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“Advocacy is something that was modeled and fostered in me as a child … standing up for fairness and justice.”

This LGBTQ+ Pride Month, learn more about Dwan Love-Dinkens, who’s also marking her one-year anniversary this month as a UVA Health team member.

Cultivating Healthy Communities and Belonging For All

Dwan Love-Dinkens was born in Philadelphia — the City of Brotherly Love. But as a then-U.S. Navy dependent, over the course of two decades, she moved with her family often — from California to Maryland to Tennessee to Guam — and back to Philadelphia.

Her mother Jacqueline, maternal grandmother Thelma, and paternal great-grandmother Mozetta — all of whom she hails as “strong, bright, beautiful, intelligent” — were/are her role models. Growing up, Love-Dinkens had a wide range of career aspirations — from vet, to artist, to historian, to interior designer. But it was her role models’ dedication to making their communities a better place that had the greatest influence. “Advocacy is something that was modeled and fostered in me as a child — especially by my mother — when it comes to standing up for fairness and justice,” she remembers.

As a teen, Love-Dinkens became very involved in environmental activism and neighborhood safety. And after coming out, she wanted to find ways to become a part of the community, so she began volunteering at the William Way LGBT Community Center’s Women’s Group, hosting events, and volunteering at Philly Pride and more.

‘Live Out Loud’

Love-Dinkens then joined the University of North Florida, majoring in psychology and minoring in social welfare, aiming to become a counselor to help people in her community. She stayed in Jacksonville for 14 years and now regards it as her hometown — “where I truly feel this current chapter of my life began,” she explains.

Through a social work class group project, Love-Dinkens became involved with UNF’s LGBTQ Center. “After that, my work as an LGBTQ+ advocate became my focus,” she recalls. 

Love-Dinkens volunteered with a local LGBTQ+ youth organization, Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network (JASMYN), and for the Human Rights Campaign, making calls to help raise awareness of the expansion of the human rights ordinance to include LGBT people in Jacksonville. Upon graduation, Love-Dinkens joined the Jacksonville Coalition for Equality as a field organizer, helping to continue that fight. The ordinance was expanded.

She then briefly worked for Equality Florida before rejoining the UNF LGBTQ Center as program coordinator. “Working with LGBTQ+ youth/young adults is one of my passions and one of the highlights of this journey so far,” she declares.

“LGBTQ+ Pride means so many things to me,” Love-Dinkens describes. “It is a time of celebration and pure queer joy! It is also a time of reflection and appreciation for those who don’t or can’t be safely out, those who have died from violence and sickness, for those who have laid the foundation of blood, sweat, and tears to allow me to live in unity, to live out loud. It is also a time of hope for the future of the LGBTQIAAPP2+ community.”

‘Speak Their Truth’

As an educator, Love-Dinkens always encourages allies to educate themselves on terminology, pronouns, and their importance — and the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. “Taking that opportunity to learn on your own helps to create a sense of understanding and acceptance for the queer* community,” she shares. “Listen and give space to those who are openly LGBTQ+ to speak their truth. And stand up for the LGBTQ+ community when disparaging things are said —whether or not a queer person is present.”

‘Of Service’

In her current role as UVA School of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program manager and events coordinator — Love-Dinkens supports Ashley Woodard, EdD, MS, in programming for the Summer Medical Leadership Program (SMLP), Student Affinity Groups, and any events hosted by the office. 

“Meeting some of these future physicians and researchers for the past year has been a joy!” Love-Dinkens says. “To see how dedicated they are to being of service to their communities and society as a whole is inspiring and I am grateful to be in their presence.”

She feels diversity, equity, and inclusion play a tremendous role in their work because it allows them to understand their patient’s intersectionality and social determinants of health. “Each person they encounter is more than their illness or condition; they are individuals who need an understanding physician who is culturally competent and aware of how to best assist them in their time of need appropriately. I think it extends past the patient — to their loved ones and those physicians' future colleagues and students.”

Love-Dinkens also supports Melody Pannell, PhD, MSW, M.Div., in programming, training, events, and committee leadership for the UVA Health Office of Diversity and Community Engagement. And she works a Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion (JEDI) administration support and now collaborates on the handling of HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index with Tonya Fredericks, MBA, UVA Cancer Center Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Bizz Glover, Med, CPHRM, University Medical Center Clinical Risk Manager and Co-Chair, UVA Health LGBTQ and Transgender Advisory Committee.

‘Ever Evolving’

“There are so many resources online that are available to learn more,” says Love-Dinkens. “I am available to help with questions or finding resources and I am open to learning more resources as well. Terminology is constantly updating because language is ever evolving and can be overwhelming — but in the long run, it helps and shows you care about being informed especially for the transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming community.” 

*Love-Dinkens uses queer interchangeably with LGBTQIA+ and LGBTQ+.