Reuters

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Russian Constitution must Define Marriage as Heterosexual, Putin Says

President Vladimir Putin has proposed amending the Russian constitution to spell out that marriage means a union between a man and a woman and nothing else, a senior politician was cited as saying on Monday by the RIA news agency. Putin, who has aligned himself with the Russian Orthodox Church and sought to distance Russia from liberal Western values, has proposed a shake-up of Russia’s political system that critics say may be designed to extend his grip on power after 2024, when he is due to leave the Kremlin. He and his supporters see that overhaul as an opportunity to […]

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Suicide Rates Fall among Gay Youth but still Outpace Straight Peers

Youth suicide rates are dropping in the U.S., but the proportion of teens who have suicidal thoughts or make an attempt remains consistently higher among sexual minorities than among heterosexual young people, two new studies in Pediatrics suggest. One study looked at suicide rates among teens between 2009 and 2017 and found young people who didn’t identify as heterosexual were more than three times as likely as those who did to attempt suicide. A second study looked at this same connection from 1995 to 2017 and found suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts were all more common among sexual-minority youth. Related […]

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Gays in Hungary Facing Increased Government Hostility, Rights Group Says

Hungary’s gay community is facing increased government “attacks” and fears that its hard-won rights, and an improvement in public acceptance of them, may be at risk, a rights group said. The European Union has long criticized Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing government over its record on the rule of law and civil liberties, including its attitude toward minorities, including LGBTQ people. The Hatter (“Background”) group said various legislative moves, a lack of police vigilance and sometimes hostile rhetoric from the ruling Fidesz party threatened to undo the progress seen since the fall of communism three decades ago. Related NBC OUT […]

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Supreme Court Rejects Inmate’s Bid for Sex Reassignment Surgery

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal by a convicted murderer who filed a civil rights lawsuit because Texas prison officials denied her request to be considered for gender reassignment surgery. The justices let stand a lower court’s decision to reject the claim by inmate Vanessa Lynn Gibson that denying the surgery request violated the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Gibson, 41, who is transgender, was assigned male at birth and has lived as a female since age 15. Gibson was incarcerated in 1995 for aggravated assault, then was convicted of […]

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Sex-reassignment Surgery Yields Long-term Mental Health Benefits, Study Finds

When transgender people undergo sex-reassignment surgery, the beneficial effect on their mental health is still evident — and increasing — years later, a Swedish study suggests. Overall, people in the study with gender incongruence — that is, their biological gender doesn’t match the gender with which they identify — were six times more likely than people in the general population to visit a doctor for mood and anxiety disorders. They were also three times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants, and six times more likely to be hospitalized after a suicide attempt, researchers found. But among trans people who had […]

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Northern Ireland Prepares for Momentous Shift to Marriage Equality

Campaigners who fought for decades to end Northern Ireland’s same sex-marriage ban and restrictions on abortion prepared on Monday for a momentous change to the laws on both at the stroke of midnight. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that does not allow same-sex marriage. Also, unlike England, Scotland and Wales, laws in Northern Ireland forbid abortion except where a mother’s life is at risk, bans that have been upheld by the region’s block of conservative politicians. But an overwhelming vote by British lawmakers in July to compel the government in London to overhaul the laws […]

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Hong Kong Court Upholds Ban on Same-sex Marriage

A Hong Kong court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage and civil union partnerships on Friday after a lesbian identified as “MK” launched the city’s first judicial challenge on the issue, stating it violated her constitutional rights. Rights group Amnesty International described the judgment as a “bitter blow” for LGBTQ people in Hong Kong. “Sadly, the discriminatory treatment of same-sex couples will continue for the time being,” Amnesty said in a statement. Related NBC OUT Olympian Adam Rippon sends message to bullied youth on #SpiritDay The Court of First Instance ruled that the government was not obliged to provide an […]

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Gay Salvadoran Finds Freedom and Hardship in America

A year to the day after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2018, Luis Rodriguez, 20, writhed on a gurney in a Los Angeles emergency room with a kidney and bladder infection. He wasn’t just in pain – he was worried. His asylum claim had not yet been approved. He had no work permit, though he’d been working seven days a week anyway. Now he was seriously ill, and bills were mounting. When Rodriguez arrived in the United States, he had planned to finish his final year of high school, earn a university degree and then become a systems engineer. […]

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Unequal HIV Prevention Pill Use Puts Minority Men at Higher Risk

Fewer minority men who are at risk for HIV take a prevention pill or discuss it with their doctors, U.S. researchers say. Awareness of a pill for “preexposure prophylaxis,” or PrEP, is high for all groups of men who have sex with men. But lower proportions of black and Hispanic men, compared with white men, have actually gotten prescriptions for the drug, which is 99 percent effective at preventing HIV transmission, the study team found. Based on interviews, researchers found the disparities emerge at the point of having a discussion about PrEP with a healthcare provider. This suggests doctors can […]

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A Transgender Man Who Gives Birth is a Mother, U.K. Court Rules

An individual who is born female but later becomes male and gives birth to a child should be legally regarded as a mother, England’s High Court ruled on Wednesday. Fred McConnell, a transgender man, wanted to be recognized as the father of his son, who was born last year, on the official registration of the child’s birth but was told he would have to be registered as the mother. He sought legal action to quash that decision, saying it breached his and his son’s rights but in a landmark ruling, Andrew McFarlane, President of the High Court’s Family Division, dismissed his claim […]

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