GLAAD Media Institute alum Lucas Hall is organizing a virtual panel, which he will also moderate, titled “Expert Panel: Understanding Transgender Healthcare & Wellness.” Hall is a trans advocate and consultant working to correct misinformation often produced by media outlets about trans lives.

The panel will be composed of trans health care experts based in Oklahoma and Texas and will be streamed Sunday, May 21 from 6:00-7:30 pm CST. 

Panelists Dr. Al Carlozzi, Dr. Laura Arrowsmith, Dr. Shauna Lawlis, Elliot Parker, and Kelly Kemp, who is also a GLAAD Media Institute alum, will enlighten the realities about the health of the trans community. This information will include processes, protocols, and best practices for supporting transgender youth and adults seeking medical care, medical and scientific understanding of gender diversity, and common myths about trans people of all ages. 

“Our goal is to help educate and raise awareness about what trans life is like and who trans people are,” Hall told GLAAD in a video interview. 

Lucas Hall

The panel is for any and all to attend, and will particularly address questions and misinformation about health care for trans people and trans youth. It will also highlight the mental health implications of trans health care bans.

Hall says registrants are participating from around the country including Indiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Washington, Texas, Montana, and Colorado. 

Kemp lives in Tulsa, but “I’m originally from the city of New Orleans,” she told GLAAD in a video interview. 

“I met Lucas at church,” Kemp said. “He asked me to be on the panel for two reasons. The first one was because I work at our local children’s hospital, and I see a lot of our behavioral health patients. And the second is I am a parent of a gay son, a transgender son, and a bisexual daughter, all young adults.” 

Kelly Kemp is a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) at St. Francis Children’s Hospital in Tulsa with 30 years of experience helping children and families navigate medical trauma. Specializing in the psychosocial and developmental needs of hospitalized children, Kelly uses that expertise to give patients healthy coping mechanisms to overcome adverse medical events.

“I want people to take away, you know, gender-affirming care should be a standard practice,” said Kemp. 

Kelly Kemp

Kemp didn’t always accept her LGBTQ family. As her understanding and acceptance grow, she still keeps the faith. Kemp is an Evangelical Christian and a living example that parents do not ever have to pick between their faith and their children. They can have both. 

A shared love of faith is one way Hall and Kemp bonded when they first met. For panelist, Dr. Al Carlozzi, faith is also an important part of his motivation to address health care for transgender youth.. 

Dr. Carlozzi moved to Tulsa decades ago. He is a professor emeritus at Oklahoma State University(OSU) and a licensed psychologist and marital and family therapist. Through forty years of service, he held numerous leadership positions at the university. In addition, for the last ten years, has also led a support group at Tulsa’s Dennis R. Neill Equality Center group for parents to share their experiences in discovering that their child was transgender and learned how to share their stories at school and church.

“I got to see parents make a literal transformation,” said Carlozzi. He watched parents turn from “anxious and scared” to becoming “staunch advocates” for their kids. 

That’s exactly what Dr. Carlozzi wants to bring to the panel: an “increased understanding, compassion, and maybe increase the number of allies and advocates that we have out there to make a difference in the quality of life for trans persons and their families.”

Al Carlozzi

To Carlozzi’s point, Hall hopes that people walk from the panel with an increased understanding of God too. “I think God is concerned with our hearts. And if our heart is good, and we live fruitful, healthy lives, and that’s what he cares about,” Hall said. 

The panel will have security measures in place to make sure that panelists and attendees are safe. The chat function will be disabled during the panel discussion. Therefore, attendees and the press will have the opportunity to ask questions ahead of the panel for the Q&A. 

Please register for the panel below: