Introducing Gerry Coon

August 6, 2015

By Gerry Coon, PhD, President & CEO

It is an honor to begin serving as the new President & CEO of Diverse & Resilient, an agency I have long admired.  I pursued this position because I believe that our mission to promote the healthy development of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Wisconsin is critical and positively impacts the entire community.

Through hard work and perseverance, the LGBTQ community and our allies have created a better world for many of us to grow up in, live in, love in, and grow old in.  At the same time, we must strive to ensure full equality for the entire LGBTQ community and to join with those in our LGBTQ family who have not benefited from our gains equally – we still have much work to do.

Our adversaries are attempting to roll back the gains we have made by using all the means at their disposal.  While there is no denying that we face significant challenges to live healthy lives freely, safely, and with the dignity and respect we deserve, I believe that our opportunities outweigh our challenges.

Diverse & Resilient has a 20-year history of using research and evidence-based practices to do what is good and right in supporting the Wisconsin LGBTQ community.  I love this community and I am at Diverse & Resilient because we have the opportunity and capacity to do so much more.  Please join me, Diverse & Resilient, and our LGBTQ friends, organizations, and allies who are in the trenches every day creating a future of equal health and equal citizenship – for all of us.