Research Projects
Transgender Youths and Sanctuaries for Gender-Affirming Care
Tara McKay, in collaboration with Harry Barbee of Johns Hopkins University, is exploring solutions in response to bans on gender-affirming care. The growing wave of anti-transgender legislation has potential to exacerbate a public health crisis among transgender populations, but state and local governments can provide relief. As courts at multiple levels decide the constitutionality of state-level bans on GAC, a patchwork of policies will almost certainly persist, rendering large swaths of the transgender population vulnerable to harmful policies. Although sanctuary policies for GAC do not erase the structural barriers imposed by anti-transgender legislation, they provide critical resources and protections for transgender youths, their families, and their health care professionals to persevere.
Read the full article here.
Social Networks, Aging, and Policy Study (VUSNAPS)
The goal of this five year project is to understand the different kinds of personal relationships that older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender nonconforming and nonbinary (LGBT) adults in the US South draw on to provide support in mid- and later-life. We will use these data to examine how life events affect those relationships and the health of older LGBT people. We are interested in identifying factors that exacerbate health inequalities and those that help older LGBT adults thrive in later life. This project is supported by the National Institute of Aging (R01AG063771-01) and is led by Prof. McKay.
Watch PBS’s story on this project!
Project SPIRiT: Suicide Prediction In Real Time
The goal of this four-year project is to examine the influence of stigma-related stressors at the structural level (e.g., policy), interpersonal level (e.g., bullying), and individual level (e.g., internalized stigma) as well as universal suicide precursors (e.g., hopelessness) on suicide risk among LGBTQ+ adolescents. This project is being conducted in the local context of the US Southeast, where LGBTQ+ adolescents face high exposure to stigma. This project’s methodology includes an intensive longitudinal smartphone study involving brief, rapid surveys linked with GPS location. Results will inform responsive, tailored suicide prevention development for LGBTQ+ adolescents in the US Southeast. To learn more about Project SPIRiT visit https://www.ClarkLabVU.com. This project is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH125073) and is led by Dr. Kirsty Clark.
Health Equity Impacts of Public Policies on LGBT Communities
The goal of this project is to understand how population-targeted policies (e.g., federal same-sex marriage) might enhance health equity for the LGBT population. More specifically, the project aims to understand if federal policies, economic conditions, and public health policies are able to provide resources to promote well-being in LGBT communities, as intended for the general population, and to understand how these resources will affect health insurance coverage, health care access, health behaviors and health outcomes. This project is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (ID 76601) and is co-led by Profs. Carpenter and Gonzales.
Impact of Public Policy on Health and Social Outcomes
The goal of this project was to understand the impact of: (1) legal same-sex marriage; (2) sexual orientation-based nondiscrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodation; (3) policies that permit businesses to refuse service to LGBT individuals on religious grounds; and (4) “bathroom bills,” policies requiring individuals to use the public bathroom consistent with their sex assigned on their birth certificate, as opposed to their current gender identity on the health of LGBTQIA+ communities and individuals. This project is completed, was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (ID 74174), and was led by Prof. Carpenter.