• Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • ‘Introspections’: The Los Angeles LGBT Center Celebrates Senior Artists in a Special Exhibition
  • Bridging Communities While Honoring the Diversity of AANHPI Month: Emiko Kenderes’ Journey at the Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Mpox Resurgence: What You Should Know
  • Pamela Anderson Shares Words of Wisdom at Center Gala: ‘Love Relentlessly’
  • Keke Palmer Celebrates Her Queerness, the LGBTQ+ Community at Center Gala
  • An Unstoppable Force: Center CEO Joe Hollendoner Touts Successes in the Face of Adversity
  • Easter Sunday Drag March Draws Thousands to Protest Against Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation
  • Big Freedia Offers Words of Inspiration to LGBTQ+ Youth at The Future Is Black: Renaissance
Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube
LGBT News Now
Learn about career opportunities at the Center
  • Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
LGBT News Now
You are at:Home»Community»Health»Anyone With a Cervix Should be Tested for Cervical Cancer
Cervical Cancer Month

Anyone With a Cervix Should be Tested for Cervical Cancer

0
By on January 14, 2020 Health

January’s Cervical Health Awareness Month is a good reminder for all people with a cervix to get screened for cervical cancer with a pap and HPV (human papillomavirus) testing.

This is especially true for non-heterosexual cisgender women, transgender men, and other transmasculine people who are much less likely to be up-to-date with their screenings.

No matter how you identify, what your level of sexual activity is, who your partners are, or whether or not you’ve been vaccinated for HPV, a screening for cervical cancer is still recommended, according to the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Health Services department.

Nearly 13,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in the U.S. each year—a disease that is preventable with screening, early detection and with the HPV vaccination.

The pap test looks for cell changes on the cervix that might lead to cervical cancer, if left untreated. The HPV screening looks specifically for the presence of the HPV virus that causes the vast majority of cervical cancer. The type and frequency of testing recommended depends on your age and other risk factors like HIV transmission.

Cervical cancer was once the leading cause of cancer death for women in the U.S., but cases and the number of deaths have significantly declined over the past four decades thanks to the screenings.

While you can get HPV though vaginal, oral, or anal sex, it can also easily be transmitted through intimate skin-to-skin contact such as hand to genital.

There are many cases of women being told by a health care provider that a cisgender woman sleeping with a cisgender woman is not considered risky. It’s not true. Women who identify as lesbians and women who sleep with women have the same risk for cervical cancer but are much less likely to get screened, according to Health Services.

Center Offers Self-Test Option for Trans Men

The best way to screen for cervical cancer is to have the provider use a speculum to visually examine the cervix and collect the tests themselves.

Pelvic exams can be very traumatic for anybody, especially for someone who might have some genital dysphoria. An examination can also be physically painful for transmasculine people who take testosterone because the cells and the tissues in that area become less elastic. It can be painful and uncomfortable on many levels.

The Center has an alternate option available for people who otherwise would not have any screening: using a cotton swab to collect cells.

Pap and HPV tests are recommended every three years for someone under 30. For those over the age of 30, the tests are recommended every five years.

It’s important to be screened and to get screened regularly in order to catch any abnormalities in the cells before they progress into cancer.

The Center accepts most insurance plans and can help people who are uninsured or underinsured qualify for assistance programs.

Go to lalgbtcenter.org for more information.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Related Posts

Mpox Resurgence: What You Should Know

Dispensing Culturally Competent Care: The Center’s Patient-Centric Pharmacy Does Much More Than Fill Prescriptions

Los Angeles LGBT Center Joins Forces with Anti-Violence Organizations to Spearhead National Institute Addressing LGBTQ Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence

Comments are closed.

Upcoming Events

Apr 29
April 29 - June 24

A New Brain

May 13
May 13 - June 12

The Bottoming Process

Jun 9
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Youth PRIDE Prom!

View Calendar
About Us

LGBT News Now

LGBT News Now is a publication of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019, the Center is the largest LGBT organization in the world, dedicated to building a world where LGBT thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org.

Follow Us on Instagram

lalgbtcenter

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is building a world where LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society.

Los Angeles LGBT Center
This year, we celebrate #Pride with a fierce sense This year, we celebrate #Pride with a fierce sense of urgency. We are the world’s largest direct service provider to LGBTQ+ people—so take it from us when we say Pride is a necessity. Our community is still being impacted by hatred, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, religious zealots, and institutions who discriminate against us. At the Center, we are Proud 365 days a year—because that’s the amount of days per year our doors are open. Happy #PrideMonth, and Happy Pride Always from the 800 employees, service providers, and frontline workers of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. We will always be here for you. 

🎥: 
@laurenfisherstudio @kazziechameleon @mad_maninc @mjlat
The Center was so proud to be a supporter of last The Center was so proud to be a supporter of last week’s incredible Trans Protest Prom, a pop-up party and performance organized by a group of transgender youth from all over the country. As a direct response to 475+ pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation—many of them targeting trans kids and their families—hundreds of transgender youth flocked to DC in their finest regalia to let our elected officials have it. We are grateful to our friends at @gucci for sponsoring some of the Center’s incredible youth and allowing them to be a part of this historic occasion. To learn more about the action, head on over to @voguemagazine. 📷 @liaclay
The Center is thrilled to be the official communit The Center is thrilled to be the official community partner of @thebroadmuseum’s Keith Haring: Art Is For Everybody, the first-ever comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work in Los Angeles. The exhibit is a review of Haring’s work to democratize art, and to use his art as both a tool of personal and political expression. Spanning his catalogue from the late ‘70s as a student to the late ‘80s, when his work focused more deliberately on HIV/AIDS and his own mortality, this is one Los Angeles experience any LGBTQ+ person will not want to miss. Head on over to @thebroadmuseum to pick up your tickets—and get a glimpse of our partnership by checking out our float at LA Pride!
Our Sisters are in the @latimes, fresh off their w Our Sisters are in the @latimes, fresh off their win off the baseball field. “We do have a serious responsibility. Let’s live up to that and give people the truth of our hearts as well as the glitter and humor.” —Sister Unity(May 2023) 
📷 @erik_carter
Today we mourn the loss of a true icon, the legend Today we mourn the loss of a true icon, the legendary Tina Turner. We honor and celebrate her life as an artist, incredible performer, an inspiration to many,
and an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. We will forever be proud of Ms. Turner and her love for all of us. 

#TinaTurner #RestInPeace
With 2023’s record-breaking anti-trans legislati With 2023’s record-breaking anti-trans legislative push, trans youth across the U.S. are pushing back: by celebrating their joy. Proud to support the first-ever #TransProm at the nation’s Capitol. You can learn more and take action at TransProm.org. #TransJoy
We stand with the @ladragnuns! Today, the @dodgers We stand with the @ladragnuns! Today, the @dodgers apologized and reinstated their invitation to honor the Sisters at Pride Night. Our CEO, @joe.hollendoner, welcomes this step in the right direction and emphasizes the impact of standing together in the face of anti-LGBTQ bias. We're grateful to our community for rallying behind the Sisters and holding our corporate partners accountable.
Time to go [base] balls to the wall! The Center’ Time to go [base] balls to the wall! The Center’s Resistance Squad is launching an email action TODAY to stand with @ladragnuns and apply pressure to the @Dodgers. Join us by following the instructions in the slides (swipe thru), and forwarding this message to your networks. You can also support us by sharing this post to your Story or Instagram grid. 

Let’s show them #LA is for everyone! #CenterYourPride

#Dodgers #PrideNight #Sisters #SistersOfPerpetualIndulgence #HateHasNoPlace #NotInLA
Yesterday, the @dodgersfoundation rescinded their Yesterday, the @dodgersfoundation rescinded their invitation to recognize the @ladragnuns at next month’s Pride Night. In return, the Los Angeles LGBT Center is demanding the Dodgers cancel their Pride Night unless they rectify this error. “Any organization that turns its back on LGBTQ+ people at this damning and dangerous inflection point in our nation’s history should not be hoisting a rainbow flag or hosting a ‘Pride Night,’” says our CEO, @joe.hollendoner. “We want the Dodgers’ allyship to be consistent with our experience partnering with them over the past years.”

#Dodgers #PrideNight #Sisters #SistersOfPerpetualIndulgence #HateHasNoPlace #NotInLA
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Stay Connected
Subscribe
Copyright © 2022 Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.