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Health

Discover the Health section of The Advocate, where readers can find the latest news on medicine, fitness, mental and physical wellbeing, scientific developments, and diseases that affect the LGBT community. Read the most recent on gay health, AIDS and HIV news, pregnancy and sex from experts like doctors and researchers. Learn about news related to health insurance, statistics, changing laws and government policy, and tools that can be used in preventing and curing illnesses in the United States and beyond.
Robert Garcia RFK JR
Politics

House Oversight Democrats demand records over RFK Jr.’s HIV program cuts

Robert Garcia and Raja Krishnamoorthi accuse HHS of dismantling life-saving HIV programs based on conspiracy theories and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

Mark Pocan Sharice Davids Mike Lawler
News

Lawmakers call out Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ‘unconscionable’ apathy on eve of LGBTQ+ 988 Lifeline shutdown

“It’s heartbreaking, scary, and deeply harmful,” Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids, who said the Department of Health and Human Services should keep the successful suicide prevention program intact, told The Advocate.
SCOTUS protest gender affirming care case sign says keep legislators out of child doctor appointments
News

FTC hosts anti-trans workshop LGBTQ+ advocates call ‘government-sponsored disinformation’

“[Transgender lives have] been made a political and ideological issue,” Dr. Rachel Levine told The Advocate.

Abortion rights supporters rally at the Bigger Than Roe National Mobilization March in the rotunda of the Capitol building in Madison Wisconsin January 2022
Politics

Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down abortion ban from 1849

A 176-year-old law "does not prohibit abortion in the State of Wisconsin," the state Supreme Court has ruled.

Stanford Medicine building Palo Alto CA Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital
Health

Stanford Medicine caves to Trump Administration, ends gender-affirming surgeries for youth

Congresswoman Kat Cammack pregnancy announcement photo
Politics

Florida Republican who almost died from ectopic pregnancy blames Democrats, not abortion ban

Kat Cammack doesn't believe Florida's abortion ban was at fault for her near-death experience, but instead blames Democrats for "fearmongering."

Kaiser Permanente
News

Kaiser Permanente ends gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 19

Kaiser will stop offering the surgeries as of August 29, but said that it will still offer other gender-affirming care.
Donald Trump places hand of JD Vance knee during inauguration ceremonies
Health

Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, but what is it?

How is it treated and how serious is it?

young queer couple worried about finances
Politics

What Medicaid and SNAP cuts mean for LGBTQ+ people

Trump's "one big, beautiful" tax and spending law is poised to make drastic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP — programs on which many LGBTQ+ Americans rely.

Donald Trump signing a document 988 suicide crisis public sign Karine Jean Pierre
News

Experts brace for crisis as Trump administration’s end to key emergency resource for LGBTQ+ youth looms

Despite bipartisan pushback, the Department of Health and Human Services is scheduled to discontinue the specialized service next week.
Supreme Court justices official portrait
News

Supreme Court orders judges to reconsider protections for transgender people in four states

The decision will impact LGBTQ+ populations in Idaho, North Carolina, Oklahoma and West Virginia.

Mark Robinson
Politics

Mark Robinson blames 'coward' Republicans for loss, not 'Black Nazi' trans porn scandal

Mark Robinson is mad Republicans wouldn't "stand up and fight for him" after he admitted to being a "black NAZI."

David Michael Hawkins
Arts & Entertainment

This Nashville country singer is opening up about his sexuality and HIV status in new song 'Sin'

"I don't expect terrestrial country radio to pick me or play this song. It's not meant for them," says David Michael Hawkins. "The song is meant for queer people who hear themselves in the lyrics. It's meant for people, like me, who were raised on country music, who can finally relate to a song."

packages of birth control pills with an IUD
News

Trump administration will incinerate $10 million worth of birth control for poor women

The Trump administration is literally torching nearly $10 million worth of birth control.

Planned parenthood clinic entrance
Politics

Trump's new strategy to restrict abortion nationwide — don't say ‘ban’

Trump's team has developed a way to make abortion difficult to obtain without the same costs as an unpopular ban.

Senator Josh Hawley walks past reporters at the US Capitol Building June 2025 Washington DC
Voices

Waffler and coward Josh Hawley runs away — again — from a problem he helped create

Opinion: Hawley is running from his big beautiful bill vote the same way he sprinted away from insurrectionists on January 6, writes John Casey.

person reviewing medical bills
Health

Louisiana Medicaid quietly stops reimbursing patients for gender-affirming care

Medicaid will no longer reimburse gender-affirming care prescriptions in Louisiana.

donald trump RFK JR press conference and contraceptives including condoms birth control pills IUD
Health

Health experts warn Trump’s new policies for HHS teen pregnancy program could reverse decades of progress

“What young people want is to talk about decision-making and relationships. They want to know how to take care of themselves,” one expert said. “We can trust young people with information. But only if we treat them with respect.”

queer teen using cellphone
News

These crisis hotlines are still available for LGBTQ+ youth after Trump ends special 988 services

The Trump administration is cutting the 988 special service for LGBTQ+ youth, but there are still several existing lifelines for LGBTQ+ youth in crisis. Here are some.

PrEP pills
News

BREAKING: Supreme Court rules to save free access to PrEP and other preventive care

The defendants in the case previously argued that requiring insurance coverage of PrEP access was similar to supporting homosexuality.

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