Features

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Potential New Vaccine ‘blocks All Known Strains of HIV’

A novel drug candidate against HIV has been created by a joint team led by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, FL. The scientists consider it to be so potent and effective that it could form the basis of a vaccine. drugs and syringe The scientists designed a protein that simultaneously binds to two sites on the surface of the virus, which blocks it from entering a host cell. “Our compound is the broadest and most potent entry inhibitor described so far,” says Michael Farzan, a Scripps Research Institute professor who led the effort. “Unlike antibodies, which fail […]

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Equality California Launches Campaign to End the FDA’s Discriminatory Blood Donation Ban

Equality California, the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization in California, today launched a mobilization campaign to urge the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration to end the discriminatory lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men. EQCA’s campaign called “Every Drop Counts” will mobilize the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its allies, including elected officials and community leaders, to advocate for the end of the ban through direct, public advocacy. Established in 1983 during a time of great fear and little knowledge about […]

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Two Simple Things HHS Can Do to Improve Health of LGBT People

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 In the last five years, the federal government has taken significant steps toward recognizing and addressing health disparities that affect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. These include increasing data collection about sexual orientation and gender identity; establishing new nondiscrimination provisions that cover sexual orientation and gender identity; and increasing research and prevention services targeting LGBT health. But there are two more things that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can do that will make an even bigger impact on closing the gap in healthcare disparities that exist among LGBT people and the general population: designate LGBT […]

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Criminalization of LGBT People and Those Living With HIV Threatens Global Progress Against AIDS

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When Uganda President Yoweri Museveni visited the White House during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit last month, a high court had just overturned his country’s widely reviled “Anti-Homosexuality Law” which penalized “aggravated homosexuality” with life in prison, and criminalized the provision of services and support to gay people, threatening progress in that country’s long battle against HIV. The elimination of the law, which President Barack Obama had warned Museveni would “complicate” the relationship between their two countries, allowed Museveni to focus on the summit, centered around growth, economic development, and the theme of “investing in the next generation.” In many sub-Saharan […]

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HRC Apologizes to Trans Community, Pledges Push for Broad LGBT Bill

In a gracious and surprising move, the president of the nation’s largest LGBT organization offered an apology to the transgender community at the same time he said the group would take a lead in advocating fully comprehensive federal LGBT civil-rights legislation. “I want to cut right to the chase here today,” said Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin in Atlanta Friday, September 5, addressing several hundred people at the annual Southern Comfort conference, a major gathering for transgender people. “There’s an elephant in this room, and, well, it’s me,” he said. “So I am here today, at Southern Comfort, to […]

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Transgender Woman Says Immigration Detention Officials Told Her To Pretend Her Rape Was Consensual

  Marichuy Leal Gamino is a 23-year-old transgender woman who has spent more than a year living in an immigration detention facility, housed with men. Though she spent most of her life growing up in Arizona, she was born a Mexican citizen, making her an undocumented immigrant. After repeatedly experiencing harassment and threats of abuse, she says she was sexually assaulted last week by her cellmate. When she reported the abuse to the staff of the for-profit facility, they allegedly responded by asking her to sign a statement claiming that she had consented. A number of LGBT and immigrant rights […]

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Children Of Gay Parents Are Happier And Healthier Than Their Peers, New Study Finds

  Children raised by same-sex couples have better health and well-being in comparison to their peers, according to a groundbreaking new study which is being billed as the largest of its kind. Conducted by Australia’s University of Melbourne, the new research aimed to “describe the physical, mental and social wellbeing” of children with gay and lesbian parents, and “the impact that stigma has on them.” On average, children raised by same-sex couples scored six percent higher than the general population when it came to general health and family cohesion. Meanwhile, in other categories — such as behavior, mental health and […]

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Coming Out to Your Healthcare Provider

  We can’t expect to get appropriate care from our health providers if we don’t come out to them. Conversely, our providers have to be well-versed in the healthcare needs of LGBT people. Aside from our spouses, significant others, or romantic partners, our providers are the people who most need to be aware of our gender identity, sexuality, and sexual behavior. The reason for this is simple: As lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people, we face unique health challenges, and the only way our providers can give us the best care possible is if they are aware of issues […]

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U.S. Health Officials Encourage Use Of HIV Pill For At-Risk Individuals

U.S. health officials on Wednesday issued new recommendations urging healthcare workers to consider offering an HIV prevention pill to healthy individuals who are at substantial risk for HIV infection. The guidelines, issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Public Health Service, involve the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, a strategy in which at-risk individuals take a daily dose of an antiretroviral drug to reduce their risk of HIV infection. The strategy builds on a landmark 2010 study that found Gilead Sciences Inc’s Truvada – a pill already widely used to treat the human […]

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MILESTONE: US Dept. of Education. Announces Title IX Protects Transgender Students

NCTE welcomes guidance issued today by the U.S. Department of Education which makes clear that the federal Title IX law prohibits discrimination against transgender students. The guidance, from the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), states: “Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity and OCR accepts such complaints for investigation.”   “This announcement is a breakthrough for transgender students, who too often face hostility at school and refusal by school officials to accept them for who they truly are,” said NCTE Policy […]

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