Lehigh Valley With Love
October 5th, 2020
On this week’s episode, I talk to Adrian Shanker, Founder and Executive Director of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. We talk about the upcoming book he edited and contributed to, “Bodies and Barriers: Queer Activists on Health” which tackles the pervasive health issues queer people experience throughout their lives through artfully articulated, data-informed essays by twenty-six activists.
“Bodies and Barriers” has been named by NBC News as one of “10 LGBTQ books to watch out for in 2020” and includes a foreword by Rachel L. Levine, M.D., currently the Pennsylvania Secretary of Health, and an afterword by Kate Kendell who, for 24 years, led National Center for Lesbian Rights as their Executive Director.
There’s a lot to listen to here, so , let’s get started…
Adrian Shanker is an award-winning activist and organizer whose career has centered on advancing progress for the LGBT community. He has worked as an arts fundraiser, labor organizer, marketing manager, and served as President of Equality Pennsylvania for three years before founding Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown, PA, where he serves as executive director. An accomplished organizer, Adrian has led numerous successful campaigns to advance LGBT progress through municipal nondiscrimination and relationship recognition laws and laws to protect LGBT youth from conversion therapy. A specialist in LGBT health policy, he has developed leading-edge health promotion campaigns to advance health equity through behavioral, clinical, and policy changes.
