Features

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‘Frightening’ Online Transphobia Has Real-life Consequences, Advocates Say

Trystan Reese, a transgender man and community advocate, thought social media would be a great place to share his pregnancy story with the world. Little did he know, he would face several years of “extreme backlash” for doing just that. “I was pretty excited for the opportunity to start to add more positive stories to the sort of public narrative around what it can mean to be transgender today,” Reese, whose pregnancy story was covered by NBC News and countless other news outlets in 2017, explained. Over the past two and a half years, however, Reese — who lives in Portland, Oregon, […]

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Got an STI? Anonymously Tell Sex Partners to Get Tested

A new tool makes it even easier to let your sex partners know—anonymously—that they may have been exposed to a treatable sexually transmitted infection (STI) and that they might want to get tested.  The free service, Tell Your Partner, is a fast, secure, easy-to-use notification system that doesn’t require you to share any of your personal information. Simply add phone numbers or email addresses for partners you’d like to notify and enter the infection(s) your partner(s) should get tested for. After you preview a sample message and confirm you’re not a robot, hit send. How Tell Your Partner Works  Many people keep […]

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Report Ahead of Trans Day of Remembrance Shows 331 Trans Murders in Last Year

Last week, in advance of today’s International Trans Day of Remembrance, Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide released the annual results from its Trans Murder Monitoring research project, “to join the voices raising awareness of this day regarding hate crimes against trans and gender-diverse people, and to honour the lives of those who might otherwise be forgotten.” The TMM project is devoted to the systematic collection, monitoring and analysis of reported killings of gender-diverse/trans people worldwide. It was established by TvT Worldwide in 2009, using data from 2008 onward. This year’s update, which was published on the organization’s website November 11, reported […]

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Trans Woman Forced to Remove Makeup for Driver’s License Photo

A transgender woman said she was “humiliated and traumatized” after she was forced to remove her makeup with hand sanitizer for her driver’s license photo. Jaydee Dolinar told NBC News that after her purse was stolen, she made an appointment at the Fairpark Driver License Office in Utah to obtain a replacement license last Wednesday. She said she brought the required documents to the appointment and “was fully prepared to have to say my dead name,” since she is currently in the process of changing her gender marker and legal name on her paperwork. A “dead name” describes a trans […]

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Chick-Fil-A: No More Donations To Anti-LGBT Groups

As you surely recall, they’ve said this before: As Chick-fil-A expands globally and into more liberal parts of the U.S., the chicken chain plans to change which charities it donates to after years of bad press and protests from the LGBT community. Beginning next year, Chick-fil-A will move away from its current philanthropic structure, Bisnow has learned. After donating to more than 300 charitable organizations this year, the Atlanta-based fast-food chain will instead focus on three initiatives with one accompanying charity each: education, homelessness and hunger. “There’s no question we know that, as we go into new markets, we need to be clear […]

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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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Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Donated $100 Million towards Gene Research for HIV Cure

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has teamed up with the National Institute of Health (NIH) to develop revolutionary gene-based cures for HIV and sickle cell anaemia. The billionaire couple are the most generous philanthropists in the US and have previously donated a whopping $287 million to HIV/AIDS research. They are now giving an additional $100 million which, combined with the NIH’s investment, will amount to at least $200 million over the next four years – a huge boost to researchers fighting the diseases. It’s particularly vital as scientists recently announced they have discovered a new strain of HIV for the first time in […]

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First New HIV Strain Discovered In Nearly 20 Years

For the first time in nearly two decades, a new strain of HIV has been identified, according to scientists at U.S. drugmaker Abbott Laboratories.  Mary Rodgers, a principal scientist at Abbott whose team published their findings on Wednesday in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, said there was no reason for the public to be excessively concerned about the newly discovered HIV subtype, which they believe to be extremely rare.  But the scientists said the discovery of the new strain — called HIV-1 Group M, subtype L — should serve as a reminder of how diverse and continually evolving […]

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Feds Sue Gilead Over Patents On HIV-Prevention Drugs

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration on Wednesday sued Gilead Sciences, a pharmaceutical company that sells H.I.V.-prevention drugs that can cost patients up to $20,000 a year, accusing the company of earning billions from research funded by taxpayers without paying taxpayers back. The government said the company infringed upon patents owned by the Department of Health and Human Services, and had refused attempts by the department to license its patents and collect royalties. The company sells two drugs, Truvada and Descovy, that can be taken once daily to prevent H.I.V. infection, a strategy called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. Wider access […]

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Trans Woman Found Dead in her Apartment May be 22nd Killed in the US this Year

The Philadelphia Police Department has confirmed to PinkNews they are investigating the death of Alicia Simmons, a trans woman. Simmons, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was found dead in her apartment on Sunday night. According to trans activist Ashlee Preston there were no signs of “foul play”, she wrote on Facebook. Nevertheless, trans activists remain weary around the cause of her death which, if proved to be malicious, would make Simmons the 22nd trans person killed in the US this year alone. Local community leaders and investigators are scrambling to piece together what happened to Simmons. Officers stated she was found in an apartment in the 4900 […]

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