In this episode, we speak with University of Cincinnati professor of social work Jennifer Wright-Berryman, a seasoned mental health and suicide prevention researcher with a long-standing commitment to improving understanding of the death-care experience for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. During her extensive research, she discovered a scarcity of resources and support specifically directed towards LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Her efforts include analyzing the websites of funeral homes to identify those that had explicit signaling that they welcomed LGBTQIA+ individuals. Based on that work, Wright Berryman and her colleagues are developing a website that evaluates funeral homes and lists those that are LGBTQIA+ friendly.

Their work aims to ensure everyone has access to dignified and inclusive death care services without fear of discrimination. In this episode, we discuss the recently launched website, EqualDeathCare.org, and the scope of this project, which includes a directory of verified LGBTQIA+ friendly funeral homes. https://www.equaldeathcare.org

Selected quotes from the episode

Educating Funeral Homes: They say, ‘I never thought that I would need to put something on my funeral home website that signaled, whether it be a little pride flag or a graphic of a same-sex couple holding hands.’ They’ve never really given much thought to the fact that not signaling could mean that someone may not walk in your front door because they fear discrimination.

Rising Mortician Classes: This new cohort of mortuary science students that are coming up are going to be savvy with technology. They’re going to be savvy with their values envisioned around who their customers can be and who their customers are.

Inclusive Partnerships: If you’re not listed (on the directory), that means that either A. we haven’t found you yet (and please reach out to us because we would be happy to have a discussion about putting you on the website), or B. your website isn’t clear enough.

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