Deb Dunn Addresses Saving Transgender Lives (AUDIO)

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Deb Dunn, Transgender Health Coordinator for the LGBT Resource Center of Chase Brexton Health Care in Baltimore, Maryland. This year has been the deadliest on record for our transgender community with 25 murders nationwide. Among these deaths 87% were transgender women and a staggering 95% of the transgender women killed were also women of color. Another disheartening statistic is that 74% of the murders of transgender people in 2017 were committed in states whose majority voted red in the 2016 presidential election. At Chase Brexton, Deb provides leadership and coordination of care for transgender-identified patients, establishes best practices for medical transgender care, trains other medical providers, provides consultation to external organizations on transgender-related issues including employee transition, engages in advocacy at the state level and identifies research and funding opportunities related to transgender care. She also provides primary care services to a large panel of LGBTQ patients as well as transgender/gender non-binary patients who she transitions by prescribing hormones. We talked to Deb about how her work at Chase Brexton is educating the nation on transgender health care and her spin on our LGBTQ issues.

When asked how she sees our LGBTQ community moving forward in this Trump administration Dunn stated, “I believe that the largest amount of support probably will have to come from places of worship, community organizations, places like Chase Brexton because I know there’s a lot of fear of medical privilege, insurances being canceled, transgender especially services not being covered for surgeries and medications. So places like Chase Brexton which can offer services for people without insurance and also are able to offer discounted medications is going to be really needed if this happens and again just to be able to offer mental health to provide practitioners and be listeners and to have a place, a safe place for people to come that need to be heard.”

Deb Dunn graduated from Howard University’s physician assistant program and holds an MBA from Johns Hopkins University. In addition, Deb serves on national teams of expert transgender medical professionals to write guidelines for treating and prescribing medications for adults and adolescents who are transitioning. Dunn is also part of the team that created Gender JOY (Journeys of Youth), a multidisciplinary program for transgender diverse youth, adolescents and families. The program was launched in January 2016 and as of November 2017 includes over 850 patients. Dunn has presented at numerous national conferences, engaged in strategic planning with several nonprofit organizations and volunteered throughout her local community. Chase Brexton Health Care was founded in 1978 and is a primary care provider serving a diverse group of patients at their seven clinics throughout Maryland. Chase Brexton’s mission is to provide compassionate, quality health care that honors diversity, inspires wellness and improves our communities. As a Federally Qualified Health Center they provide a range of clinical services from primary medical care to behavioral health services to pharmacy with more than 400 staff members working as a team to put patients at the center of their own care, empowering them to live their healthiest lives.
For More Info: chasebrexton.org

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Fabulous New Manual “The Ultimate Guide for Gay Dads” (AUDIO)

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with author Eric Rosswood about his new book “The Ultimate Guide for Gay Dads: Everything You Need to Know About LGBTQ Parenting But Are (Mostly) Afraid to Ask”. This is a fabulous holiday gift if you know someone who is thinking or planning to be a gay dad or if they already are. More and more gay men are turning to adoption and surrogacy to start their own families. An estimated two million American LBGTQ people would like to adopt and an estimated 65,000 adopted children are living with a gay parent. Unlike other parenting books that have whole chapters focusing on things specifically related to mothers such as how to get the perfect latch when breastfeeding, this parenting book replaces those sections with things relevant to gay dads. It covers topics like how to find LGBTQ friendly pediatricians, how to find LGBTQ friendly schools, how to childproof your home with style, how to answer awkward and prying questions about your family from strangers, examples for what two-dad families can do on Mother’s Day and much more. The book also includes parenting tips and advice from pediatricians, school educators, lawyers and other gay parents. We talked to Eric about his inspiration for writing “The Ultimate Guide for Gay Dads” and his spin on our LGBTQ issues.

When asked how he sees our LGBTQ community moving forward in this Trump administration Rosswood stated, “This is kind of a tough one. I know with this administration we have a lot of things negatively impacting our community and I think it’s very important for us to be united. It’s not just our community that’s being targeted and I think what we need to do is unify together and you know hit this head front going forward. I think that the number one thing that we can do that will have the biggest impact is vote. We’ve seen that in the last election that we just had; we saw the most transgender candidates winning their spots; we saw a lot of diversity winning; we saw people that were against our rights being booted out and I think that’s really great. We have to remember it’s important for us to vote not just in presidential elections but all the other elections as well because governor positions, senator positions, house positions in Congress, they’re all very important to fight for equality along the way.”

Eric Rosswood is an in-demand authority and commentator on LGBTQ issues including civil rights, parenting, marriage and politics. He is a major influencer on social media with over 100,000 followers on Twitter alone and he has led panels on LGBTQ parenting issues for organizations such as the Family Equality Council and the Modern Family Alliance. His bestselling book “Journey to Same-Sex Parenthood” won Best Parenting Book in both the 2017 Readers' Favorite International Book Awards and the 2017 IAN Book of the Year Awards. His latest book “The Ultimate Guide for Gay Dads” immediately became the #1 New Release in the Adoption category on Amazon. Eric resides in New York with his husband, son, their two cats and a dog named Mr. Buggles.
For More Info: ericrosswood.com

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Filmmaker Nicole Conn New Production “Nesting Doll” (AUDIO)

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with filmmaker Nicole Conn about her new production “Nesting Doll” a story about three broken women whose lives intersect at a lakeside community and whose lives are forever changed through their shared love of a boy with special needs. The film pays homage to Conn’s daughter and in particular her son who has special needs and is medically fragile. He was the focus of her 2005 film “little man” which earned Conn 12 Best Documentary Awards along with the prestigious Cedar Sinai’s Courageous Beginnings Award. “Nesting Doll” is the breakout debut for 11 year-old Cale Ferrin who was diagnosed with Fanconi Anemia, a rare genetic disease that can lead to bone marrow failure and cancer and is often marked by congenital defects and short stature. Celebrated and beloved Australian actress, Zoe Ventoura (“Packed to the Rafters”) has signed on for the lead, McKenzie De Ridder and Kayla Radomski of “So You Think You Can Dance” fame will co-star. Also joining the stellar cast are Harley Jane Kozak as the mother and Bruce Davison as the head of his clan and supporting cast includes French Stewart (“3rd Rock From the Sun”), Brooke Elliott (“Drop Dead Diva”), Lesley Nicol, Kay Lenz, Wally Kurth and Gaby Christian. Gabrielle Baba-Conn, Conn’s real life daughter is also making her feature debut. A group known as the “Silver Tribe” who are Conn’s dear friends and loyalists are teaming up with the multiple award-winning filmmaker behind the scenes to bring this film to the international audience that it deserves. We talked to Nicole about her inspiration for making “Nesting Doll” and her spin on our LGBTQ issues.

When asked how she sees our LGBTQ community moving forward in a Trump administration Conn stated, “Well not just our community but any community that is marginalized in any way has to move very carefully and also very vocally. I mean we all need to really be paying attention, do some heavy lifting for the next few years to try to get an entirely different look and face in Congress, flip the Senate certainly and maybe get the House equalized. I don’t see any other way moving forward with this insanity other than trying to flip the lever of power and the only way we can do that is by voting and making our voices heard. I can even tell you, I spent three months in utter depression after he won. I feel like things were rolled back. I think that you know, we move carefully, we move vocally and we use our dollars and we use our voices and voting.”

Veteran filmmaker Nicole Conn paved the way for lesbian themed cinema with her cult classic, “Claire of the Moon” that will be celebrating its milestone 25th Anniversary in 2018 and also for her acclaimed features “Elena Undone” which boasts the longest screen kiss in cinema history and “A Perfect Ending”. Nicole understands the need for using her talent to change hearts and minds especially during our LGBTQ community’s fight for marriage equality. Conn conceptualized and directed Jen Fosters, “She” into a national anthem by directing a seven-minute short PSA entitled “SHE4ME” which was sponsored and endorsed by Marriage for Equality, USA and won The Community Award 2015, as well as OutMusic’s Music Video of the Year. “Nesting Doll” is her seventh film and she hopes it will deliver a much need message about our special needs community as well as our LGBTQ community.
For More Info: nicoleconn.com

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