In honor of Pride Month, throughout June the NATA Now blog will highlight NATA’s LGBTQIA+ resources to assist members in their pursuit of providing compassionate, culturally competent patient care to all.

In honor of Pride Month, throughout June the NATA Now blog will highlight NATA’s LGBTQIA+ resources to assist members in their pursuit of providing compassionate, culturally competent patient care to all.

To provide the highest quality of care to all patients, athletic trainers must also self-reflect and educate themselves on the LGBTQIA+ community. Patient identity and sexual orientation can influence not only their health and well-being, but the patient-AT relationship as well.

In honor of Pride Month, throughout June the NATA Now blog will highlight NATA’s LGBTQIA+ resources to assist members in their pursuit of providing compassionate, culturally competent patient care to all.

In order to provide the best quality of care for patients, athletic trainers must be culturally competent. This means it is an AT’s duty to educate themselves on the diverse patient population they will come in contact with.

Note: In August 2022, NATA released an updated statement on gender-affirming care. Please read the most up-to-date version here.

Several states have initiated and/or passed legislation that affects health care for transgender youth in sport. Given that transgender individuals suffer behavioral health issues at a higher rate than their cisgender peers, it is imperative that athletic trainers (ATs) are cognizant of how these laws affect the well-being of their transgender patient population.1-3

Over the past several months, the NATA Board of Directors, along with at-large appointments from the NATA Ethnic Diversity Advisory Committee, has worked with a DEI consultant in association management to develop and align around organizational commitments. These guiding principles provide a foundation for enhanced infusion of diversity, equity, inclusion and access throughout our organization.

The March NATA News features an article about women in leadership and how to address barriers and challenges to becoming a leader. In honor of Women’s History Month this March, NATA would like to keep this conversation going through a monthlong blog series highlighting our female leaders. Each blog will feature a different NATA council or committee chair, who will share insights into their leadership journey and what they’ve learned along the way.

The 2021 recipients of the LGBTQ+ Award for Inclusive Excellence are Patricia Aronson, PhD, LAT, ATC, and Lindsy McLean, AT Ret.