Assistance for
LGBTQ+ Individuals
The Mass General Brigham Employee Assistance Program is available to help with anything related to the LGBTQ+ communities and those who want to be a support. The resources below are welcoming and informed about LGBTQ+ issues. If you would like assistance with an issue you are facing or with identifying the right resources for you or a family member, contact the EAP at 866-724-4327 for confidential assistance.
EAP News Articles
Being an Ally to your LGBTQ+ Colleagues
“Coming out is when a person decides to reveal an important part of who they are with someone in their life. For many LGBTQ people, this involves sharing their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Coming out isn’t always easy. After thinking it through, you may decide not to come out. You are valid and deserve support no matter who you do or do not share your identities with. Remember, there isn’t one right way to come out, and it’s YOUR choice”
—The Trevor Project
Every year National Coming Out Day (October 11) honors those brave individuals who have come out as LGBTQ or as a straight ally for equality. Homophobia and transphobia thrive in silence, and the act of coming out when it feels safe enough to do so makes it easier for others to do the same. When people know someone who is LGBTQ, they are far more likely to support equality under the law.
Every person who speaks up changes hearts and minds, and creates new advocates for equality.
The Mass General Brigham EAP is here to help you navigate this process and to assist those who want to support someone else in this process.
Coming Out Supports from HRC
“For a lot of people, learning that someone they know and care about is LGBT[Q] can open a range of emotions, from confused to concerned, awkward to honored. It may be hard to know how to react, leaving you with questions about what to say, how to talk about being LGBT[Q] and wanting to know what you can do to be supportive. An ‘ally’ is a term used to describe someone who is supportive of LGBT[Q] people. It encompasses non-LGBT[Q] allies as well as those within the LGBT[Q] community who support each other.”
– Human Rights Campaign
The resources below can help to answer questions and suggest ways to support LGBTQ+ friends, family members, co-workers and others. For further assistance, contact the EAP at 866-724-4327.
- American Bar Association – Ally Toolkit
- GLAAD – Be an Ally & a Friend
- National Center for Transgender Equality – A Guide to Being a Good Ally
- National Center for Transgender Equality – How to be Respectful and Supportive to Non-Binary People
- Out & Equal – Ally Tips for the Workplace
- MGH Institute for Health Professionals – How to Support Non-Binary and Trans Colleagues at Work
- Family Equality Council
- Greater Boston Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
- Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
- National Center for Transgender Equality
Microaggressions
= Protected Content that Requires MGB Intranet Access or Special Log-in Credentials
Mass General Brigham and its hospitals strive to be advocates for diversity and equal opportunity and a respectful, inclusive work environment. Below are some workplace resources for the LGBTQ+ communities and their allies. Please contact the EAP at 866-724-4327 if you need further assistance.
MGB Resources
- MGB “Know the Line” Program
Understanding respectful behavior and reporting concerns. - Mass General Brigham – Gender Identity Expression Policy
- Mass General Brigham – Toolkit for Transitioning Colleagues
- Mass General Brigham – Guide for Managers
- MGH Institute for Health Professionals – How to Support Non-Binary and Trans Colleagues at Work
MGB Employee & Student Resource Groups
- Brigham Health LGBTQ & Allies Resource Group
- LGBTQ and Allies at Harvard Medical School (LAHMS)
- MGB LGBTQ & Allies Employee Resource Groups
- MGH – LGBTQ Employee Resource Group
- Institute for Health Professionals – KinsIHP, LGBTQ Group – provides a forum and speakers for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer-identified students and allies. Contact: (studentlife@mghihp.edu)
Community Supports
Parents
- The Transgender Child: A Resource for Families and Professionals – Stephanie A. Brill and Rachel Pepper
- The Transgender Teen – Stephanie A. Brill and Lisa Kenney
- The Gender Creative Child: Pathways for Nurturing and Supporting Children Who Live Outside Gender Boxe – Diane Ehrensaft, PhD and Norman Spack, MD
- Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Healthy Gender-Nonconforming Children – Diane Ehrensaft, PhD
- Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family – Amy Ellis Nutt
For Younger Children
- I am Jazz – Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel
- Big Bob, Little Bob – James Howe and Laura Ellen Anderson
- Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress – Christine Baldacchino and Isabelle Malenfant
- Red: A Crayon’s Story – Michael Hall
For Students Grades 3-5
- George – Alex Gino
For Middle School Students
- Gracefully Grayson – Ami Polonsky
- Being Jazz: My life as a (Transgender) Teen – Jazz Jennings
For High School Students
- Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen – Arin Andrews
- Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out – Susan Kuklin
- What Happened to Lani Garver – Carol Plum-Ucci
- Parrotfish – Ellen Wittlinger
- Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Youth (BAGLY)
- JRI.org – GLASS
- GLSEN
- OUT MetroWest – Resources for LGBTQ Youth, their Families and Others
- Fenway Health – Peer Listening Line
1-800-399-PEER - The Trevor Project – Suicide Prevention
- Fenway Health – The Borum
- Out Now
- UMass Amherst Stonewall Center
- Harbor Camps
- TYEF Youth Camp
- GLMA – Resources for LGBTQ+ Health Equity
- AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts
- BWH – Improving the Experience of LGBT Patients
- Cancer Network – Cancer and Health Disparities in the LGBT Community
- CDH – Diversity Equity & Inclusion
- CDH – LGBTQ Care
- DAV – LGBT Veterans
- DFCI – LGBTQ Patient Care and Support
- HMS Map and List of all-gender restrooms on the Harvard Longwood Campus
- HMS Countway Library – LGBTQ Health Guide
- MedLinePlus – Specific Health Issues for LGBT Populations
- MEEI – Transgender Voice and Communication Modification Program
- MGH Transgender Action Group (TAG)
Transgender Action Group (TAG) is an MGH-wide group, made up of MGH staff (all are welcome to join) who are interested in gender-affirming care and support for transgender and non-binary people in the MGH community. To join or for questions, please email TransActionGroup@mgh.harvard.edu.
- Transequality.org – Transgender Healthcare Rights and Legal Protections
- World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
- BMC – Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery
- BWH – LGBT-Aware Physician Directory and OutList
- Cooley Dickinson Medical Group – Oxbow Primary Care
- Fenway Health
- GLMA – Database of LGBTQ-Friendly Doctors
- Harvard Medical School OutList
- MGH – LBGTQ Aware Provider Directory
- MGH Psychiatry Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Program
- MGH Transgender Health Program
When a LGBTQ+ person is abusive to their partner, we often do not recognize it as domestic violence because of false expectations that men should be able to defend themselves and stereotypes that all women are safe, or that both partners are equally abusive.
The truth is that domestic abuse is a serious problem and can occur in any relationship. An individual’s size, strength, faith, politics or personality does not determine whether he or she can be abused or be an abuser. As with heterosexual domestic abuse, domestic abuse in gay and queer communities cuts across all class, faith and race lines.
Finding safety and support may be difficult for the victim of LGBTQ+ partner violence or sexual assault. Abusers have the additional power of threatening to expose their partners if their partners are not “out” to their families or employers. A lesbian batterer may work as a battered women’s advocate and have easy access to shelters. Gay men may not be taken seriously by police or judges who assume their conflict is mutual combat rather than a pattern of abuse. Transgender victims often confront prejudice from police and others based on their appearance.
Community organizations sensitive to these issues are good resources for safety planning, crisis intervention and prevention. The organizations below provide information about LGBTQ+ domestic abuse, prevention services and referrals to community resources that are informed and attuned to LGBTQ+ concerns.
- CDC – Intimate Partner Violence Fact Sheet
- Emerge
- The Network – La Red – Ending Abuse in Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Communities
- Fenway Health – Violence Recovery Program
Hotlines
- Domestic Violence Hotline
877-785-2020 - Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC)
1-800-841-8371 - National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-7233
