LGBT Policy Lab

A university-wide task force convened by the Office of the Provost, in coordination with the Office of Chancellor, to assess the impact of new Tennessee laws banning gender-affirming care for minors and public adult cabaret shows will hold a series of listening sessions in April and May. All Vanderbilt faculty, staff, and students are invited to participate in the listening sessions. Read More

Leaders of Vanderbilt’s LGBTQ+ Policy Lab have provided the first comprehensive evidence on the effects of access to legal same-sex marriage. Their efforts revealed that marriage access impacted the LGBTQ+ community positively in multiple ways. Read More

Experts from the Vanderbilt LGBT Policy Lab a discussion about the state of research regarding LGBTQ+ rights and policy and the effects of pro- and anti- queer policies on health, education, economic outcomes and overall well-being Read More

The contentious policy and political battles that led to legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States were highlighted in an in-person and virtual talk by journalist and author Sasha Issenberg at Sarratt Cinema on Oct. 11, marking the 33rd anniversary of National Coming Out Day.   Read More

Journalist and author Sasha Issenberg will speak at Vanderbilt Oct. 11 for a special on-campus event discussing the policy and political battles that led to legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States. Issenberg is the author of "The Engagement: America’s Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage." Read More

Falling between the gender and race gap, men in same-sex couples are 12 percentage points less likely to have a STEM degree, research by Vanderbilt economist Kitt Carpenter confirms. Read More

"Stories of Intersex and Faith," a documentary in which five intersex people offer insight into their extraordinary challenges, will be screened online Oct. 26 with a panel discussion to follow. Read More

Vanderbilt faculty members Tara McKay and Gilbert Gonzales will be the featured speakers for a webinar at 1 p.m. today focused on LGBTQ health in the age of coronavirus. Read More

Transgender adults experience considerably greater economic hardship and worse health than cisgender adults, according to the first study to document the socioeconomic struggles of this population in the United States.  Read More

The Vanderbilt LGBT Policy Lab will host a conference on Friday, March 13, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Vanderbilt Divinity School, Room G29. The Vanderbilt community is invited to attend. Read More

During his Oct. 2 Chancellor’s Lecture, actor George Takei shared how the challenges he endured from his family’s wrongful imprisonment during World War II have propelled his human rights activism. Read More

The National Institute on Aging has awarded a five-year, $1.9 million grant to Vanderbilt faculty members Tara McKay, Kitt Carpenter, Lauren Gaydosh and Gilbert Gonzales to study the health effects of social and support networks on sexual and gender minorities 50 to 70 years old in the South. Read More

One of the first studies to examine the health impacts of legal marriage for LGBT individuals has found gay men were more likely to receive routine medical care following marriage legalization. Read More

Funded by a 2017 TIPs grant, the Vanderbilt LGBT Policy Lab connects interdisciplinary faculty and students to study the impact of LGBT-related public policies. In the VU BreakThru blog, Tara McKay, assistant professor of medicine, health and society, discusses how she uses her research to influence health, legal and social policies in both the domestic and global arenas. Read More

The new TIPs-supported Vanderbilt LGBT Policy Lab is just five months old and has already launched an Internal Seminar Series and presented at a prestigious national conference. The lab brings together faculty from five schools and 10 departments and is focused on research to understand the causes and consequences of LGBT-targeted public policies. Read more about the lab and other internally funded projects at the VU BreakThru blog. Read More