gender affirming care for adolescents and mortality rates among BIPOC LGBTQ+ persons underscore these structural problems. This raises important questions – How can we best address LGBTQ+ health inequity? What voices continue to be missing in this conversation? What is the role of psychology in answering these questions? This talk will explore these questions by using examples of mixed-methods and participatory research to emphasize the ways in which traditional methods further disempower marginalized populations, and the importance of shifting research from being conducted ‘on’ queer (and other equity-seeking) populations to research being conducted ‘with’ and ‘by’ these populations.’
