Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Celebrates LGBTQ Pride Month

June is LGBTQ Pride Month in Philadelphia, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) recognizes and supports LGBTQ patients, families and staff every day, all year round. LGBT Pride Month is celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan, NY. The Stonewall riots were a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. In the United States, the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as “Gay Pride Day,” but the actual day was flexible. In major cities across the nation the “day” soon grew to encompass a monthlong series of events. Learn more about the history of LGBT Pride Month from the Library of Congress.

Here is a brief mention of just some of our programs, efforts and community celebrations.

• “Lighting up” the Roberts Center for Pediatric Research in the LGBT Pride colors on June 1 and June 9.
• Four employee spotlights were featured on our intranet highlighting LGBTQ+ employees and an ally, who talked about their backgrounds, experiences, challenges as members of the LGBT community, and words of wisdom to make being an ally easier.
• Employees read inclusion-themed children’s books each week, which were broadcast into patient rooms, as part of the Seacrest Studio program.
• We hosted an ally skills practice education session, as our monthly Talking Diversity session for employees. Participants busted some commonly-held myths about members of the LGBTQ community and talked through how to respond as an ally.
• We had tremendous participation at this year’s Philadelphia Pride Parade! Nearly 275 CHOP colleagues, patients, families, friends and pets walked in the Parade, which exceeded the 110 who participated last year.
• And more recently, several staff members from our Karabots Pediatric Care Center in West Philadelphia launched a staff education initiative to help create a more culturally competent atmosphere — one that would allow LGBTQ patients and families to feel supported and in a welcoming environment. Part of this initiative involved a simple, yet practical solution — a rainbow button. In addition to the buttons, our team at Karabots have worked hard to make sure their frontline staff knows how to represent different family relationships uses preferred names and pronouns and gender identity in medical documentation, and preserves the confidentiality of teens receiving care for sensitive issues.
• Several news articles and stories featured teens, kids, and our staff from the Gender and Sexuality Development Clinic.