Dan Avery

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Gender-affirming surgery linked to better mental health, study finds

Transgender people who have access to gender-affirming surgery report better mental health outcomes, according to a new study. The report, published Wednesday in JAMA Surgery, compared the psychological distress levels, suicide risk and substance use in trans and gender-diverse people who had undergone gender-affirming surgery with those who wanted such procedures but had not yet had them. The researchers found that subjects who had not received the surgical interventions they desired were nearly twice as likely to report severe psychological distress and suicidal thoughts, and reported higher incidences of binge drinking and tobacco use, as well. “This study adds to […]

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American Medical Association urges governors to veto transgender medical bans

The American Medical Association is urging governors across the country to oppose legislation prohibiting transition-related care for minors, calling such proposals “a dangerous governmental intrusion into the practice of medicine.” In an open letter Monday to the National Governors Association, the association’s CEO, James Madara, cited evidence that trans and nonbinary gender identities “are normal variations of human identity and expression” and said decisions about care belong in the hands of health care providers and families, not lawmakers. “As with all medical interventions, physicians are guided by their ethical duty to act in the best interest of their patients and […]

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Manhattan will stop prosecuting sex workers, marking ‘monumental’ step for trans advocates

Transgender advocates in New York are celebrating after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced it will no longer prosecute sex workers. “Over the last decade we’ve learned from those with lived experience, and from our own experience on the ground: criminally prosecuting prostitution does not make us safer, and too often, achieves the opposite result by further marginalizing vulnerable New Yorkers,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said Wednesday in a statement. The DA also announced approximately 6,000 prostitution-related open cases will be dismissed, including 900 cases dating back to the 1970s. Cecilia Gentili, founder of Transgender Equity Consulting, in the […]

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Nearly a third of young gay people have attempted suicide, study finds

Suicide rates among young people have been on the rise in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but gay and bisexual youths are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide as their straight peers. And, despite advances in the fight for LGBTQ equality, a new report finds that young gay people today are even more likely to have attempted suicide than in previous generations. Researchers at the Williams Institute, a sexual orientation and gender identity think tank at UCLA School of Law, found that 30 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual respondents ages 18 to 25 reported […]

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Sodomy laws that labeled gay people sex offenders challenged in court

Nearly 20 years after the Supreme Court struck down laws criminalizing consensual same-sex activity, the legacy of sodomy bans is still felt across the United States. In 1993, then-18-year-old Randall Menges was charged under Idaho’s “crimes against nature” law for having sex with two 16-year-old males. All three worked and lived at Pratt Ranch, a cattle ranch in Gem County that doubled as a live-in foster program for troubled teenagers. Menges was convicted despite police reports indicating the activity was consensual, and the age of consent in Idaho when a defendant is 18 is 16 years old. After serving seven years in […]

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Nebraska Supreme Court allows same-sex couple to adopt

The Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled that a lesbian couple can legally adopt a 3-year-old child who has lived with them since birth, overturning a lower court’s decision rejecting their petition. In July 2020, Dixon County Judge Douglas Luebe said that he had no jurisdiction to grant an adoption to the couple — identified by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska as K.H. and M.V., who asked to keep their names anonymous — because they were listed in their petition as “wife and wife,” according to the Nebraska Supreme Court. In his order, Luebe referred to a version of Black’s Law […]

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Julius’ Bar, site of historic gay ‘sip-in,’ threatened by pandemic

Julius’, a beloved New York City bar, has occupied the corner of Waverly Place and West 10th Street in the West Village for nearly 160 years. With little identifying it beyond its name in simple green cursive, the watering hole’s unassuming exterior belies its importance in gay rights history. Like the Stonewall Inn just a few hundred feet away, Julius’ has been a lifeline to New York’s queer community for decades. Now its owner is determined to make sure that legacy — and the bar itself— isn’t a casualty of the pandemic, which has devastated New York City nightlife. Opened […]

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eHarmony’s new inclusive ads are enraging some on the right

Once viewed as unwelcoming to the LGBTQ community, popular online matchmaker eHarmony has gone through a queer-friendly rebranding of late. The site, which boasts more than 2 million messages a week, began offering same-sex matches in 2019. This winter, it launched its first queer-inclusive commercial, featuring a lesbian couple.https://www.youtube.com/embed/2Vfnym5MlZE The ad, “I Scream,” is part of eHarmony’s current “Real Love” campaign and opens on a female couple in their kitchen. In between kisses, one woman tastes her partner’s cooking and makes it clear she’s not a fan. The pair wind up on the couch enjoying a pint of ice cream […]

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Jurors can be rejected for being gay. The Equality Act could change that.

The House of Representatives last month passed the Equality Act, a landmark assemblage of LGBTQ anti-discrimination measures that’s gotten strong support from President Joe Biden. If passed, the law would explicitly provide protections to LGBTQ people across key areas, including employment, housing, education, public accommodations and federally funded programs. But one provision in the bill could also have a big impact on how the gay community interacts with the American legal system. It would bar attorneys from rejecting prospective jurors simply because they are LGBTQ. Though there are some classifications that cannot be used as criteria for pre-emptive exclusion during jury […]

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Virginia is poised to reform its HIV criminalization laws. Is the rest of the U.S. next?

Virginia lawmakers have approved legislation modernizing laws around HIV exposure. Passed after two versions of the bill were reconciled, the legislationwould repeal the felony criminal ban on blood, tissue or organ donation by people with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; make HIV-testing for people convicted of certain crimes, including prostitution and drug charges, optional rather than mandatory; and strike down a statute making failure to disclose HIV-positive status before sex a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months jail time. Intentional transmission of HIV, or “infected sexual battery,” would remain a felony in Virginia, rather than a misdemeanor, […]

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