Overview

Type: Vanderbilt Initiative Award (ViA)

The Vanderbilt LGBT Policy Lab will connect interdisciplinary faculty and students to broaden Vanderbilt’s international reputation on scholarship surrounding the correlates, causes, and consequences of LGBT-related public policies. Vanderbilt is currently one of a handful of top universities worldwide with multiple faculty members whose research directly addresses the intersections of LGBT policies and populations. This initiative will leverage unique intellectual resources from interdisciplinary scholars at Vanderbilt, create a course on LGBT Polices and Advocacy that could relate to multiple majors and programs across the university, complement a key component of the university’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion and position Vanderbilt as a world leader at the cutting edge of research on LGBT policies and populations.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people face immense social, health and economic challenges in the United States and abroad. Because of interpersonal and structural discrimination, LGBT people have worse mental and physical health outcomes compared to their heterosexual and non-transgender peers. They experience barriers to medical care and are frequently victims of hate crimes and direct acts of violence. LGBT individuals also experience higher rates of poverty, lower incomes and more labor market discrimination than non-LGBT individuals. Public policies toward LGBT populations may play important roles in ameliorating or exacerbating these structural factors, but evidence on the determinants and consequences of LGBT-related policies is severely limited and underfunded.

Vanderbilt LGBT Policy Lab Small Grants Program (2017-18)

Faculty Participants

Lead Faculty in bold

College of Arts & Science

• Kitt Carpenter, Professor of Economics
• Tara McKay, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Health and Society
• Cindy Kam, Professor of Political Science
• Laura Carpenter, Associate Professor of Sociology
• Laurel Schneider, Professor of Religious Studies

School of Medicine (Clinical)

• Jesse Ehrenfeld, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
• Gilbert Gonzales, Assistant Professor of Health Policy

Law School

• Terry Maroney, Professor of Law
• Jennifer Shinall, Associate Professor of Law

Divinity School

• Ellen Armour, E. Rhodes and Leona B Carpenter Associate Professor of Feminist Theology

Peabody College

• Matthew Shaw, Assistant Professor of Leadership, Policy and Organizations

Upcoming Events

• Deb Umberson, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Population Research Center at University of Texas-Austin (jointly sponsored by the Department of Sociology). “In Sickness and in Health: Marital Dynamics in Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Unions.” Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018. 4:00-5:20 – Calhoun 109.
• Lee Badgett, Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Thursday Feb. 21, 2019. Time/location TBA
• Laura Mamo, Professor of Health Education at San Francisco State University (jointly sponsored by the Department of Sociology). Thursday March 21, 2019. Time/location TBA
• Janet Jakobsen, Claire Tow Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Barnard College (jointly sponsored by the Divinity School and the Carpenter Center). Thursday April 18, 2019. Time/location TBA