The National Healthy Masculinity Conversation Series

 
 
 

Conversation #8

“Healthy Masculinity and the LGBTQ+ Community”

The eighth conversation featured:

  • Addison Moore, After School Programs Manager, SMYAL

  • Connor Hegel, LGBTQ Services Navigator, SMYAL

  • Greerlin Thomas, Program Manager, Training and Technical Assistance, MCSR

CONVERSATION TOPIC: At MCSR we believe that reshaping the way men understand masculinity can have profound impacts on every facet of society. This conversation will explore the ways our public health approach, along with theories of masculinity, can inform dominant stories and counter stories around sexuality and identity, particularly for men within the LGBTQ+ community. This conversation will also emphasize the importance of story-telling in an effort to engage the LGBTQ+ community as well as other communities.

 
 

CONVERSATIONALISTS’ BIOS: 

Addison Moore is a black non-binary youth (they/them pronouns) originally from Georgia who has always had a passion for activism and youth leadership. They have been on multiple youth council’s from National GSA, to SMYAL, and the Washington Area Women’s Foundation Young Women’s Advisory Council.  They currently work at SMYAL as the Drop In Programs Manager and a member of the National Young Women’s Advisory Council. 

Connor Hegel  is a queer, trans man who has been working with LGBTQ youth for almost a decade.  He spent over eight years working with homeless LGBTQ youth at the Ali Forney Center in New York City, before relocating to the DMV about three years ago.  He's been working with SMYAL for eight months as the LGBTQ Service Navigator for MoCo Reconnect, an education and employment program for youth 16-24 in Montgomery County, MD.  When not working, he enjoys camping, cooking, and spoiling his dog. 

Greerlin Thomas is a program manager for MCSR’s Training and Technical Assistance Department. For more than a decade, he has served MCSR in multiple ways, such as facilitating MCSR’s award-winning Men of Strength Clubs at the middle school, high school, and university levels, conducting trainings across the country, and developing new training and curriculum sessions. Greerlin has extensive experience providing federal training and technical assistance (TTA) to federal grantees in the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Campus Program and the Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health (OWH) Campus Sexual Assault Policy and Prevention (CSAPP) Initiative. Fulfilling MCSR’s role as the Engaging Men TA Provider for the OVW Campus Program, he provided expert training and guidance to more than 150 college campus grantees from across the country, from community colleges to liberal arts schools to faith-based institutions to historically black universities and colleges to small and large state schools. He also created training materials for campus grantees to use in efforts to more effectively engage LGBTQ campus men in primary prevention with measurable outcomes. He is a co-author of a study about MCSR’s OWH DMV CSAPP initiative that will appear in Health Education & Behavior. His M.A. is from American University.