It’s okay to lose a friendship — This summer I reached an impasse with a close friend, who is white, over the Black Lives Matter movement. In the decade we’ve known each other, I had always felt comfortable talking to him about my own experience of otherness as an Indian American. …

Each episode of Indian Matchmaking starts with a cute older couple perched on a couch, telling us how briefly they met, decades ago, before tying the knot. They trade playful quips and broad smiles before we’re introduced to their son or daughter, whose turn it is to get hitched. This…

LGBTQ+ people are especially vulnerable to the pandemic’s mental health impacts. Here’s why. — The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community is disproportionately affected by mental health disorders. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), LGBTQ+ individuals are more than twice as likely to experience anxiety and depression compared with the general population.

Why removing health care protections for transgender patients is inhumane and dangerous — Transgender people have specialized health care needs and face disproportionate barriers to accessing proper treatment. The Obama administration attempted to address these challenges by extending nondiscriminatory protections to transgender patients in a 2016 provision in the Affordable Care Act. …

Like so much else, sex is more complicated than ever. Here’s what to know. — It’s unreasonable to expect people will remain celibate until there’s a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. At this point, many are likely weighing the risks of Covid-19 against the adverse effects of loneliness and social isolation on mental and physical health. That goes for both creating potential “quaranteams” with family…

Casual sex is much more difficult when most people are staying home. But so are other important STI mitigation strategies. — Staying six feet apart makes casual sex pretty difficult. Which might make you wonder: Should we expect the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to slow significantly during quarantine? As with so much surrounding the novel coronavirus, there are many unknowns at play, and it’s too early to predict with…