Death is never an easy process and planning for end of life or death care for loved ones can be a difficult experience.
For some members of the LGBTQIA+ community, it's even more daunting.
For many trans people, proper recognition at their funeral or celebration of life can be a real concern. Especially when families of the individual who don’t acknowledge their identity are in charge of their death care.
Issues can arise in these situations, including deadnaming and dressing the person in the wrong clothing.
That’s why an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati and a graduate of the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science are seeking more inclusive death care for members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
UC professor Jennifer Wright-Berryman and former mortuary science student Kat Vancil-Coleman created the Equal Deathcare database for members of the LGBTQIA+ community to find inclusive and affirming end-of-life and death care.
The site was initially inspired by an inclusivity study she conducted of over 90 randomly selected funeral homes, Wright-Berryman said.
It amassed a collection of funeral homes across the U.S. and analyzed if they have presented any language, symbols, imagery or LGBTQIA+-friendly collaborations.
“We were surprised, and not surprised at the same time, to find that none of the websites, no matter where they were from, demonstrated any inclusivity,” she said.
So she dug deeper, trying to find providers that offer trustworthy death care for these communities.
“So we want to narrow the gap and bring that information to the community so that they do not have to cold call funeral homes and say, ‘I'm a trans person or -- we're a gay couple, you know, or we're a lesbian couple and we're looking to prearranged our death care,'” she said.
Funding for the project was initially provided over three and a half years ago through a $15,000 UC Pivot Grant. Wright-Berryman said the money was divided amongst three separate projects she was working on through her research into the mental health and suicide sphere.
“I wanted to learn more about the death care system as a suicideologist," she said. "And when I started doing this research, I found that LGBTQIA voices were not involved in these conversations. So that started this trajectory.”
She later came in contact with Vancil-Coleman through a professor at the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. Vancil-Coleman now lives in New York and works as a licensed funeral director and embalmer.
“We were just so passionate about this work and we're like, ‘We have to do something. We have to get this word out and we have to start teaching people.’ Twofold: how individuals can protect themselves and then how death care professionals can really serve this community,” Vancil-Coleman said.
With their combined backgrounds in death care and suicide research, the pair got to work doing just that.
They soft-launched the Equal Deathcare database in June of 2024 and it has already started to grow and reach more audiences.
“I have had a few funeral directors reach out to ask for advice," Vancil-Coleman said. "I had somebody in New Jersey reach out several months ago saying, ‘Hey, I'm meeting with the family of a trans person, you know, tomorrow and I want to make sure I do everything right.’”
Since its launch, more calls have continued to come in. Vancil-Coleman said a recent blog post on Funeral Director Daily brought more engagement to their website.
“We had over 200 hits on the website yesterday, and a couple different people reached out," she said. "So it's growing, and it took a while to build. Any kind of grassroots movement, right, takes a while to build. But it's getting there, and we're doing more and more.”
Columbus-native Eileen Galvin is a board member of Equality Ohio, a statewide LGBT advocacy and legal organization. Galvin said she came in contact with Vancil-Coleman through mutual friends.
“First and foremost, I'm trans identified. I'm a trans woman. And so especially now, but through many phases of my life, navigating systems has been a little challenging," she said. "And so this is not an area that I had given much thought to, were it not for my friendship with Kat.”
The Equal Deathcare project stuck with her on a personal level and she said the site has been made even more inclusive by offering resources on other forms of death care and queer-friendly providers.
“I appreciate that it gives a more holistic view as well," Galvin said. "Their resources page doesn't have to do only with Funeral homes and legal documents and things like that, but it also provides other services like death doulas and counseling.”
According to Wright-Berryman, they have even more plans for expanding services through Equal Deathcare. She said they hope to work directly with providers going forward to better train them on inclusive practices.
“With over 18,000 funeral homes, there's quite a bit of work to do," she said. "It is a slow industry to change — so that ground level work is still on our agenda to be able to do this outreach at the funeral home level.”
As the site continues to grow and develop, Vancil-Coleman said she looks forward to working on finding other funding pathways that remove the financial burden on Wright-Berryman and herself.
“We're working on moving it into an LLC and then going through the channels to become a proper nonprofit. That's kind of a slow process," she said. "And we're a team of two people. So, we work on things when we can.”
As it stands now, the site already offers something that no one else has ventured to provide before. Galvin said she looks forward to seeing it grow as it eases the stress of planning for death care in the LGBTQIA+ community.
“It's definitely been a great single resource that would save me a lot of my own time researching," she said. "And I think it also saves on the emotional burden, quite honestly.”
