A sweeping federal campaign to curb gender-affirming care for minors is testing the limits of Washington’s authority over medicine and placing San Francisco clinics at the center of a national legal battle, leaving transgender adolescents uncertain about whether their treatment will continue. Federal policy debates about transgender health care are already affecting the San Francisco […]
Category: LGBTQ+
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Health, Law & Justice, LGBTQ+
Health Experts Brace for Return of Conversion Therapy for LGBTQ+ Youth
Doctors and mental health experts across the country are warning of dire consequences as the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a case that could overturn a Colorado ban on conversion therapy for minors, a practice long tied to psychological harm and elevated suicide risk among LGBTQ+ youth.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Health, Immigration, LGBTQ+, Social Justice
SF’s Transgender Residents Still Face Threats, Even in Sanctuary City
As the Trump administration attacks transgender rights and care, some who moved to San Francisco for protection face the very challenges they tried to flee.
Posted inAging, City Hall, Health, HIV & AIDS, LGBTQ+
Medicaid and Other Cuts Threaten Older LGBTQ+ Adults in SF
The Trump administration is attacking LGBTQ+ rights nationwide, and San Francisco has declared itself sanctuary city for transgender people. But even as the city anticipates an influx of newcomers, older trans adults already living here face discrimination and threats to their health as the federal government cuts funding for crucial programs and erases data about their demographic groups.
Advocates expect LGBTQ+ seniors in particular to be negatively affected by the gutting of Medicaid, funding cuts at every level, and the erasure of key data focused on gender identity and sexual orientation. San Francisco’s population of older adults has been growing rapidly, which strains limited resources.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Community, Health, LGBTQ+
Hostility Plagues LGBTQ Latin American Immigrants Seeking Addiction Recovery Support
A new San Francisco-based group offers safe space for a stigmatized population struggling with substance use disorder.
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, HIV & AIDS, LGBTQ+
Reporter’s Notebook: The Rebellious Legacy of ‘Lesbian Money’
When we report a story, it can involve numerous interviews, sources speaking on background or deep dives into government or corporate records. But sometimes it’s amazing what a small object can reveal.
Like the rubber stamp recently discovered by Liana Wilcox, producer of the San Francisco Public Press’ podcast “Civic,” when she was helping her mother clear a storage area.
“I was with my mom going through some of her keepsakes and found a stamp that read ‘Lesbian Money.’ My mom told me that she found it in our old church’s basement,” Wilcox said, adding that she feared the rubber stamp had a sinister connotation.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Health, History, HIV & AIDS, LGBTQ+
After SF Visit, AIDS Quilt Heads to South to Raise Awareness
The AIDS Memorial Quilt was unfurled recently in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for its largest display in a decade, marking the start of a campaign to educate the public about a disease that, since 1981, has infected 1.2 million people nationwide.
While new HIV infections in the United States have been in decline, the disease continues to take a disproportionate toll on racial and ethnic minorities, men who identify as gay or bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. The highest rates of new infections and numbers of untreated people are found in the South.
Organizers estimated that 20,000 people visited the San Francisco quilt display June 11 and 12. This fall, sections of the quilt will be taken on a tour of the South for “large displays in city centers, as well as smaller displays in rural, non-metro areas,” said Dafina Ward, executive director of the Southern AIDS Coalition. New names will be added to the 35-year-old quilt during the tour, she said.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Health, HIV & AIDS, LGBTQ+
Biden Administration Refocuses National HIV Response
After two years of focusing on COVID-19 pandemic response, the Biden Administration is renewing attention to other ongoing public health challenges, including HIV and AIDS. The response is led by Harold Phillips, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. The San Francisco Public Press spoke with Phillips this month when he came to San Francisco to participate in events tied to the display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in Golden Gate Park.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Arts & Culture, LGBTQ+
Documentary Revisits Transgender Protagonists Decades Later
In Monika Treut’s new film, “Genderation,” she follows up with he earlier protagonists to see how shifting social scenes, political climates and individual circumstances of their lives have affected them.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Arts & Culture, Community, LGBTQ+, Media
In ‘No Straight Lines,’ We Meet Groundbreaking Queer Comic Artists
In the new documentary “No Straight Lines,” artists who took serious risks by outing themselves and creating comics about the experiences and lives of LGBT Americans look back on their work and its impacts. Director Vivian Kleiman, a Peabody Award winning filmmaker, producer, director and writer, talked with “Civic” about how these artists shaped the underground comics scene and some of the film’s more poignant moments.