Some of the sites such as and eHarmony communities whose co-founder is notoriously homophobic had historically excluded the LGBTQ community (no LGBT dating apps at all).Įven as new applications have revolutionized the world of online dating, queer people discovered that these applications had little to offer in terms of inclusiveness, acceptance, and creating space for people with a wide variety of sexualities. “Having staff members that identify with populations we serve accompanied with cultural competency and humility trainings help best serve the population to decrease stigma,” Gonzalez said.For years, online dating was only possible for straight people. Wyckoff Heights Medical Center serves a diverse and at-risk population, and because of this, staffers say hiring and training decisions are crucial. The center also helped her create a plan to secure financial stability and manage her increased rent payments. She also had a history of depression for which she had stopped taking medication, and she was about to lose her insurance.ĭuring her first visit to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, staffers tested Fenris for HIV, started her on HIV-prevention medication, helped her find new insurance and referred her to mental health services. She moved to New York the year prior to escape a living situation in another state that she said was stifling her transgender identity, and she had just had an incident with a hookup that led her to start post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), a one-month treatment to resist HIV infection right after potential exposure. When Fenris, now 30, first walked into the center in February 2017, she was burdened by several issues that were negatively affecting her physical and mental health. After opening up with pleasantries, he shifted the conversation to offering sexual health services. So in February 2016, he created a profile with the image of a good-looking nurse in medical clothing and started to chat with people on Grindr.
Shortly after being hired, Castellanos-Usigli recalls thinking to himself, “You are young, you're Hispanic yourself, where do you talk to other gay guys about sex? Grindr!” population, respectively, in 2017 they represented 26 percent and 43 percent of new HIV diagnoses nationwide. While Hispanics and African Americans make up 18 percent and 13 percent of the U.S.
The center is located in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, which is 56 percent Hispanic and 19 percent black, according to city data. This client population, he added, “is one of the populations who needed these services the most.” Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn. “The center hired me precisely because they wanted to increase the number of gay and bisexual Hispanic clients,” Castellanos-Usigli, who had migrated from Mexico in 2013, said. The program was started by Antón Castellanos-Usigli, who had just finished his master’s degree in public health at Columbia University when in 2015 he was recruited by Wyckoff Heights Medical Center. in 2017, and of those gay and bisexual men diagnosed with HIV, 37 percent were black and 29 percent were Hispanic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gay and bisexual men comprised 70 percent of the new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. Most of these clients are black and Hispanic gay men and trans women, groups that are disproportionately affected by HIV. The center says the innovative approach is working: Since its launch in 2016, the program has attracted more than 300 clients to the facility. Staffers interact with other users with their own account like a regular user would - except they offer sexual health services. The center’s method differs from the usual sexual health advertisements one can see on the apps. Wyckoff Heights Medical Center is thought to be the first health center in New York City - and perhaps beyond - to incorporate gay dating apps such as Grindr, Jack’d and Scruff into its sexual health efforts. Please sign me up right away,’” Fenris told NBC News.