Gay Nurses Alliance

Pre-history and founding

In 1972, a panel discussion on homosexuality at the American Nurses Association (ANA) convention drew an audience of 2500. The panel focused on overcoming stigma against lesbian and gay patients and nurses, with speakers including two gay nurses and a sociologist. Following that convention, E. Carolyn Innes and G. David Waldron co-founded the Gay Nurses Alliance (GNA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in August 1973. Innes, who had volunteered for the lesbian publication The Ladder in the 1950s and organized the first gay pride parade in Philadelphia in 1972 with Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin, approached Waldron with the idea of establishing a gay caucus within the ANA, encouraged by her mentor Barbara Gittings.

Growth and response

In the fall of 1973, members of the Gay Nurses Alliance delivered a presentation titled "Gay People/Straight Health Care" at the Pennsylvania Nurses Association conference. Even though the group was not officially recognized by the association or the event, the talk was so warmly received that they gave it again the next morning to another full room. The following year, Dr. Howard J. Brown, a notable figure in LGBT health, wrote to the American Journal of Nursing calling the GNA "a beacon of hope to homosexuals."

The organization set up chapters in Boston and New York City. Money from chapter dues and personal funds allowed Innes and Waldron to travel to the American Nurses Association Convention in San Francisco. The group also took on many speaking engagements, using a slide show made by member Jeri Dilno, who also designed the GNA button and worked as the photographer and graphic designer for the group's newsletter, THE SIGNAL. Other important members included Tony Amadeo, who led the Pennsylvania caucus, and Bob Simco, the business manager.

The GNA worked with other organizations, such as a 1975 Boston conference on women and health that drew 1,500 people. In 1977, the Alliance held its first annual conference, and co-founder G. David Waldron was named to the ANA's Commission on Human Rights. By 1978, with too few members actively involved, president John C. Lawrence and secretary Bob Miller considered shutting down the group unless others stepped up. The Gay Nurses Alliance dissolved by the early 1980s.

Did You Know?

• The GNA's first presentation, 'Gay People/Straight Health Care,' was so popular at the Pennsylvania Nurses Association conference in October 1973 that it was repeated the next morning to another packed room.
• Dr. Howard J. Brown, a pioneer of LGBT health, praised the GNA in a 1974 letter to the American Journal of Nursing as 'a beacon of hope to homosexuals.'