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Media’s ‘Detransition’ Narrative is Fueling Misconceptions, Trans Advocates Say

In early October, the United Kingdom’s SkyNews ran a story about the “Detransition Advocacy Network,” a new charity founded by Charlie Evans, a former transgender man who detransitioned in 2018. Evans told SkyNews that “hundreds” of young trans people were seeking her help to return to their sex assigned at birth, and she said more resources are urgently needed for people experiencing post-transition regret. “I’m in communication with 19- and 20-year-olds who have had full gender reassignment surgery who wish they hadn’t, and their dysphoria hasn’t been relieved, they don’t feel better for it,” Evans told SkyNews. “They don’t know what their […]

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First Living HIV-positive Gay Man Donates Kidney

Being a longtime nurse Karl Neumann of Norfolk, Va., understands just how critical it is to have a robust community blood supply available. However, as a sexually active gay man, he is banned from donating blood because of a federal law.  “It’s frustrating that there are shortages of blood, but certain people are still restricted from giving blood at a time when modern medicine can easily test for diseases.”  Karl worries confusion or resentment regarding the “blood ban” might prevent gay men from realizing that they have another opportunity to heal and save lives – by registering to be organ donors.  “I’ve […]

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PrEP’s Unexpected Side Effect: Reduced ‘HIV Anxiety’

When HIV first tore into America’s gay male community in the early 1980s, quotidian questions of sex, love, lust and trust transformed into weighty decisions with potential life-or-death consequences. The decision to stop using condoms with a serious partner? Only as reliable an HIV-prevention method as your partner’s fidelity. A single instance of cheating? An indiscretion that carries the risk of an incurable and deadly disease. A random hookup? A nagging sense that, perhaps, this time was the time. Todd Faircloth, 52, remembers those days well. In 1987, when gay men were still dying from AIDS in large numbers, Faircloth moved […]

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Hallmark Wants to Reinstate Same-sex Marriage Ad after Pulling it

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The Hallmark Channel said Sunday that it would “re-establish” its relationship with the wedding company behind a same-sex commercial, just days after Hallmark pulled the ad amid pressure from a conservative advocacy group. In a statement Sunday, the president of Hallmark Cards, Mike Perry, said Hallmark’s parent company, Crown Media Family Networks, had been “agonizing” over its decision to remove the ad and the “hurt it has unintentionally caused.” Hallmark added that it would work with an LGBTQ advocacy group, GLAAD, to “better represent … the community” while working to reinstate the commercials. After Hallmark’s reversal, GLAAD’s president, Sarah Kate Ellis, […]

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Transgender Latina Makes History as Evangelical Lutheran Pastor

Before coming out as transgender, Nicole Garcia prayed daily that God would “fix” her. When her prayers weren’t answered and the feeling in her gut didn’t go away, she gave up on religion. Now, nearly four decades later, Garcia stands behind the pulpit at Westview Lutheran Church in Boulder, Colorado, and delivers weekly sermons to a congregation of more than 100 faithful as their ordained pastor. “Nobody can question my faith, my devotion to Christ, my devotion to the church. That’s why I’m the pastor here,” Garcia,who turned 60 Thursday, told NBC News. “Being trans is secondary.” Garcia, who delivered her first […]

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Starbucks Fired a Trans Supervisor after Staff Played ‘Pig’ Prank on Cops

Starbucks fired a trans woman from her supervisor job after a police officer was given an order labelled “pig”. Lola Rose, a trans college student, said she was “made to be a martyr” after the incident went viral and is now considering legal action, She had been working as a shift supervisor at a Starbucks in Glenpool, Oklahoma, on Thanksgiving morning, when a police officer was handed a muffin with “pig” on the label. Rose told The New York Post that she’d noticed the label and intervened, thinking, “No, that’s not right.” “I jumped into action, apologised, then I thanked him for […]

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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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Facebook’s ‘Inaccurate’ HIV PrEP Ads an ‘Imminent Danger,’ LGBTQ Groups Say

More than 50 LGBTQ, HIV and public health organizations have signed an open letter calling on Facebook to remove “factually inaccurate” advertisements placed by law firms that “suggest negative health effects” of HIV-prevention medication Truvada, a type of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. “The advertisements are targeting LGBTQ Facebook and Instagram users, and are causing significant harm to public health,” the letter states. “The law firms’ advertisements are scaring away at-risk HIV negative people from the leading drug that blocks HIV infections.” The ads were bought by various law firms looking to use the platform’s targeted advertising capabilities to recruit gay and bisexual […]

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Pioneering Testicle Transplant Raises Hopes of Future Surgery for Transgender Men

A groundbreaking testicle transplant operation has taken place, raising hopes of potential future operations for transgender patients. Several of the world’s leading experts in genital surgery performed the pioneering operation for an unnamed cisgender man in Belgrade, Serbia.ADVERTISING The man was born without testicles due to a rare condition, leaving him reliant on injections to receive testosterone, similar to transgender men. The six-hour operation saw a testicle transplanted from the patient’s twin brother, which will allow him to produce his own testosterone. The two brothers, who now have one testicle each, are both doing well, transplant surgeon Dr Dicken Ko […]

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Federal Court to Consider Bathroom Use by Transgender Student

A transgender student’s fight over school bathrooms comes before a federal appeals court Thursday, setting the stage for a groundbreaking ruling. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta will hear arguments about whether a Florida school district should be ordered to allow students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. Drew Adams, who has since graduated from Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, won a lower court ruling last year ordering the St. Johns County school district to allow him to use the boys’ restroom. The district has appealed, arguing that although it will permit transgender […]

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