Health

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Coronavirus Pandemic Strains LGBTQ Health Clinics

Lyon-Martin Health Services in San Francisco has served the health needs of lesbians, transgender women and other underserved women in the Bay Area since 1979. Named after pioneering lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, the clinic had until recently been seeing 3,000 patients a year for such needs as physical exams, gynecologic services and consultations for gender-affirming surgeries. Now, however, it is fighting to keep its doors open amid the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to emergency funding from the city and private donors, it will be able to operate until July 1 without deep cuts to its services — which […]

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Scientist who Debunked Myth Homosexuality is ‘Curable’ Dies

Dr Richard Friedman, the psychoanalyst responsible for debunking the myth that homosexuality can be cured, has sadly passed away at the age of 79. As a young man Friedman stood out in his field by becoming the first to combine findings in psychobiology, gender identity and family studies with psychoanalytic theory. His revolutionary 1988 book, ‘Male Homosexuality: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspective,’ showed that sexual orientation was largely biological, not mental. It had a major impact at a time when most other psychoanalysts were continuing to describe homosexuality as a “perversion”, even though the American Psychiatric Association had stopped classifying it as an illness […]

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HHS To Scrap Medical Protections For LGBT Patients

Politico reports: The Trump administration is moving to scrap an Obama-era policy that protected LGBTQ patients from discrimination, alarming health experts who warn that the regulatory rollback could harm vulnerable people during a pandemic. The health department is close to finalizing its long-developing rewrite of Obamacare’s Section 1557 provision, which barred health care discrimination based on sex and gender identity. The administration’s final rule on Thursday was circulated at the Justice Department, a step toward publicly releasing the regulation in the coming days, said two people with knowledge of the pending rule. The White House on Friday morning also updated a […]

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CDC Director Warns Americans Of Potential Second Wave Of Coronavirus This Winter

The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that a potential second wave of the novel coronavirus could be far more fatal than the current phase of the pandemic because it may overlap with the beginning of flu season this winter. Government leaders at all levels must use the months ahead to prepare for such a resurgence even as some states announce plans to resurrect their economies, CDC Director Robert Redfield told The Washington Post in a wide-ranging interview published Tuesday. “There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will […]

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Gay Men Unable to Donate Blood and Plasma despite New FDA Guidelines

After the Food and Drug Administration changed the rules for blood donations from gay and bisexual men earlier this month, coronavirus survivor Lukus Estok saw an opportunity to help other patients recover from the disease. For years, the FDA has restricted men who have had sex with men in the preceding year from donating blood, but loosened its rules on April 2 as a way to address a sharp drop in donors during the coronavirus outbreak. Within days, Estok tried to donate blood plasma for a test program in New York City that treats severely ill COVID-19 patients with plasma from patients who have developed antibodies […]

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FDA Eases Ban on Gay Blood Donations amid Coronavirus Crisis

Faced with tremendous pressure during the coronavirus crisis to lift its policy barring gay men from donating blood, the Food & Drug Administration announced on Thursday it has eased the restrictions. While the previous policy, established in 2015, barred men who have had sex with men in the 12 months from making a donation, the new policy would shorten the deferral period, requiring abstinence for only three months. The FDA indicated it would make a change in a notice to stakeholders on Thursday, indicating the decision was based on “evaluation of the totality of the scientific evidence available.” “To help […]

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Burning or Pain when you Pee? It Might be the STI Mycoplasma Genitalium

Without causing alarm, we’d like you to know about a sexually transmitted infection (STI) you probably haven’t heard about but that we’re seeing in people who visit our sexual health clinic Magnet at San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Although the infection Mycoplasma genitalium itself isn’t new, awareness about and testing for this infection is recently on our radar. Here’s what to know.   What is Mycoplasma Genitalium?   Mycoplasma genitalium (we’ll shorten it to MG) is a bacterial infection that can cause symptoms similar to chlamydia. You can get an MG infection in your urethra (penis), vagina and front hole, rectum (butt), and likely in […]

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Queer and Sober: New Options Arise for Those Seeking Booze-free Fun

Arielle Clark, 28, grew up in a sober household in Louisville, Kentucky, and was never drawn to alcohol. But when as a teenager she began her process of coming out, alcohol suddenly became ubiquitous in her social life. “When I was growing up and I was kind of figuring out my sexuality, all of a sudden I was inundated with alcohol,” Clark told NBC News. Going to Kentuckiana Pride, her home state’s largest gay pride celebration, at 16 was Clark’s “LGBT puberty” moment, she said. While she witnessed the heavy presence of alcohol at the event, she felt accepted. Her next […]

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Got an STI? Anonymously Tell Sex Partners to Get Tested

A new tool makes it even easier to let your sex partners know—anonymously—that they may have been exposed to a treatable sexually transmitted infection (STI) and that they might want to get tested.  The free service, Tell Your Partner, is a fast, secure, easy-to-use notification system that doesn’t require you to share any of your personal information. Simply add phone numbers or email addresses for partners you’d like to notify and enter the infection(s) your partner(s) should get tested for. After you preview a sample message and confirm you’re not a robot, hit send. How Tell Your Partner Works  Many people keep […]

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Sexual Abuse Against Gay and Bi Men Brings Unique Stigma and Harm

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As trauma psychologists, we’re leading a team to help alleviate psychiatric distress in gay, bi and trans males who have been sexually abused or assaulted. In collaboration with two nonprofit organisations, MaleSurvivor and Men Healing, we recruited and trained 20 men who have experienced sexual abuse to deliver evidence-based online mental health interventions for sexual and gender minority males – an umbrella term for individuals whose sexual identity, orientation or practices differ from the majority of society. This study should help men in this group who have been sexually assaulted know that they are not alone, that they are not to blame for their abuse, and that […]

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