Recorded presentation

Carmen Vazquez, MSed, Empire State Pride Agenda, 647 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014, 212-726-0305, cvazquez@prideagenda.org and Terry Boggis, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual &Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th Sreet, New York, NY 10011.

This paper reports on an innovative initiative of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community in New York City to bring together the reproductive rights movement and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender liberation movement to identify common issues and build stronger alliances. The common ground for these two movements has a long and rich history, even though there often have been strategic divisions. Contraception, medically-safe abortion and reproductive technologies have resulted in the relative freedom of heterosexual men and women to engage in sex for pleasure, entirely separate from reproduction. The freedom and legitimacy of sexual activity without reproduction is also an outcome that is fundamental to the liberation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. So, too, is the fundamental right of privacy and opposition to government intrusion into our bedrooms.This presentation will explore the connections between these two movements. It will review relevant legislation and court decisions with implications for both movements, including the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas that relied heavily on two influential reproductive rights cases – Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey – in affirming the privacy rights of all LGBT persons. Further, this presentation will seek to engage participants in strategic discussion about next steps that can be taken on key public health issues the two movement have in common, such as opposition to abstinence-only sex education that fails to include medically-accurate, age-appropriate instruction in safer sex techniques and use of condoms to prevent pregnancy and transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to identify the common public health concerns that unite the reproductive rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
• Participants will learn about a model partnership between these two communities.
• Participants will be able to identify next steps that can be taken to further the public health and public policy interests of reproductive righs and gay rights.

Keywords: Reproductive Health, Condom Use

Related Web page: www.gaycenter.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation