Finding His Voice as an Advocate Jonathan Wetherbee ’08 Photo by John Schlia
T
he rough blueprint Jonathan Wetherbee ’08 had for coming out included waiting until he had his own apartment and a stable job. But he also discovered that he needed a little inspiration. He found it at the School of Nursing. When he began working full time as an administrative assistant in 2008, Wetherbee had confided only in one of his friends that he was gay. But his daily interactions at the Center for Nursing Entrepreneurship with two nurses who were out and living very public lives helped embolden Wetherbee to do the same. “They really empowered me – both professionally and personally – and it was a real life-changer for me. The rest of the school was so accepting of them, and so welcoming of them. It just made it so much easier for me when I did come out,” said Wetherbee, who also credits Professor Mary Dombeck, PhD, DMin, APRN, with spearheading an open dialogue within the school about diversity, including issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity. “I don’t know if I would have come out when I did if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew I was safe at work. That makes an enormous difference.” Having felt the warmth of a fire he hadn’t built, Wetherbee jumped at the opportunity when a spot opened on the school’s Council for Diversity and Inclusiveness (CoDI). A role in the council would be a perfect way for him to help shape the culture of the school going forward in an attempt to ensure that other members of the community feel just as accepted as he did. “I felt like I had been given this gift, and that I should repay it in some way,” said Wetherbee, who in 2018 received the University of Rochester Presidential Diversity Award for his exemplary leadership and contributions to fostering a campus culture of diversity and inclusion. “And everything kind of snowballed from there.”
In the past six years, Wetherbee has emerged as one of the University’s most passionate and eloquent advocates for a more welcoming and accepting campus community. He not only serves the School of Nursing as co-chair of the CoDI, but he was the first person to take on the role of staff diversity officer, a position now being implemented in units throughout the University. As co-chair of the University’s Pride Alliance, Wetherbee helps to lead and direct a group of employees dedicated to promoting a positive work environment that values and supports individuals regardless of their sexual orientation or gender expression. He is also a Safe Space training coordinator and helps to educate faculty, students, and staff while providing visible support and an identifiable network of allies for the LGBT community. Wetherbee is also a member of the University of Rochester Medical Center Executive Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. And he is on the speakers’ bureau for Rochester’s Out Alliance, which he was introduced to by his husband, Matthew. Through his involvement on campus, Wetherbee has cultivated an even greater appreciation for diversity in all of its forms, whether it’s advocating for racial justice or helping to organize workshops to discuss spirituality in the workplace. “I’m not just expected to focus on LGBT stuff because I’m a member of the community, I also get to be involved in activism around racial justice or racial equity. I have been able to do things to improve the situation for people with disabilities or who consider themselves differently-abled,” Wetherbee said. “There’s such a broad definition of diversity and inclusion here that I don’t have outside of this work that’s really refreshing for me, because it’s something that I’ve found that I’m very passionate about.”
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