Health

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How monkeypox spoiled gay men’s plans for an invincible summer

For many gay and bisexual men, the sprawling and chaotic monkeypox outbreak has upended a summer that was supposed to be a well-earned opportunity — following the peak of the Covid crisis — to finally have some fun and revel with their gay brothers without the threat of viral infection hanging over them.  Soon after Memorial Day, however, these men, as well as transgender individuals and other queer people — GBTQ for short, because lesbians’ monkeypox risk is remote — were met head-on with harrowing reports about monkeypox’s often devastating and disfiguring effects on the body. Next came anger and frustration over […]

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Judge Rules Against Federal Mandate for Coverage of HIV Prevention Medication PrEP, Signaling New Attack on LGBTQ Health in the South

Today U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled in Braidwood Management v. Becerra against a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires employers to provide insurance coverage for PrEP (Pre-exposure prophylaxis), a medication that prevents the transmission of HIV. The judge ruled that the ACA mandate violates employers’ rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Read the ruling in the case (courtesy of Chris Geidner) here.  Ivy Hill (they/them pronouns), Community Health Program Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, said today:  “This ruling is about imposing extreme religious beliefs – not, as it purports, about protecting religious freedom: Far right extremist judges are attacking privacy and […]

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Monkeypox cases are falling, but experts warn that the outbreak is not over

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The number of new monkeypox cases in the United States has fallen by 40% since early August — a signal that the country’s outbreak could be abating. According to an NBC News analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the seven-day average of new reported cases decreased from a daily average of 465 on Aug. 10, to 281 on Aug. 31. The overall drop in cases is largely driven by falling case counts in big cities including New York City and Los Angeles.  Much of that decrease, experts say, may be attributed to conscious changes in behavior among people […]

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CDC officials urge calm after Texas reports its first monkeypox-related death

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Texas has reported its first death of a person diagnosed with monkeypox. The unnamed man lived in Harris County, the state’s largest county, containing Houston and several nearby suburbs. He was also “severely immunocompromised,” the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement issued on Tuesday. The statement provided no other identifying information about the man. “The case is under investigation to determine what role monkeypox played in the death,” the department wrote. In a Tuesday White House press briefing, Dr. Jennifer McQuiston with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expressed sympathy for the man’s passing, and […]

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White House To Boost MPX Vaccine Outreach At LGBTQ Events

The Hill reports: The Biden administration on Tuesday announced plans to expand the response to the monkeypox outbreak by providing vaccinations and education at large LGBTQ-centered events around the country following a recent pilot program carried out in Charlotte, N.C. Demetre Daskalakis [photo], deputy director for the White House’s national monkeypox response, stated during a briefing that the administration was aiming to make its response more “intentional and targeted.” “Given the progress we’ve made toward making the tools available to end this outbreak, our vaccine strategy is to meet people where they seek services, care or community — especially in communities of […]

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Judge blocks Biden administration requiring religious doctors provide trans healthcare

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A federal court has blocked efforts by the Biden administration to ensure trans people are never discriminated against by religious doctors when seeking heathcare. In 2016, the Obama administration issued an interpretation of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, that said healthcare providers who receive federal funds must perform and provide insurance coverage for gender-affirming healthcare – no exceptions. But the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously ruled Friday (26 August) that the Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS) mandate is “in violation of its sincerely held religious beliefs” by not letting medical providers withhold care “on the […]

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Gay & bi men reduce sexual partners to fight monkeypox exposure

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The spread of monkeypox is causing men who have sex with men (MSM) to reduce their numbers of sexual partners, according to survey results released this week by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC’s survey found that 48 percent of respondents had reduced their number of sexual partners, 50 had reduced their number of one-night stands, and 49 percent reduced the amount of sex they had with men that they’d met through hookup apps, The Hill reported. The publication noted that local public health officials have been hesitant to suggest that people practice sexual abstinence as a key […]

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Monkeypox: ‘Mounting evidence’ suggests current strain can be sexually transmitted

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New research suggests the strain of monkeypox involved in the current global outbreak is predominantly sexually transmitted. As of Wednesday (17 August), there have been more than 35,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox across 92 countries and territories since the beginning of the outbreak in April 2022, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Most of these are among men who have sex with men. In the earlier stages of the outbreak, experts insisted there was no evidence that monkeypox was a sexually transmitted virus, and that it was mostly transmitted by skin-to-skin contact, but mounting research is suggesting otherwise. On Sunday (14 […]

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Monkeypox Concerns Cancel Southern Decadance Concert,  But Not Entire Event

At first it was Covid. Now it’s monkeypox. Organizers of a free concert at an upcoming LGBTQ festival known as Southern Decadence in New Orleans have canceled the concert due to the threat of monkeypox. The larger six-day festival September 1-5 will continue as planned, as it always has since 1973 with the exception of when there were hurricanes and the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. The popular event typically attracts about 250,000 people. But organizers of the concert thought that with the rise in monkeypox cases, particularly among gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, and men who have sex […]

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Monkeypox: New deal will increase supplies of much-needed vaccine amid global shortages

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The sole supplier of the world’s monkeypox vaccine has struck a deal with an American manufacturer to increase supplies of the much-needed shot. Bavarian Nordic, a small Danish company, will hand over the production of millions of vaccines to Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM), a Michigan-based biotechnology company that makes injectable drugs. Two weeks after the White House declared monkeypox a national health emergency, the Biden administration announced on 18 August GRAM will fill and finish 2.5 million doses of the vaccine. The Department of Health and Human Services said the deal will allow Bavarian Nordic to speed up delivery of the 5.5 million vials […]

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