Advocate Spotlight: Greg Shrader, PhD

As a young gay paraprofessional, in the early years of the HIV pandemic, I was acutely aware of the need for factual, scientific information about sexual orientation and gender identity and how HIV was transmitted. The amount of misinformation, bias and stigma was unbelievable. The federal government’s initial response to HIV is parallel to the ignorance, discrimination and oppression that we currently see in the hundreds of anti-transgender pieces of legislation proposed over the past decade. The need for advocacy, education and training for the queer community has not diminished; if anything, it has become more imperative, as we see the negative impact of hateful rhetoric on the mental health of our youth.

With HIV/aids, we still don’t have a cure after all these decades and are currently moving backwards due to federal cuts to research and programming. We had and have education and training as our primary tools for prevention. We still don’t have accurate, scientific and inclusive sexual health education nationally. We similarly do not have accurate, scientific and inclusive information about sexual orientation and gender diversity. Most doctoral programs don’t have mandatory courses in sexual health and 2SLGBTQIA+ diversity. Most state licensing boards don’t mandate ongoing multicultural training. So, education and training continue to be the most powerful tools we have.

Having lost so many people to HIV/aids, clients, partners, friends, colleagues, students, mentors, straight, gay, bi, trans, adults and children, I have an obligation and a responsibility to speak up due to being a witness and a survivor. And when we can prevent younger generations from being harmed by injustice and oppression we all have a duty to speak up. Psychologists benefit financially from our clients’ mental health concerns, and if those mental health concerns are created by systems of oppression, we have to challenge those systems.

Advocacy can begin with the topic people choose for their dissertations, with doing a class presentation on underserved populations, with using whatever privileges one possesses to challenge the status quo. Advocacy doesn’t have to be big or loud, it can start small and simple. And connecting with others helps continue to put wind in one’s sails during tough times like these. Throughout my career, I’ve been so grateful to be inspired by the work of my colleagues in the hope (HIV Office for Psychology Education) program and Division 44.