Innehållsförteckning för June 2020 från The Advocate

A first-of-its-kind study published by Fertility and Sterility revealed that transgender men have a similar response to ovarian stimulation as cisgender women, even after they’ve been using testosterone for years. The aim of the study was to investigate the outcomes of assisted reproductive technology in trans men and compare those to a matched group of cisgender women to see if testosterone had a noticeable impact on fertility through egg freezing, in vitro fertilization, and other forms of assisted fertility. Researchers reviewed the records of 26 trans males and 130 cisgender women who sought care from 2010 to 2018. The majority of trans males (61 percent) had received testosterone hormonal therapy but were off the hormone a mean of four months before starting assisted reproductive therapy. The mean time they were…

Queer youth are at an increased risk of sexual violence, which is extremely problematic given that they also face challenges in accessing affirming and supportive counseling services. Alarmingly, only 41 percent of those surveyed by the Human Rights Campaign in 2018 reported they had received psychological or emotional counseling in the previous year. LGBTQ youth are more likely to experience assault and mental health issues. 11% reported they had been sexually attacked or raped because of their LGBTQ identity in the previous year. 77% reported receiving unwanted sexual comments, jokes, and gestures in the past year. 20% reported that they were forced to do sexual things they did not want to do in the past year. STRESS AND ANXIETY 95% of LGBTQ youth reported they have trouble getting to sleep…

AS PERHAPS THE strangest month in the history of Pride gets under way, there has never been a better time to evaluate its true meaning. Typically, our celebrations are compounded with arguments of what Pride is and isn’t and how it should or shouldn’t change on a macro level. However, since we will have to wait to debate the validity of corporate rainbow branding and the integrity of naked boys on boxes for at least another year, the micro-experience of Pride will have to take center stage. In my 20s, Pride was all about visibility and acceptance. Like many others past and present, I needed to be who I truly was in public to shed the mask of shame I had worn for far too long. I wanted the world…

In Hollywood, marginalized writers, actors, and producers decide they are not going to be forced into the closet. Their queerness, their Blackness, their otherness are sources of pride that act as the driving force behind each of their subplots. Among them is one of the most famous stars to emerge from the Golden Age of Hollywood—Rock Hudson, a closeted gay man whose personal life became known to the public with the revelation that he had been diagnosed with AIDS; he died of the disease’s complications in 1985. His illness and death helped change America’s response to the epidemic, prompting Hudson’s friend Elizabeth Taylor to cofound amfAR and increasing the pressure on Ronald Reagan to address the crisis. Jake Picking, the young actor tasked with bringing Murphy’s Hudson to life, spoke…

When the health crisis began, the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce decided it had never been more imperative to commit ourselves to shopping local and shopping LGBTQ, to give what we can to queer organizations, and to support our community. Even if we can’t dance in the streets this summer, we will be able to celebrate all that makes our community so beautiful, so resilient, and so diverse—from the safety of our homes. Pride 2020 will also be a time to develop innovative ways to celebrate and show support for our community and allies. As NGLCC shared with The Advocate when shutdowns began, we are all in the business of keeping the LGBTQ community financially strong, even during the pandemic. As you, your community organizations, and your companies plan for…

The work world is changing all around us. From forced remote working situations to new technologies to novel ways of working with our teams, there is a wave of change within our world that doesn’t have an end in sight. But all these “new normal” workplace situations aside, let’s focus on those changes we want to create, especially as it relates to our workplace culture being more inclusive. For many of us, being our authentic selves and “fitting in” isn’t necessarily a breeze in the workplace. A recent Human Rights Campaign study found that 46 percent of LGBTQ employees say they’re closeted at work—down four percentage points over the past 10 years. Of those employees surveyed, 53 percent said they heard jokes about lesbian or gay people at least once…

Nikki Kuhnhausen was like a lot of teenage girls. She loved makeup, spent hours perusing videos on TikTok, and had dreams of one day becoming a makeup artist. Kuhnhausen owned her trans identity since she was a child. She summoned the strength her mother, Lisa Woods, (pictured) helped instill in her to empower other young people to find their own voices—specifically trans youth. Woods explains that Kuhnhausen’s pride in her identity inspired trans students at her high school in Vancouver, Wash. “I knew she was special and I never discouraged her. I built her up to be whatever she wanted,” Woods says. “She was confident and beautiful and so secure and courageous. She knew who she was inside and was not ashamed or embarrassed or afraid. She brightened the room.…

1 Lovebirds Childhood sweethearts Alyssa Wilkens and Jillian Allen are the adorable lesbian couple behind pop duo Maple St., whose new song, “Love Me Less?” asks what happens when the honeymoon ends. “We started dating at 16, and that process of growing up together wasn’t always easy,” the duo recently told PRIDE.com. “We had to give each other room to become adults, and we had to transition from the honeymoon phase to the rest of our relationship.” (MapleStMusic.com) 2 That’s So Money Amsterdam start-up Ekster created the world’s best-selling smart wallet. With the brand’s Parliament Wallet, you’ll never have to fumble with cards to find the right one because its built-in aluminum cardholder fans them out at the click of a button. The case also features radio frequency identification protection,…

ADAM DARKO Hip-hop artist Adam Darko is using YouTube and other social media platforms to create content that is reflective of his own personal life and experiences. Since 2018, the transgender Algerian-Canadian has been creating and posting videos on his YouTube channel about a wide range of topics that include beard care for people who are transitioning, Algerian celebrities, and what it was like growing up as a trans man in a conservative household with traditional parents. That spirit of creation helped Darko cofound the Coup d’etat Collective, a Montreal-based art and music group and YouTube channel where Darko and two of his friends and fellow artists (Mikkipedia and Little Cashew) post their songs and music videos. One of those songs is Darko’s recent track “White Desert,” a record about…

We’ve lost more Americans to this novel strain of the coronavirus than we did in the last 70 years of wars, including those in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, the Gulf, and Korea. But it’s a different kind of war that many LGBTQ folks are reminded of: the battleground of bodies lost to the AIDS epidemic while the government refused to act to save the lives of our gay, bi, and trans friends, husbands, fathers, and forebears. Ironic then that among the earliest LGBTQ people known to die from complications of COVID-19 was beloved playwright Terrence McNally, who lived through and chronicled the AIDS epidemic for the rest of America. Just two days later, the first nurse to die in New York City was a gay man, Kious Kelly, who friends said…

The tale of making it in Tinseltown has been a mainstay of one American dream since the inception of the motion picture. In it, the handsome young man or the wide-eyed ingenue arrives in Hollywood with dreams of superstardom. It’s never been as easy as people wanted to imagine. And for those who aren’t straight, white, cisgender, and young, those shoot-for-the-stars aspirations have always been particularly out of reach. With all of the glitz and glam of a Paramount picture circa 1947, Ryan Murphy’s Netflix limited series Hollywood opens on Jack Castello (The Politician’s David Corenswet), a young hunk with giant dimples confidently tossing popcorn into his mouth while taking in a promotional reel intended to lure rising stars to what was then called Hollywoodland. Jack’s a straight wannabe-actor with…

As an intensive care nurse in New York, KP Mendoza has been at the epicenter of a pandemic, where healthcare workers have been working around the clock since the epidemic began. As his heartfelt Facebook post went viral, Mendoza became the face of nurses everywhere, though he insisted he only spoke for himself—not his colleagues or his employer. His overwhelming support in media was peppered with homophobic barbs as well as sexist, antigay trolls. Still, Mendoza continues to put himself in harm’s way to protect the people in his community. This is a portion of the post that started it all. Yesterday, I considered writing a will. I am 24 years old. I am an ICU nurse in New York City. I am in good health at this time, so…

alabama Kimberly McKeand helped topple Alabama’s same-sex marriage ban as a plaintiff in the state’s landmark 2015 ruling. Now, the activist is fighting to pass a nondiscrimination ordinance in Mobile and helping young people access HIV care at AIDS Alabama South. “It’s never been about inspiring others, because I’m doing what feels right in my soul.” —Daniel Reynolds In Montgomery, Ala., Jose Vazquez feels like he’s “taken a master class from organizers that have been doing the work since the 1950s.” The young queer man is digital marketing manager at the Equal Justice Initiative, which works for racial justice and against mass incarceration. He is also president of the local LGBTQ rights group Montgomery Pride United.—Trudy Ring alaska Julie Schmidt (right) is the director of SAGE, a program for seniors…