And in other areas they were the main or only available option to people. For STD/STI screening, birth control, etc. To LGBTQ, to non-LGBTQ, whatever. Men at this point cannot be impregnated nor is that even a risk. For me, in my younger years it was the only place I was able to get Plan B the one time I needed it. It was the only option available to me for STD/STI screening, and they didn't give a fuck that I wasn't hetero.
I told the free clinic in the Bronx that I had had 6 partners in a 90 day period, 2 partners in a 24 hour period, and was itchy and terrified. The doctor proceeded to slut shame me. I had used a condom with all but the one I'd never before used a condom with because we had been together for 6 years previously and I thought we might be getting back together. Unfortunately, having sex three times in one day with two different male partners is not something my vaginal flora can handle and I simultaneously had bacterial vaginosis and a yeast infection. I went to PP for a pap smear a year later, the number of partners was SIGNIFICANTLY more prolific as by then I was seeing 4 men at a time, replacing members of the rotation as they either stopped exciting me, were not available often enough, or found monogamy. The tech simply did her job, and someone turned up to find out if I needed to consult about prophylactic barriers and oral contraceptives. I accepted a large supply of barriers, just as I had done at the free clinic.
While I would absolutely concede that I have never seen Planned Parenthood do any LGBTQ outreach, none of the gay nor trans people I know have ever been turned away, though a transmale I met at a party did tell me PP in New Rochelle had put him on to the existence of Callum Lorde, a clinic in Manhattan that specializes in health concerns specific to the trans community. Mind you, they treated him, and offerred him a future appointment, but they also mentioned this other place. He went to the other place and liked it better. Callum Lorde has a ridiculous waiting list. It takes forever to get an appointment. But they specialize. And so those in the specific demographic wait.
I have been middle class most of my life. I had a period of poverty in early adulthood and clawed my way back to the comfort and privilige of middle class. So, for most of my life I have had adequate insurance, except for a few short years when I made too much for subsidized care and not enough to pay for insurance or doctors. During those strange times, Planned Parenthood kept me from unwanted pregnancy and disease. They never asked me about my orientation, to my memory. They asked me how many partners I had in a specific time period.
Strange how someone can make one post insisting that Planned Parenthood doesn't specialize enough, and then many others railing about how they didn't expand their reach enough.
