HPDP Statement in Support of ALL People in light of HB2
The Center for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention has been committed to the health and well-being of all residents of North Carolina since it became a UNC-Chapel Hill research center 31 years ago. In light of the recent passage of House Bill 2, we want to re-affirm the Center’s dedication to equality, non-discrimination, and full inclusion and engagement all of our students, staff, faculty, and community partners, especially those who have been particularly discriminated against and marginalized by House Bill 2.
The provisions of House Bill 2 seek to “supersede and preempt any ordinance, regulation, resolution, or policy” concerning discrimination in employment and contracting that exist in a unit of local government or political subdivison of the state. These provisions run directly counter to UNC-CH’s policy on non-discrimination, which HPDP respects and wholeheartedly adheres to.
We at HPDP affirm the dignity of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and gender non- conforming students, staff, faculty, community partners and all those who reside in North Carolina. We affirm our opposition to discrimination, prejudice, homophobia, and transphobia. We re-affirm the words in our Diversity Statement:
The Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention is committed to creating a working environment in which students, faculty, and staff can freely express themselves and interact with individuals from diverse backgrounds. In our research and training programs we value and promote diversity in race, ethnicity, gender, age, income level, geographic origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and gender identity. These values are perhaps most evident in the Center’s commitment to work in partnership with communities, especially those disproportionately affected by health disparities, in developing and implementing our research and training programs, including research investigations that are co-led by members of NC communities.
As Dean Barbara Rimer of the Gillings School of Global Public Health, dean of one of the five UNC Schools that created HPDP in 1985, wrote so eloquently:
“In a state that ranks 31/50 on health overall, 33/50 on diabetes, 40/50 on hypertension, 42/50 on infant mortality, 44/50 on access to dentists, and faces many water and sanitation threats, our legislators and governor should focus on big problems that threaten the economic, physical, mental health and general well-being of North Carolinians.”
House Bill 2 does nothing to address these very real health concerns.
The LGBTQ Center has created a list of gender non-specific bathrooms on campus. The list of the location of gender non-specific bathrooms on our campus can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/UNC-GNS-Bathrooms. In our office building at 1700 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, all bathrooms are multi-stall, and there are no single-stall bathrooms to designate as gender-nonspecific. At Carr Mill Mall, our office suite has two in-suite, single-user bathrooms that have been labeled as gender-neutral, for use by everyone; they were gender-neutral long before HB2, but HB2 has prompted the addition of signage making it clear that all people are welcome to use either bathroom. We are seeking guidance from the LGBTQ Center about whether there is anything else we can do to accommodate transgender individuals at our 1700 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd offices. We will provide more information when we have it.
If you experience or witness any type of harassment on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression please report this immediately. You can report to the LGBTQ Center at https://lgbtq.unc.edu/programs-services/report-harassment or by calling 919-843-5376. You can also report to the university through any of the following ways:
http://safe.unc.edu/file-a-report/
http://eoc.unc.edu/what-we-do/address-misconduct/reports/
Call the Student Complaint Coordinator at 919-843-3878
Call the Title IX Compliance Coordinator at 919-445-1577
Call the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office at 919-966-3576
Call the Office of the Dean of Students 919-966-4042
We will use this statement to guide our Center overall, but also recognize the importance of individual opinions in this process. We encourage all our students, staff and affiliated researchers to share their opinions with the University via the UNC-CH Diversity and Gender Inclusion Survey before May 7. The findings will be used to help the University determine next steps in encouraging a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive environment.
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