On Wednesday, the UC Riverside School of Medicine hosted a Lunch and Learn event in honor of Pride Month. The annual monthlong observation in June commemorates the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and more) community’s ongoing efforts to attain equal rights and recognizes LGBTQ+ individuals’ impact.
Over 50 people attended the SOM event, which featured a lecture by Lisa Fortuna, MD, MPH, MDiv, professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences.
Fortuna’s talk, “Faith, Acceptance, and Mental Health: Working with Religiously and Culturally Diverse Families of LGBTQ Youth,” focused on helping young LGBTQ people and their families navigate faith and identity while supporting mental health and preserving family ties.
As an ordained minister and psychiatrist, Fortuna shared her experience working with one young patient, "Sammy," who felt shame, depression, and spiritual conflict after his sister told their parents that he was gay. Sammy’s family, Fortuna explained, loved him but were also fearful of their own rejection within the church and the possibility of eternal separation based on their religious beliefs. “I'm not about changing where people are going, but walking with them and seeing where they are and what they need,” Fortuna recalled. “It really took a lot of work to think about how to keep this young man continually feeling all those important things, deeply connected to God, and deeply connected to a community.”
Acknowledging that different religions have different values, Fortuna offered strategies for clinicians to use to help reconcile faith with acceptance. She recommended that clinicians ask questions including where LGBTQ+ youth feel emotionally safe and whether their faith has been supportive, harmful, or both. She also highlighted research and recommendations from the Family Acceptance Project suggesting that families that practice accepting behaviors, such as listening with respect and supporting their child’s journey, can improve resilience and self-esteem and reduce suicidality among LGBTQ+ youth.
In response to an audience question about families that may still have difficulty accepting their child’s identity, Fortuna suggested asking: “What do you most desire for your child?” Parents, she said, often reply that they want them to be happy and not to suffer. “That introduces them to start talking to match those good intentions to non-rejecting and protective actions, and… that opens up the conversation,” she said.
While there are complicated questions around religion and sexual and gender identity, “Families do not need perfect certainty… to provide love,” Fortuna said. “When we talk to families about even small accepting behaviors like saying ‘I love you,’ regardless of what we're trying to grapple with… it can lower suicide risk.”
UCR alumnus Mason Chow attended the event to better understand struggles faced by queer individuals, particularly those with intersectional identities. The 2025 graduate, who identifies as transgender, is currently doing research at UCR while working on medical school applications. “I have friends who live in other states who cannot safely transition because of their religious identities or family situations,” Chow said. “It's really hard to even start this journey and start these conversations, so I'm glad that it's becoming more openly talked about as a topic.”
The Lunch and Learn was the latest in a series of public events hosted by the UCR SOM Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
“Our Lunch and Learns are opportunities to learn from the expertise and lived experiences within our own community, building shared understanding and bringing greater visibility to critical health equity issues,” said Angeline Vanle, assistant program director of DEI. “By learning from each other, we are taking a step towards more informed and equitable healthcare.”
