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Our View: Diamonds for Friends of the Osterhout sale milestone

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Search for new Wilkes-Barre police chief at ‘standstill’

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; NEPA Rainbow Alliance board member Dr. Helen Davis grew up in North Carolina, at a time when &#8220;coming out&#8221; would draw a harsh rebuke.</p><p>&#8220;One of the reasons I was in denial about my sexual orientation was because I grew up in a very conservative, religious area where people said I would burn in hell forever,&#8221; Davis said this week at an event for LGBT Pride Month.</p><p>The Rainbow Alliance, a non-profit created to support LGBT individuals, teamed with the Osterhout Free Library for a seminar and to offer a &#8220;safe place&#8221; to talk and give information about resources.</p><p>Davis, who teaches Women and Gender Studies at Wilkes University and also serves on the Rainbow Alliance board, started the presentation by emphasizing the differences between sex, gender, and sexual orientation.</p><p>She described herself as a &#8220;proud bisexual/pansexual person.&#8221;</p><p>Davis went over the &#8220;coming out&#8221; process:</p><p>&#8226; Coming out is not just a one time thing, but happens repeatedly for some.</p><p>&#8226; Coming out is easier for some more than others.</p><p>&#8226; Do not &#8220;out&#8221; someone to others unless you have permission.</p><p>She also offered tips on gender interaction with transgender individuals:</p><p>&#8226; Use preferred names and pronouns.</p><p>&#8226; Transgender individuals should be permitted to wear their preferred attire.</p><p>&#8226; They should also be allowed to use their preferred restroom.</p><p>Davis is also pushing for better transgender health care in the area. Since 2014, a transgender health conference sponsored by Geisinger Health System and the NEPA Rainbow Alliance has been held annually in Scranton to further educate nurses, doctors, and other medical providers. </p><p>Many transgender individuals in the community have to travel to places like Harrisburg or Philadelphia to receive hormone therapy or sex change surgeries because Davis said there is a lack of doctors who are familiar with such treatments and procedures.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot at stake when you&#8217;re talking about those things,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Trans people also experience the highest rates of prejudice and discrimination and are most likely to be unemployed or underemployed, so they&#8217;re the least likely to be able to afford the health care in the first place, so access really matters.&#8221;</p><p>Even though Luzerne County has not yet adopted an anti-discrimination policy to protect LGBT people from being fired from their jobs or denied housing or other services, both the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Pittston approved anti-discrimination ordinances in 2016.</p><p>Local resources include LGBT awareness training, support and discussion groups facilitated by the NEPA Rainbow Alliance, as well as social events where people from the community can interact.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Dr. Helen Davis, of the NEPA Rainbow Alliance, leads a discussion on LGBT issues at the Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre earlier this week. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_LGBT1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dr. Helen Davis, of the NEPA Rainbow Alliance, leads a discussion on LGBT issues at the Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre earlier this week. </caption0><photoCredit0>Kulsoom Khan | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Kulsoom Khan</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

LGBT 101: Seminar seeks to inform and educate