I was raised to believe that gays and lesbians are an abomination to god. I was taught that god didn’t like those types of people and they needed to be fixed before god could let them into heaven, let alone love them. I grew up in a middle-class, predominately white environment where sexual orientation, culture, and racism were never discussed.
Letting go of this diabolical thinking was the second best thing I’ve done as an adult. Supporting my lesbian daughters with unconditional love is the first.
When my daughters were born I was still pretty naive about life, love, and…
This is the sixth part of a 6-part series chronicling my journey away from religion. If it offends you, I’m sorry, but you really shouldn’t let other people’s experiences trouble you. This is my experience and isn’t intended to discredit your experiences or beliefs in any way. My journey is mine and your journey is yours. I respect them equally.
Although my childhood was irrationally acceptable— I felt included, part of a hand-picked delegation — it left me without a proper education and without a solid sense of self. …
This is the fifth part of a 6-part series chronicling my journey away from religion. If it offends you, I’m sorry, but you really shouldn’t let other people’s experiences trouble you. This is my experience and isn’t intended to discredit your experiences or beliefs in any way. My journey is mine and your journey is yours. I respect them equally.
At 45 years old, I found a lump of cancer. Turns out there were three cancer lumps. I didn’t know it then, but separation from The Body had commenced. For me cancer was not a gift, not a blessing. …
This is the fourth part of a 6-part series chronicling my journey away from religion. If it offends you, I’m sorry, but you really shouldn’t let other people’s experiences trouble you. This is my experience and isn’t intended to discredit your experiences or beliefs in any way. My journey is mine and your journey is yours. I respect them equally.
One week every summer my siblings and I were sent away two at a time to stay in the country with our grandparents. It took a two-hour backseat car ride to get there, but it was always worth it. Since…
This is the third part of a 6-part series chronicling my journey away from religion. If it offends you, I’m sorry, but you really shouldn’t let other people’s experiences trouble you. This is my experience and isn’t intended to discredit your experiences or beliefs in any way. My journey is mine and your journey is yours. I respect them equally.
Eventually, my father was saved, receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues while at work one day in his truck cab. Meanwhile, my mother drifted away from The Body and the truth. I was too young…
This is the second part of a 6-part series chronicling my journey away from religion. If it offends you, I’m sorry, but you really shouldn’t let other people’s experiences trouble you. This is my experience and isn’t intended to discredit your experiences or beliefs in any way. My journey is mine and your journey is yours. I respect them equally.
I was brought up to believe I knew unknowable things. Ideas labeled spiritual and biblical had floating roots for nonbelievers, but for us — god’s chosen people — these truths made me feel larger than myself. …
This is the first part of a 6-part series chronicling my journey away from religion. If it offends you, I’m sorry, but you really shouldn’t let other people’s experiences trouble you. This is my experience and isn’t intended to discredit your experiences or beliefs in any way. My journey is mine and your journey is yours. I respect them equally.
There must be lives that separate from religion easily, as if they were perforated from the beginning. Mine was not one of them. …
Our older population still has the highest risk of severe disease outcomes
As the COVID-19 vaccine makes its way around the world, questions are still being asked. Even though we’ve been dealing with this virus for over a year, we’ve only had information about the COVID-19 vaccine for a few months.
Initially, front-line healthcare workers and nursing home residents were prioritized to receive the vaccine, followed by older adults age 65 years and above. In some areas, the age to receive the vaccine has dropped to 45 years. …
Awareness embracing respect
LGBTQ Health Awareness Week is March 22–26, 2021.
Although it’s crucial to understand the health disparities of the LGBTQ+ community, awareness goes beyond being knowledgeable that LGBTQ+ individuals experience a higher risk of certain conditions, have less access to health care, and have worse health outcomes than their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts.
When awareness finally embraces human respect, we may find the answers we seek to stop the discrimination and violence, the cultural incompetence, and the lack of proper healthcare coverage.
Awareness is seeing the human behind the eyes of every single person.
What providers can do right now
March 22–26 is National LGBT Health Awareness Week.
In honor of National LGBT Health Awareness Week, I am sharing several articles to promote awareness and provide education regarding the unique needs of LGBTQ+ individuals.
Reducing LGBTQ+ bias in healthcare is no small undertaking. It’s prevalent yet secluded, often ignored, unnoticed, not discussed. Little is known about how nurses and other healthcare professionals are trained to identify and reduce their own biases toward LGBTQ+ individuals . . . so the cycle continues.
As a nurse practitioner — and button-popping-proud mother of two lesbian daughters! —…
Nurse practitioner, health/medical writer, wife, momma, amazing badass rocking 10 years without evidence of cancer! www.nprush.com Twitter @joolzfnp