I was born in 1980 in southern Oregon. We moved to Portland when I was 7. I became sexually active at the age of 12. When I was 13, my mother allowed my 17-year-old boyfriend to move in with me, her, and my brother, sister, and best friend. To this day, I do not understand why my mom allowed this…

Although the pandemic has affected us in different ways, there seems to be little doubt that the average person’s mental health in the United States has declined. At a time when family and friends are normally the closest, this year, they will be farther away. That's why taking a proactive approach to insuring our mental health is more important than ever as we enter the holiday season. With that in mind, we wanted to share a few tips to keep you feeling the seasonal spirit and ensure you have the best virtual holidays this year!

This has never been about bathrooms. It wasn’t about drinking fountains, either. It’s about keeping Trans people out of public spaces. Trans people have existed since the beginning of time. We have been using public accommodations alongside Cisgender people for as long as our society has been developed. There is no known incidence of a Trans person assaulting someone in a bathroom. This is not a safety issue for cisgender women in bathrooms. That is a mirage.

stig·ma
ˈstiɡ-mə/
noun
A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person. “the stigma of mental disorder”.  Synonyms: shame, disgrace, dishonor, ignominy, opprobrium, humiliation, (bad)

Today I’m here with Pivot’s PrEP Coordinators Morgan Jade and Carlos Negrete to talk about some of the frequently asked questions they’re getting about PrEP, and explore what Cascade AIDS Project can do to help you find out whether PrEP is right for you and get connected to a provider.

It could be the most promising—and controversial—HIV prevention tool yet. When used correctly, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the daily pill that blocks an HIV infection from taking root in the body, can ensure that HIV-negative people stay that way. Combined with other safer sex strategies such as condom use, PrEP transforms the HIV prevention landscape, but not without a dose of scrutiny as well. 

If we are going to change the stigma of HIV, we have to stop living it. The African-American community has a history of avoiding or delaying healthcare for various reasons. Some of the concerns go back to the Tuskegee experiments in which hundreds of black men, for 40 years, were intentionally infected with Syphilis to allow the government to study the natural progression of the disease while untreated.