Each week HuffPost Queer Voices, in a partnership with blogger Scout, LGBT HealthLink and researcher Corey Prachniak, brings you a round up of some of the biggest LGBT wellness stories from the past seven days. For more LGBT Wellness, visit our page dedicated to the topic here.
Students Find Sex Ed Less than Sexy
Youth find sex ed courses to be “negative, gendered and heterosexist,” according to a new analysis that found schools ignore the reality of students’ sexual lives and don’t address the diversity of their experiences. Students worried about confidentiality and had trouble dealing with anxiety from talking openly about sex.
Post-Marriage Equality Fights Continue Across States
A court struck down Wisconsin’s policy of only naming the birth parent on birth certificates for kids born to same-sex couples, a practice that continued despite marriage equality. Meanwhile, New Jersey same-sex female couples are fighting a state law that only grants opposite-sex couples insurance coverage of infertility treatment.
Minority and Bisexual Youth Less Likely to Use PrEP
A study of queer California youth reports that white youth were more than twice as likely as Latino youth to have used PrEP to prevent HIV (13.9% compared to 6.6%). Among those not using PrEP, white youth were 2.5 times as likely to black youth to be aware of the option, while gay youth were 4.5 times as likely to be aware of PrEP than were bisexual youth.
Bisexual Teen Girls Struggle Getting Healthcare
Researchers found that only 18% of bisexual female youth had spoken to their doctor about their sexual identity – the same percent who thought their provider was knowledgeable about LGBT health. Bi female youth reported judgmental and heterosexist attitudes from providers, and feared being out to their doctor could also out them at home.
New Tools to Fight Healthcare Discrimination
LGBT HealthLink is hosting a webinar this Wednesday on understanding LGBT rights in healthcare, following recent changes that expanding nondiscrimination. The Fenway Institute just published a guide for patients and providers on the new rule, which comes as major news outlets report rampant anti-trans discrimination in healthcare.
More Evidence Trans Students Are Harmed by School Policies
Human Rights Watch reports that barring trans students from using appropriate school bathrooms and locker rooms has resulted in assaults, harassment, urinary tract infections, dehydration, and mental health issues, adding to a growing body of evidence on the harms of discrimination against trans youth.