Image Provided by: Bro. Michael Oboza – L-to-R: Khafre Kujichagulia Abif, MLS, Adrienne McCue, Bro. Michael Oboza, Lisa Currie, MSEd
Chicago, IL – The new Bisexual Health Task Force held in Chicago on April 25, 2018 where leaders in the bi+ community, nonprofits and allies joined forces on what I like to call the “The Bi+ Round Table,” hosted by Northwestern University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing and AIDS Foundation of Chicago for the advantage of making a difference in critical topics such as physical and mental health, HIV/AIDs and healthcare, poverty and homeless issues, youth and the elderly.
Some of the persons in attendance were from long-standing organizations such as Affinity Community Services, Black and Pink Network, Center on Halsted, Pride Action Tank, Southern Aids Coalition and the University of IL in Chicago. Step Up For Mental Health was also there to add peer input on mental health issues for the bi+ community and disenfranchised groups.
The goal for the meeting was to tackle significant issues that are affecting the bisexual communities and work on ways to bring funding to key causes that normally get lost in the LGBT umbrella, along with prominent topics of the day.
Important Topics the Bisexual Community Faces
Though this was the start of an extraordinary partnership of leaders, some of the themes that were important to the Bisexual Health Task Force discussed were:
- bi+ Awareness
- Resources for bi+ communities
- Increasing visibility
- Addressing challenges of intersectionality, i.e., racism as an influential factor in sexuality and HIV/AIDS outcomes and gender identities
- Focus on bisexual health, specifically mental health
- Criminal justice systems and systemic systems for people of color and bi+ communities
Step Up For Mental Health mission is to partner with organizations and projects that align with our goals in supporting families and marginalized groups like the bi+ community, youth and the elderly and to make sure they have resources that can support them towards a healthy life. –Adrienne McCue, Executive Director
I want to thank the leaders and others for giving of their time and input as we move forward to strengthen the bi+ community and find ways to partner, support and make our community visible around topics that matter most to us.
Ashley Randall (AIDS Foundation of Chicago), Cynthia Tucker (AFC), Imani (Affinity Community Services), Jason Lydon (Black and Pink Network), Jill Dispenza (Center on Halsted), Jim Pickett (AFC), Kim Hunt (Pride Action Tank), Khafre Kujichagulia Abif (Southern AIDS Coalition), Lauren Beach (Northwestern), Lauren Glodowski (AFC), Lisa Currie (AFC, Widener U), Bro. Michael Oboza, Wendy Bostwick, PHD, MPH, (University of Illinois, Chicago), Adrienne McCue (Step Up for Mental Health, Bi+ BSN Project )
