Dear John,

I hope you are having a great Pride Month. I know Pride is a little more difficult this year ([link removed]) with the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ legislation
([link removed]) and attacks against the LGBTQ community. But our community is resilient, and the Williams Institute is here to respond rapidly to today’s challenges as we lay the groundwork for a better future. I hope you will join us by supporting ([link removed]) our critical work.

This month, I was reminded of the heroes who made possible the freedoms we have today, as I watched this incredible speech ([link removed]) by Williams Institute Founders Council Member and Visiting Scholar Dr. Nanette Gartrell.
If, like me, you need a little inspiration, I encourage you to watch as she accepts the American Psychiatric Association’s 2023 John Fryer Award. Nanette's work represents the best of the Williams Institute and our mission: conducting impeccable research, reinforced over time, to form an unshakeable foundation for LGBTQ rights.

Nanette came out before Stonewall and during her first year of college. While an undergraduate, she focused her research on LGBTQ people, which could have ended her academic career as it did for many others. But Nanette persisted. While some men shut the door in her face, she ended up becoming the first out lesbian faculty member of Harvard Medical School in 1976!

During her career, Nanette informed the declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder and conducted groundbreaking work on the sexual abuse of patients by psychiatrists. In 1986, using her own resources and volunteers, she launched a trailblazing study: the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study ([link removed]) . Today, the NLLFS is the largest, longest-running prospective investigation of American lesbian mothers and their children.

Nanette has published countless articles showing the “kids are all right” and has three more articles accepted for publication this year. We’re going to need them. The fight for LGBTQ parental rights is not over.

In the face of incredible obstacles—through Stonewall, Regan, Bowers v. Hardwick, AIDS, two Bushes, and Trump—Nanette continued to persist, conducting cutting-edge work that has led legislatures, courts, and elected officials to recognize LGBTQ rights.

We are again facing challenging times, but we must persist as well. The Williams Institute is working hard to counter the misinformation underlying today’s attacks on LGBTQ youth. We are preparing for the coming attacks on marriage equality. We are continuing to document the economic and health disparities faced by LGBTQ people and to develop research-based policy solutions to address them.

Our fiscal year closes this Friday, June 30. I hope you will support our work ([link removed]) by giving to the Williams Institute today. We couldn’t do it without you.

Sincerely,
Brad
Donate Today ([link removed])

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The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law is an academic research institute dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.

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