BY BTL STAFF
WASHINGTON – The HRC Foundation, in collaboration with Whitman-Walker Heath, released an updated guide to practicing safer sex June 8 that includes essential tips to minimize the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
The guide, "Safer Sex," updates the previous version written six years ago and includes information for all individuals in the LGBTA community with topics ranging from basic facts about HIV and STIs and the importance of practicing safer sex, to the role of new HIV prevention regimens including Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or "PrEP."
While the LGBT community continues to make extraordinary strides in equality, sexual health remains a top concern but still faces staggering rates of HIV in the U.S. — driven largely by misinformation, stigma and societal barriers to information and care, including discrimination and poverty.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of the 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S. are gay and bisexual men, who also make up two-thirds of new HIV infections each year.
"It's a fact that many LGBT people don't see themselves, or their relationships, discussed in mainstream sexual health resources," said Jay Brown, the HRC Foundation's director of research and public education. "With rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections on the rise among young people and in communities of color, HRC and Whitman-Walker remain committed to providing crucial health and wellness information in a way that is both medically accurate, culturally competent and judgement-free."
As part of HRC Foundation's increased effort to get good, reliable sexual health information in the hands of the LGBT community, the organization will also release Spanish-language editions of "Safer Sex" this summer.
