ADVERTORIAL
DON’T BE SAD, GURL, MIDDLE AGE SUITS YOU!
BY JOSH RILEY,
Whitman-Walker Health Director of Community Relations
Capital Pride turns 41 this year. Against the odds, we’ve made it to middle age! By most measures, the LGBTQ movement for civil rights and inclusion has progressed more rapidly than most other civil rights movements in history. Marriage equality, military inclusion, and the growth in transgender visibility are just a few examples of the relatively rapid progress we’ve made. How did we get here? This progress didn’t happen by magic. It happened because of the hard work and sacrifice, sometimes literally, of our forefathers and mothers—many of them gone way too soon, and many, thankfully, still around to keep teaching us. That so many of us have the opportunity to make it to middle age (myself included…sigh) is in no small part due to their incredible efforts. I stand on their shoulders in my new role as Director of Community Relations at WhitmanWalker Health. And I have big shoes to fill. Justin Goforth, my predecessor, served as an excellent community builder and ambassador in his many roles at Whitman-Walker over the years. I hope I can do the same. Like Justin, I come to the community relations role after serving as a clinician for many years. I am a licensed 106
professional counselor and psychotherapist, and for the last ten years I’ve worked at the intersection of HIV, mental health, and substance abuse, as a therapist, manager and program director. I’ve loved working with clients and staff, and I see this new role as a natural next step in continuing to connect people and organizations, to build bridges, and create community—an ever-broadening and inclusive community. Developmentally, middle age is about creation and productivity; it’s about doing. Yes, it’s a time to look back, take stock, and appreciate what we’ve achieved, but then we must discern the path forward and re-commit to the great work ahead. As a community we’ve come a long way and yet there is still so very much to do. We need to make sure that the transgender community continues to be lifted up and that the recent backlash is halted. We need to ensure that queer youth grow up in a sexpositive and gender-inclusive world. We need to prepare the way for LGBTQ seniors and ensure that there are systems to support them. And, perhaps most urgently, we need to bring biomedical HIV prevention like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to the underserved, to communities of color, and in particular, to young black gay and bisexual men. We cannot
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