Philadelphia Family Pride
Title: Paths to Parenthood: Family Planning in the LGBTQ+ Community
Student Interns:
Andrew Thayer
University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine
Academic Preceptor:
Abby Quinn Peterson, DMD, MPH
University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine
Elizabeth Powell, DDS, MPH
University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine
Community Preceptor:
Michael R. Galvan, MS
Philadelphia Family Pride
Community Site:
Philadelphia Family Pride is the Greater Philadelphia region’s premier nonprofit organization dedicated to building community and supporting LGBTQ+ parents, aspiring parents, and families through educational programming, resource distribution, and advocacy.
Team’s Experience:
The Bridging the Gaps student intern focused on planning, organizing, and facilitating Philadelphia Family Pride’s annual Paths to Parenthood lecture series on LGBTQ+ family planning. This signature educational program is designed to guide and empower LGBTQ+ individuals and couples on their journey to starting their own families. This year, the course consisted of seven sessions and provided information on financial planning, legal considerations, choosing a sperm donor, achieving pregnancy with donated sperm, adopting, fostering, developing one’s parental identity, single parenting by choice, and more. The intern was responsible for the overall logistical coordination of the program, including philanthropic development via the procurement of sponsorships, curriculum planning, speaker recruitment and scheduling, management of social media campaigns and press releases, and community outreach.
Reflections
“As a dental student committed to engaging my community to address systemic inequalities in oral healthcare, interning with Philadelphia Family Pride was transformative. Working on the Paths to Parenthood course gave me firsthand experience in the kinds of community-driven organizing I hope to integrate into my practice throughout my dental career. I learned how to navigate the administrative and logistical work required to plan, coordinate, and execute public-facing programs. More importantly, I witnessed LGBTQ+ families come together to identify their own needs and create spaces of mutual aid and advocacy. Having done so, I now feel a renewed sense of purpose in using my role as a dental professional to make healthcare more equitable.”
Andrew Thayer