November 2007 Archives

From Kaiser Daily: Most Democratic presidential candidates would support lifting a ban on federal funding for needle-exchange programs and replacing abstinence-only sex education with comprehensive HIV prevention programs if elected, according to a survey released Wednesday ahead of World AIDS Day, the AP/Sioux City Journal reports. The survey was conducted by AIDS Project of Central Iowa, Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa and several other groups in the state. It included three questions and was sent to Democratic and Republican presidential candidates (AP/Sioux City Journal, 11/29).

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Originally Printed 9/04

In the hundreds of stories written about 'gay marriage' in recent months, one group of people deeply affected by the issue has been left out: bisexuals. According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, this omission has not only made the record factually incomplete, but has helped contribute to an oversimplification of an emotional-laden and complex issue.

For example, when the Washington Post wrote about the first same-sex couple to marry in Massachusetts on May 17, 2004, its front-page headline read, "A Carefully Considered Rush to the Altar; Lesbian Pair Wed After 7 Years Together," referring to Robyn Ochs and Peg Preble, but the headline was wrong. One of the two, Robyn Ochs, is not only bisexual but a co-founder of the Bisexuality Resource Center and one of the nation's most prominent bisexual leaders for more than 20 years. Even though Ms. Ochs emphasized her orientation as a bisexual in speaking with the reporter, this was never mentioned, other than the article noting that she teaches about bisexuality at Tufts University.

Leadership means taking the lead and it also means taking risks. Whenever leaders announce their personal political endorsements it spurs discussion, debate and disagreement, and I have decided to go public with my presidential endorsement for the 2008 election. I have endorsed John Edwards. My endorsement is not the endorsement of any organization I am affiliated with, it is my personal choice alone. And I hope it will bring other Edwards supporters out of the closet.

Continue reading this article at Bilerico

Hillary Clinton will be participating in a Global Summit on HIV/AIDS and the Church, according to a report in Newsmax.  Clinton was invited to speak by evangelical power-player Pastor Rick Warren.  The event takes place at Warren’s Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.

Warren is best known as the other of The Purpose Driven Life, and been a strong HIV Advocate for HIV/AIDS.  Warren has often criticized the evangelical church, and Baptists, in particular for being  "known for what we’re against rather than what we’re for.”

Lambda Legal Encourages LGBTI Youth to Know Their Rights

This prom season, millions of young people around the country are renting tuxedoes or buying dresses, worrying about whom to ask as their date (or who will ask them) and making plans for their school's biggest party of the year. Every year, among those millions, a growing number of courageous lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) students, who refuse to be excluded from the festivities, are exercising their right to bring a same-sex date to the prom. If you're in public school and thinking of bringing a same-sex date to the prom this year, here are some important issues to consider.

National Coalition for LGBT Health
www.lgbthealth.net

Our transwomen's bodies come in all colors, shapes and sizes, and all of us need to take care of them. However, good health care can be hard to get, due to discrimination, lack of medical clinicians who understand our needs, and lack of health insurance coverage. To keep our bodies healthy and whole, we must become informed consumers, educating our health care providers and ourselves.

National Coalition for LGBT Health
www.lgbthealth.net

Transmen's bodies come in different colors, shapes and sizes. Our bodies need and deserve attentive daily care. However, good health care can be hard to get due to discrimination, lack of medical providers who understand our needs, and lack of health insurance coverage. To keep our bodies healthy and whole, we must become informed consumers, educating our health care providers and ourselves.

Vincent M. B. Silenzio, MD, MPH
Board of Directors, Gay and Lesbian Medical Association

1. HIV/AIDS, Safe Sex: That men who have sex with men are at an increased risk of HIV infection is well known, but the effectiveness of safe sex in reducing the rate of HIV infection is one of the gay community’s great success stories. However, the last few years have seen the return of many unsafe sex practices. While effective HIV treatments may be on the horizon, there is no substitute for preventing infection. Safe sex is proven to reduce the risk of receiving or transmitting HIV. All health care professionals should be aware of how to counsel and support maintenance of safe sex practices.

Katherine A. O'Hanlan, MD
Former President, Gay and Lesbian Medical Association

1. Breast Cancer: Lesbians have the richest concentration of risk factors for this cancer than any subset of women in the world. Combine this with the fact that many lesbians over 40 do not get routine mammograms, do breast self-exams, or have a clinical breast exam, and the cancer may not be diagnosed early when it is most curable.

From Kaiser: A recent opinion piece by Sally Pipes -- president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, a think tank that receives some funding from drug companies -- about intellectual property rights and compulsory licenses for patented antiretroviral drugs is "frightening," Andrew Green, a publishing fellow, writes in the American Prospect. If Pipes were "just running a think tank with pharmaceutical funding, it could be read as a shill piece and dismissed. But there's more to Pipes' biography: She is also a health care adviser to Rudy Giuliani," the former New York City mayor who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, Green adds (Green, American Prospect, 11/15).

From the Clinton Campaign: The Clinton Campaign announced the endorsement of Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank and named him as an Economic Advisor to the Campaign.

“I have from the beginning of this campaign believed that Hillary Clinton was the candidate best qualified to serve as President,” Rep. Frank said. “I am convinced that once elected, the qualities she will bring to the job - commitment, intellect, and political skills - will make her an extremely effective leader in our effort to reverse the badly flawed course on which George Bush and past Republican Congresses have set this country.

By Melissa Hendricks / Illustration by Kim Barnes

Reprinted with permission from the Johns Hopkins University Magazine. Visit the JHU Magazine website here.

Hopkins's William Reiner vividly remembers the child whose case made him rethink his approach to medicine.

"It was a little 7-year-old," says Reiner, "who just about tore everybody's guts out."

Harry Knox and Sharon Groves, Conscience Magazine, Spring 2006

Much has been written about the Vatican’s “Instruction” refusing to allow openly gay men enter Catholic seminaries. The first press leaks about the document coincided with the formation of a new effort by the Religion and Faith Program at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in the summer of 2005 that had a twofold mission: (1) to equip religious leaders and lay people alike to speak out about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality from a faith perspective and (2) to work with people of
faith to change the conversation about LGBT equality from within their faith communities.

"It’s a complicated issue," explains Sam, a man facing great judgment and scrutiny—both from the larger society and the GLBT community.

One day a month, at a location and on a day that is kept secret, men gather to eat, chat, and support each other. Today it’s an older group of twelve men, most around retirement age. All have been married for many years. Most have children, houses, and (if not retired) responsible jobs. They pay taxes. In every way, they are a normal bunch of men. A stranger wandering in the room might guess it could be an AA meeting.

Article by Kai Wright: Sharmus has been a sex worker for about five years. She started after breaking up with a boyfriend who was supporting her while she was out of work. It was quick money, and, as with many of her transgender friends, she didn't believe there were many other jobs out there for her.

"You have your good nights, and your bad nights," says Sharmus, thirty-five. "There are no fringe benefits. Summer time is the best time; the winter is hard," she explains, casually ticking off the pros and cons of being a prostitute. "It's just hard getting a job. Nobody really wants to hire you, and when they do hire you they give you a hard time."

Sex work was not in her plans back when she transitioned from male to female at age twenty-one. "Sometimes I regret it," she sighs. "My lifetime goal was to be a schoolteacher."

For many gay men, the high school years were a difficult experience. Ask those same gay men to name the most stressful part of that high school era and you'd be surprised to hear the same answer over and over again. "The most traumatic class for me in High School was Physical Education!" says Steve Armijo, a resident of Long Beach, California.

"I hated PE. It was so intimidating having to be athletic in front of the other guys. I had no hand-eye coordination and so I was constantly dropping the football.the baseball.the basketball.the soccer ball...any kind of ball! Everytime I messed up, the other guys would be really cruel and mean , P.E. was institutionalized torture for me." Steve at age 16, was shy, averse to P.E. classes, ostracized by the "regular" boys, preferring to read celebrity tabloids and watch 'Dynasty' alone in his room.