Touro University Rainbow Health Coalition (RHC) is a group of students, faculty, and staff who promote

health equity Health equity arises from access to the social determinants of health, specifically from wealth, power and prestige. Individuals who have consistently been deprived of these three determinants are significantly disadvantaged from health inequitie ...

for

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

, and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

(

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

) people at

Touro University California Touro University California is a private graduate school focused primarily on health professions and located on Mare Island in Vallejo, California. It is part of the Touro College and University System and is jointly administered with its sis ...

. The group was formally recognized by the Student Government of Touro in September 2002 as the Touro University Gay-Straight Alliance (TUGSA) and has been a University sanctioned club since that time, with the exception of 4 days in September of 2006. In 2012, the organization changed its name to the Rainbow Health Coalition. The new name was chosen to better convey the group's focus.

History

In September 2006, the charter of the Touro University Gay-Straight Alliance was revoked by the administration of Touro University. After 5 years of funding and recognition, the group was told their budget would be de-funded. The school cited "inconsistencies between the group's mission and Jewish law.". On September 11, 2006, students, faculty and staff of Touro University protested the revocation of the TUGSA charter. They were joined by representatives from the

American Medical Student Association The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), founded in 1950 and based in Washington, D.C., is an independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States. AMSA is a student-governed national organization.They have a membership ...

, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and two members of the Vallejo City Council. In a letter written to Touro University dated September 11, 2006, Stephanie Gomes and Gary Cloutier of the Vallejo City Council stated "The fact that Touro has elected to deny the gay student group recognition under a publicly stated rationale that is transparently discriminatory and based on a tired cliché will make supporting future Touro initiatives highly problematic." The

San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco. Government and politics The City and County of San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a c ...

adopted an agenda item urging Touro to reconsider its actions. Under pressure from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the Vallejo City Council, the

Gay and Lesbian Medical Association GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality (GLMA) is an international organization of approximately 1,000 LGBT healthcare professionals and students of all disciplines. Its members include physicians, advanced practice nurses, physician ...

, and the

the school quickly reversed its decision and restored the group's funding. After four days of protest, Touro University provost Harvey Kaye stated that the LGBT student group's charter had not been revoked. In a letter to the Vallejo City Council dated September 11, 2006, he stated, "In my capacity as provost, I apologize on behalf of the university that this controversy has arisen, and trust that my letter will lay this matter to rest." In May 2008, Michael Harter, Ph.D., senior provost and CEO for Touro University said the executive team at the university never took any action to rescind funding for the gay-straight alliance and was not in agreement with the comments made by the university administrator at the student government meeting. This is the second major incidence of a Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender student group being banned from a United States (U.S.) medical school. The first occurred at

New York Medical College New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System. NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the School o ...

(NYMC) in

Valhalla, New York Valhalla is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the New York City metropolitan area. Its population was 3,162 at the 2010 U.S. Census. The name was in ...

in Fall 2004. The situation garnered national media attention in the U.S. The

and the

spearheaded a campaign to raise awareness of the issue. NYMC came under an immense pressure from the

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

government, as well as other academic institutions with which it had affiliations, including

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pac ...

Law School. The Student Government association of NYMC, the faculty Senate, and the American Medical Student Association all also passed resolutions in support of the Gay and Lesbian student group. After a year of focused pressure, the school restored funding to the group.

References

External links

Gay-Lesbian Medical Association

Touro College

Official Touro University Gay Straight Alliance Website
{{LGBT , history=yes , culture=yes , rights=yes LGBT political advocacy groups in California LGBT youth organizations based in the United States LGBT health organizations in the United States LGBT student organizations LGBT culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 2002 establishments in California LGBT and Judaism Vallejo, California Organizations established in 2002 Medical and health organizations based in California Touro University System Mare Island