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LGBTQ+ people in Chicago are more at risk for certain health conditions but less likely to receive care. The social inequality and stigma afflicting the LGBTQ+ and TGNC (transgender and gender non-conforming) populations in Chicago creates a health-care quandary; they’re more susceptible to issues such as HIV, cancer, and suicide, yet less likely to receive care. Nationally, LGBT youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide, gay men are at higher risk for HIV and other STDs, and transgender individuals have a higher prevalence of mental health issues, HIV/STDs, suicide, and less access to health insurance, according to the CDC.
Carmen Vázquez, a Force on L.G.B.T.Q. Issues, Dies at 72
Often outspoken, she was a fixture in advocacy groups in San Francisco and New York. She died of Covid-19.
Carmen Vázquez was called âone of the most brilliant activistsâ in the L.G.B.T.Q. rights movement.Credit.National L.G.B.T.Q. Task Force
Published Feb. 5, 2021Updated Feb. 12, 2021
This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others
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It was 1996, and President Bill Clinton was running for a second term against Bob Dole, the Republican candidate. In the gay/lesbian/bi/trans world, there was talk of boycotting the election to show displeasure with the center-right politics of compromise that characterized Mr. Clintonâs first term. But Carmen Vázquez was having none of it.
By Jason Villemez
PHILADELPHIA The mural on 204 S. 12th Street honoring the legacy of LGBTQ pioneer Gloria Casarez was painted over on Dec. 23. The building and the surrounding complex, which includes the former 12th Street Gym as well as the Henry Minton House (a former home to Black abolitionists) is being demolished to make way for a 31-story residential building.
A coalition of activists from the LGBTQ community, African-American community, and allies and neighbors had been petitioning the developer, Midwood Investment & Development, to save or preserve the mural, but the efforts were unsuccessful. The mural was created in 2015 by artist Michelle Angelina Ortiz and Briana Dawkins of Mural Arts. According to several community sources, no advance notice was given regarding the erasure.