Monkeypox declared health emergency, MSM community is most impacted now THE BOOKWORM

But how could he not get involved? Ron Goldberg had read something about ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, and he heard they were holding a rally near his workplace. It was 1987, he’d never participated in anything like that before, but whispers were everywhere. He and his friends were “living under a pervasive cloud of dread.”

He “was twenty-eight years old ... scared, angry, and more than a little freaked out” about AIDS, he says. Couldn’t he at least go down and hold a sign?

That first rally led Goldberg to attend a meeting, which like most, as he came to realize, were raucous and loud and “electric.” Because he was “living fully ‘out and proud’,” and because he realized that this was an issue “worth fighting for,” he became even more involved with ACT UP by attending larger rallies and helping with organizing and getting his fellow activists fired up. He observed as women became involved in ACT UP, too. Monday night meetings became, for Goldberg, “the most exciting place in town.”

Country music star goes to the mat for trans youth

Maren Morris turns discrimination into funding for LGBTQ+ community

By: Audrey Cole TRT Reporter

Turning the tables on anti-trans personalities, Country music star Maren Morris has raised more than $100,000 for trans youth.

“Morris was called a ‘lunatic country music person’ by Fox News host Tucker Carlson after she responded to anti-trans comments from Brittany Aldean, wife of country singer Jason Aldean,” the Advocate reported (https://bit.ly/3CtT3kf).

“Brittany Aldean had posted August 23 on Instagram (https://bit.ly/3CtSTt0), ‘I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life.’”

In addition to others objecting to Aldean’s post, Morris punched back.

“It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human?” wrote Morris via Twitter (https://bit.ly/3SL14qw). ‘Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.”

Morris’ response alluded to a piece of Aldean’s merchandise that was made to apparently monetize Aldean’s transphobic comments. The T-Shirt and sweatshirt collection was imprinted with “Don’t tread on our kids,” a new “Barbie inspired line,” Aldean wrote on her social media platform.

The expression “Don’t tread on me” dates back to the American Revolution and is commonly used amongst Donald Trump supporters, including the insurrectionists that stormed the U.S.

Capitol on January 6. Allegedly, the Aldeans circulate within the Trumpsphere and have spent holidays like New Year’s Eve with him at Mar-ALago, The Tennessean reported (https://bit.ly/3SNWtnT).

Aldean continued to double down on her controversial comments, despite comments such as hers being debunked by countless medical professionals on a national and international level. "The genital mutilation of chil-

#WorkFair

2022, themed Working

With Pride, will help LGBTQ+ candidates to connect with inclusive employers. Returning on October 19, the world’s largest virtual careers fair for LGBTQ+ professionals and graduates will once again help to match diverse talent with roles at progressive and inclusive companies from all over the world.

With many more LGBTQ+ professionals now searching for jobs with inclusive employers, #WorkFair 2022 is the only free global virtual event providing direct access to inclusive employers across all industries who are ready and waiting to hire. Job seekers will get the opportunity to connect live with recruitment teams to chat about existing opportunities and even book interviews with participating companies they want to join. They can also attend several free webinars and workshops throughout the day to help them hone their job search and interviewing skills. Experts will provide candidates with meaningful life skills such as finding their purpose, bringing their whole self to work, and how to get ahead in the workplace.

Ahead of this year’s event, myGwork will release the findings of its inaugural LGBTQ+ student graduate survey, revealing factors that are likely to help attract and retain them. Additionally, myGwork will launch a new campaign, created with Enactus, featuring students sharing what Working with Pride means to them.

To date, myGwork has helped hun- dreds of inclusive employers to attract and retain diverse talent, thanks to its increasing offering of online events, content, diversity and inclusion training, and recruitment events, such as #WorkFair and WorkPride. FTSE 100 companies and household brand names, such as State Street, Netflix, Willis Towers Watson, PepsiCo, Capgemini, Synechron, Clyde and Co, Reed Smith LLP, Criteo, Clifford Chance, Ab InBev, Capco, Pimco, Pearson, Omnicom Media Group and many more already use the platform with huge success.

“In the first 12 months of the partnership, we recruited 692 wonderful colleagues across the globe – from the USA, UK, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific to the Middle East ...” said Pearson’s Senior HR Manager, Kevin Lyons.” but having one or more new partners who may have frequented a high risk venue can increase risk,” said Dr. Kenneth Mayer, MD, Medical Research Director, Fenway Health. “We want to be able to tell people to be cautious with a new epidemic, and to take sensible precautions, but not to make broad and unwarranted and harmful generalizations.”

Graduates, students and professionals can register to attend WorkFair completely free of charge here (https://bit.ly/3SNzatC).

Mayer noted that the stigma attached to monkeypox is more deeply rooted in discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community rather than science.

“ … We have vaccines and treatments for monkeypox, which we did not have in the early days of AIDS (and still don’t have an effective AIDS vaccine), and we know more about viruses and biology now compared to 40 years ago, so we need [to] realize that much of the stigma reflects continued homophobia and transphobia, and sex phobia more broadly,” he said.

Dr. Kevin Ard, Director of the Sexual Health Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital explained how the virus is transmitted.

“Monkeypox can spread in a variety of ways, including skin-to-skin contact, contact with respiratory secretions (such as might occur in a prolonged face-to-face interaction even without physical touch), and contact with objects handled by a person with monkeypox,” he said. “It is important for us to keep in mind the various ways monkeypox can be spread; not doing so risks contributing to stigma. For ex- ample, beliefs that monkeypox is spread by sex alone, that all LGBTQ+ people harbor monkeypox, or that it can only affect LGBTQ+ people are untrue and damaging.”

False sense of security

Focusing solely on MSM also provides a false sense of security for others who are also susceptible to the virus.

“Misinformation is always dangerous, especially around medical issues and epidemics (as we saw with COVID),” said Dr. Joanne Levin, MD, Medical Director, Infection Prevention, Cooley Dickinson Hospital. “If people hear only ‘MSM’ and don’t hear the truth about how MPV [monkey pox virus] is spread … it deprive[s] others from understanding their own risks.”

Dr. Ard said he sees the messaging around the virus to be less stigmatizing by the general public and medical experts when compared to the AIDS epidemic.

“I think the way monkeypox is being discussed publicly is different from how HIV was discussed in the 1980s, although the risks for stigma remain,” he said. “Public health officials have largely tried to avoid discussing monkeypox in stigmatizing language.”

At the same time, Ard, who is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School noted the significance of informing the community that is most susceptible of contracting