MPH

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The case for ‘strategic visibility’ this Pride

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On a Sunday afternoon, after a five-mile run from the Upper West Side down to the West Village, I met up with an old friend at a small corner café. Back in college when we met, 2014 “Tipping Point” still felt like a promise to so many, including women like us, as though visibility, once attained, could only move in one direction, never to go back. She greeted me with the kind of smile you only get from someone who has known you a long time, who has witnessed the good years and the frightening ones both. We did the easy part […]

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Attacks on abortion and gender-affirming care are inextricably linked

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What does a person seeking abortion care have in common with a young trans person seeking gender-affirming care? More than most people think. The campaign to restrict gender-affirming care follows a well-worn and ultimately successful playbook designed by anti-abortion advocates. That success has emboldened them to target intersecting issues and groups who face the steepest barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health care, like young people.  Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. Now, the movements to restrict gender-affirming care and abortion care are evolving together […]

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Drug resistance and Doxy PEP: Should we worry?

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In late 2022, the San Francisco Department of Public Health and San Francisco AIDS Foundation began recommending an STI prevention strategy called “Doxy PEP” to certain groups of people who may be at risk for STIs. The strategy involves taking the antibiotic doxycycline after sex in order to prevent bacterial STIs including chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea from being acquired.  Since we made this recommendation, we’ve received some questions from community members about how this approach may contribute to drug resistance–and if that’s a concern for people to be aware of before beginning Doxy PEP. Here are my thoughts on Doxy […]