LGBT+ teenagers who are first-time offenders are more likely to have substance abuse or mental health problems than their heterosexual or cis-gendered peers, according to new research.
The study, carried out by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, suggests higher rates of stress among LGBT+ adolescents—often triggered by family problems or rejection by their peers—could be to blame.
The researchers emphasised that a teenager’s sexual orientation or gender identity alone does not put them at increased risk of breaking the law, as a range of factors contribute to offense rates.Dr Matthew Hirschtritt, lead author of the study, said: “Factors like peer rejection and family discord may contribute to impaired support networks and engagement in risky behaviour.
“It would be incorrect to conclude that sexual-minority status puts a youth at increased risk of offending.
“But if we compare court-involved sexual minority youth with court-involved straight youth, we see more severe psychological distress and a greater likelihood of child-welfare system involvement.”
For the study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Adolescent Health, researchers examined 423 first-time, non-detained offenders aged between 12 and 18 from a juvenile court in an unnamed Northeastern state.
Of these, 133—about a third of the group—identified as LGBTQ.
The teenagers had committed offenses ranging from underage drinking to breaking and entering.
Among the LGBTQ group, one in two had used alcohol, compared to one in four of the heterosexual and cis-gendered group.
They were also approximately twice as likely to use drugs, including cannabis, cocaine and injection drugs.
The LGBT+ group also reported poorer mental health, which meant they were at higher risk of self-harm.
Researchers called for better support of young LGBT+ first-offenders.
Co-author Dr Marina Tolou-Shams said: “We need cost-effective, tailored interventions so that adolescents’ first court appearances become an opportunity to prevent worsening of pre-existing health risks and further entrenchment in the justice system.”
Dr Hirschtritt added: “One-on-one support, group counselling and peer support may meet the needs of these adolescents without further stigmatising them.”
The Annual Bullying Survey, carried out by the charity Ditch the Label, found 43 percent of people within the LGBT+ community questioned have been bullied in the last 12 months.
More than 9,000 people aged between 12 and 20 were surveyed.
Of those within the LGBT+ community, nearly a third—31 percent—had attempted suicide because of their experiences and half of the respondents said they had self-harmed.
According to the Mexican news site ContraMuro.com and Forbes Mexico, a 248-room LGBT resort featuring five bars and three restaurants will open next year on or near (this is unclear) Cuba’s resort island Cayo Guillermo.
The “luxurious five-star” hotel is reportedly the project of MGM Mutha Hotels, which currently operates about two dozen resorts in Europe and India, and already has two locations in Cuba, including one on Cayo Guillermo.
According to the first report linked above, further details on the project will be revealed once Cuba’s National Assembly votes to reform the country’s constitution, which would include the legalization of same-sex marriage. The first draft of the reform was approved last week.
Since she transitioned in 1998, at the age of 16, all of Danni Askini’s identity documents have read “female.” But last month, when Askini went to renew her passport, her request was denied. Askini says the U.S. Passport Office told her she had “failed to disclose” that she was transgender and needed to provide proof of gender transition — after 20 years of having a passport that says she’s female.
“Make no mistake, this was an intentional action by the State Department to withhold recognizing my gender,” says Askini, who was eventually granted a temporary two-year passport that allowed her to travel from her Seattle home to Sweden. The activist and executive director of Gender Justice League needed to leave Seattle, she says, after a series of death threats posted on the anti-trans website Kiwi Farms, as well as threats from local alt-right groups in the Pacific Northwest. She’d had her most recent passport for 10 years, but it was up for renewal.
Askini’s battle with the U.S. Department of State — which oversees the Passport Office — began last month, and a June 29 tweet she posted about the ordeal went viral.
Just this week, another trans woman encountered the same problem.
New York-based technology researcher Janus Rose says she’s had her passport, with a female gender marker, since November. But recently she finalized a legal name change, and sent in paperwork along with her current passport to renew the document with the new legal name. It seemed like a simple formality, until she received a phone call from a passport processing center in South Carolina.
“She basically told me that even though the government had changed my gender marker in the last year, that was a mistake,” says Rose. The passport official told Rose that the State Department should not have allowed her to change her gender on the document — and that the medical documentation she’d supplied at the time was invalid.
“This letter is something my clinic has been using as a boilerplate for years for so many people,” Rose says. “The clinic says I’m the first person to get a rejection.”
Rose had successfully changed the gender marker on her passport in 2017 using a letter signed by the nurse practitioner at her clinic. The clinic, she says, told her they’ve never encountered a person being told that that letter is invalid or that they need to have it written by an M.D. instead.
“It seems pretty clear that even if the policy hasn’t changed, something has changed in terms of guidance on how to enforce this — because it’s being enforced differently now,” says Rose.
According to the State Department’s policy, a person seeking a gender change on a passport must submit an ID “that resembles your current appearance,” a recent passport photo, proof of legal name change if applicable, and a “medical certification that indicates you are in the process of or have had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition.”
In response to an emailed request for comment, a State Department official said the department doesn’t comment on individual applications — but provided more context on the gender change policy in general.
“Every applicant who applies for a U.S. passport undergoes extensive vetting of their identity, claim to U.S. citizenship and entitlement to a passport,” said the State Department official. “When a passport applicant presents a certification from a medical physician stating that the applicant has undergone or is receiving appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition, a new passport will be issued with an updated gender marker. Sexual reassignment surgery is not a prerequisite for updating the gender marker in a passport and documents proving sexual reassignment surgery are not required.”
The State Department did not respond directly to a question about why someone’s gender marker would be “revoked” after already being changed years ago.
Rose says she’s frustrated that a simple name change turned into a reevaluation of the validity of her gender.
“I spoke to someone the other day, a cis person, who had their legal name changed and it was fine,” says Rose. “There was no asking for additional documentation or proof. She literally did the same thing just the other day. That’s what this is about. A cis person can go in and make this simple change, and a trans person cannot.”
Askini, in contrast, was disturbed by the fact that the State Department even knew she was transgender. In her specific case, her legal gender transition was granted by a judge when she was still a minor — and in relation to a sex trafficking case and a safety effort to conceal her identity, all of the child welfare records were sealed at the time.
“None of my documentation would disclose my trans status,” says Askini. “No databases that are local, state, or federal should note my gender as anything other than female.”
Askini believes the only reason she was eventually granted a temporary passport is because Seattle-based congresswoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s office put direct pressure on the passport agency on the well-known activist’s behalf.
“I believe that the Trump Administration or someone in the Seattle Passport Office has targeted me politically and politicized the process for obtaining passports,” says Askini. “Their actions and statements are NOT consistent with the actual letter of the code related to trans people.”
Rose has similar suspicions. Though she’s careful to steer clear of “the temptation to blame everything on Trump,” and notes that trans people have faced bureaucratic discrimination for years, she says it feels like a very sudden change has occurred at the State Department.
“It seems like they’re applying a different standard of enforcement to these cases now. I’ve never heard of a person having a problem changing their name on a passport until now,” says Rose.
Although the State Department did not directly respond to a question asking whether there had been a recent change in policy or internal guidance mandating new enforcement rules, a change would hardly be surprising. Since Trump took office, his administration has altered existing transgender-inclusive guidelines at the Department of Education, the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Census, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Even the Centers for Disease Control was instructed in an internal memo not to use the word transgender — along with terms like “diversity” and “evidence-based.” It’s not unfair to say the Trump administration has stopped just short of outlawing transgender people entirely.
“I think there’s an internal policy change to make it as difficult as possible for trans people,” says Rose. “The goal is to create friction. They can’t change all these laws right away, but they can make it really hard.”
The couple are fundraising to raise money as a reward to whoever helps them identify the sender (GoFundMe)
A lesbian couple from Minnesota have spoken out about receiving anonymous hate letters containing threats towards their daughter.
Angie and Jaime Mace, from St Peter, have launched a GoFundMe page to raise money to give as a reward to whoever helps them identify the sender of the letters, which contain extreme anti-LGBT language.
On the GoFundMe page, the couple wrote: “Please help us find a terrorist who is making death threats based on sexual orientation, race and gender in Minnesota. We need to raise reward money that will encourage witnesses to come forward with information that will lead to the arrested and prosecution of this criminal.“I am a proud resident of St. Peter, Minnesota. I am a married lesbian with a child. My wife grew up in St. Peter, while I transplanted here over 15 years ago. We have not encountered deliberate acts of discrimination, until late last year.”
The couple then explained how they received two letters in the space of a month which threatened to “destroy our home, shoot and kill us.”
“Both letters made direct threats to stalk and kill our child,” they added, posting the two letters at the end of the fundraising page.
“Your house could be torched, a gun could be used to eliminate you,” one letter reads.
It continues: “Oh, and your poor daughter! She must be so embarrassed to have you for parents! She needs to look out behind her back also… I know where she goes to school!”
Although the letters have been analysed by police and investigators, no fingerprints or DNA have been recovered.
The couple wrote on their fundraising page: “The person who wrote the letters took precautions to avoid getting caught. It seemed as though the investigation was at a stand still for several months.”
“What kind of person does this? What kind of person can sleep at night after threatening to kill innocent children? A person that belongs behind bars, that’s who!”
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Earlier this year, another lesbian couple received a letter which threatened them and their child, which is also being investigated by police.
The Maces said they had received an “outpouring of support” from people all over the world after posting one of the letters on Facebook.
“It really reinforced that the words of this bigoted idiot are not the words of the majority,” they wrote.
“We need to find this terrorist. To do that, we need to raise reward money to offer to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest of this criminal. This person must be caught and brought to justice.
“Please give what you can and ask your friends to do the same. We are scared. This seemed to start as an isolated incident, but has progressed to include other innocent families. This needs to stop and this criminal needs to know s/he is not above the law. Help us bring justice to ‘small town rural Minnesota.’”
An anti-LGBT+ Christian legal advocacy group has asked the US Supreme Court to review a ruling that bans employers from discriminating against transgender people on religious grounds.
Alliance Defending Freedom filed a petition to the court last week, which means that the Supreme Court, if it decides to go ahead and hear the case, now has the option to rule whether the country’s civil law right prohibiting sex discrimination in the workplace also includes discrimination based on gender identity.
This Court of Appeals ruling was issued after a transgender employee from Detroit was fired by her employer because she is transgender.
Aimee Stephens was fired from her job at a funeral home after coming out as trans to her boss.
She took her case all the way to the Court of Appeals with the support of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC], after a district court dismissed her legal challenge, claiming that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act gave the funeral home an exemption from the federal law – Title VII – of the Civil Rights Act, which covers sex discrimination in the workplace.
However, the Court of Appeals overruled this district court decision, saying that sex discrimination includes discrimination against trans people – and that there is no exemption under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“Discrimination against employees, either because of their failure to conform to sex stereotypes or their transgender and transitioning status, is illegal under Title VII,” Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore wrote for the Court of Appeals.
(Mark Makela/Getty Images)
“Discrimination against employees, either because of their failure to conform to sex stereotypes or their transgender and transitioning status, is illegal under Title VII,” Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore wrote for the court.
“The unrefuted facts show that the Funeral Home fired Stephens because she refused to abide by her employer’s stereotypical conception of her sex.”
A representative from the ACLU, who argued the case for Stephens, said at the time that it was “an exciting and important victory for transgender people and allied communities across the country.”
A community march in Amsterdam, where the 22nd International AIDS Conference was held. Photo by: Matthijs Immink / IAS
AMSTERDAM — The fight to end HIV/AIDS was given a boost by a star-studded week of presentations, panel sessions and the occasional protest at this year’s International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam. However, tensions within the community remain, and with few new funding pledges announced, there are questions about how to translate strong rhetoric into action.
Some 16,000 stakeholders from more than 160 countries gathered in the Dutch capital last week for AIDS 2018, the conference’s 22nd edition and one of the biggest events in the global health calendar, featuring sessions on the latest HIV science, policy, and practice.
Held under the theme of “Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges,” the real story of this year’s conference was the growing realization that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is in crisis, with 1.8 million new infections in 2017. There are also alarming spikes in new HIV cases among key groups including adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa and drug users in eastern Europe and parts of Asia, according to recent figures from UNAIDS. At the same time, development assistance for HIV dropped $3 billion between 2012 and 2017, according to a study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
“The feel is definitely less congratulatory than past conferences and more sobering,” Rachel Baggaley, coordinator for HIV prevention and testing at WHO, told Devex, but added that it was good to see the community responding with force. The activist spirit which has defined the fight against AIDS in the past was never far away, she noted, with many sessions interrupted by campaigners.
“It is very positive to see the AIDS movement hasn’t gone away … I went feeling rather down and have come away challenged and inspired; there’s a lot of things we must do and a lot of people who continue to take this [AIDS agenda] forward,” she said.
One protest challenged the leadership of the U.N.’s dedicated AIDS agency, UNAIDS, with more than 20 female campaigners interrupting Executive Director Michel Sidibé — who has been criticized for his response to a sexual harassment scandal — during his address on stage at the opening plenary. Sidibé insists he has made changes and has resisted calls to step down, but his presence was a source of controversy.
The key now will be turning the strong rhetoric and passion seen throughout AIDS 2018 into action on the ground, according to youth HIV activist Mercy Ngulube.
“We are all going to build bridges this week … but where is your bridge going to lead us? Don’t let your bridge be a bridge to nowhere,” she said during the opening plenary.
A Devex team was on the ground throughout the week and rounds up the key takeaways.
1. Target key populations
Attendees agreed that, without drastic change, the world will see global HIV targets missed and a possible resurgence of the epidemic. But Peter Piot, founding executive director of UNAIDS and now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, warned the targets themselves could leave key populations even further behind.
Speaking on Thursday, Piot reminded the audience that the 90-90-90 targets set by UNAIDS in 2014 will miss 27 percent of HIV patients. The framework calls for countries to get 90 percent of people living with HIV diagnosed; 90 percent of those diagnosed to be accessing treatment; and 90 percent of people on treatment to have suppressed viral loads by 2020.
“The 90-90-90 targets are actually 90-81-73,” he said, adding that “what the future of the epidemic is going to be determined by is the 10-10-10” — those not hit by the targets.
The 10-10-10 is likely to be made up of key populations including sex workers, men who have sex with men, LGBTI groups, people who inject drugs, and young people — all of whom are less likely to access HIV services due to social stigma, discrimination, criminalization, and other barriers, Piot said. These groups currently account for 47 percent of people with new infections, according to UNAIDS data.
Reaching these key populations was high on the agenda last week. Dudu Dlamini, a campaigner for sex workers’ health and rights who was awarded the Prudence Mabele prize for HIV activism during the conference, spoke to Devex about the need to decriminalize sex work in order to remove barriers to HIV services for sex workers.
Leading HIV scientists also put out a statement in the Journal of the International AIDS Society about laws that criminalize people with HIV for not disclosing their status and for exposing or transmitting the disease. Such laws, which exist in 68 countries, “have not always been guided by the best available scientific and medical evidence,” it said, and when used inappropriately can reinforce stigma and undermine efforts to fight the disease.
2. Prevention pay off
With new infections standing at 1.8 million last year, the recent UNAIDS report describes a “prevention crisis.” Traditionally, prevention has received only a tiny proportion of HIV funding, with the bulk going toward treatment. But there was a new buzz around the prevention agenda at this year’s event, in part driven by excitement around oral pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, which can prevent HIV infection among those at high risk. The antiretroviral medication has been successfully rolled out in North America, western Europe, and Australia, and has been shown to help reduce new infections among men who have sex with men.
WHO’s Baggaley said PrEP had “energized the prevention agenda.” However, questions remain about the feasibility of rolling it out in low-income countries, and about its efficacy for women.
“There is a prevention crisis and we need to find better ways of addressing it,” said Christine Stegling, executive director of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. But while PrEP is a promising tool, a full approach to prevention needs to include a range of methods, combined with interventions that tackle human rights issues and gender inequality, she said.
3. A youth bulge
It was impossible to miss the strong youth presence at this year’s AIDS conference, which organizers said had a larger number of young people attending than ever before, and featured dozens of youth-focused events. This is linked to a growing recognition that adolescents face a disproportionately high risk of becoming infected with HIV, especially in Africa where the population is set to rapidly increase, and where new infection rates are on the rise among young people.
Ugandan youth advocate Brian Ahimbisibwe, a volunteer ambassador for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, said: “Without the youth, the future of all these conferences, and more importantly [of] services and programs, [is] compromised.”
However, 28-year-old Tikhala Itaye, co-founder of women’s rights group Her Liberty in Malawi, said the youth voice had not been fully integrated and that young people were still being “talked at” during many of the sessions, as opposed to being listened to.
“There’s now acceptance that young people need to be at the center … they do have the demographic weight and power to influence issues around HIV,” she said, but “you still find the different youth events happening in different rooms … Why aren’t we all coming together as one to build the bridges and have a global voice?”
Signs at the 22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Photo by: Marcus Rose / IAS
4. The need for integration
A number of sessions talked about the need to integrate HIV programming, which has traditionally been siloed due to having its own funding streams, into broader health care. This was a key message of The Lancet Commission report on strengthening the HIV response published ahead of the conference, and was also the message delivered by WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during the opening plenary.
“We have not truly helped a child if we treat her for HIV, but do not vaccinate her against measles. We have not truly helped a gay man if we give him PrEP but leave his depression untreated … Universal health coverage means ensuring all people have access to all the services they need, for all diseases and conditions,” he said.
Baggaley said integrating HIV into the broader health agenda posed both “an opportunity and also a challenge and risk for those populations most marginalized,” explaining that key populations currently served by externally funded nonstate health services could see their assistance diminished under UHC if the country in question did not believe UHC includes key populations or had punitive laws against gay men or sex workers, for example.
There was much discussion around the need to combine HIV and tuberculosis efforts, especially in the run up to the first U.N. high-level TB event in September. TB is the number one killer of people with HIV, who are up to 50 times more likely to develop it, according to WHO.
Speaking in between interruptions from the crowd, former U.S. President Clinton highlighted the need to address HIV and TB in tandem during the closing plenary and called on world leaders, notably India which has the highest TB burden, to attend the upcoming U.N. TB meeting.
“If you think … anyone ..that we can possibly bring the developing world to where we want it to be by abandoning the fight against HIV/AIDS and the collateral struggle against TB, you need to think again,” he said.
New findings from the Sustainable East Africa Research in Community Health program, presented during the conference, showed positive results from a community-based program which combined HIV testing and treatment with other diseases including TB, diabetes, and hypertension. The findings of a three-year randomized controlled trial in Kenya and Uganda showed that communities receiving testing and care for HIV alongside related conditions saw nearly 60 percent fewer new TB cases among HIV-infected people and that hypertension control improved by 26 percent.
5. Medical developments
Concerns about GlaxoSmithKline’s so-called “wonder drug” dolutegravir, which a study recently suggested might be linked to serious birth defects among children in Botswana, sparked debate amongst conference goers about whether potential mothers should be prescribed the drug.
WHO already advises that women of childbearing age wishing to take the antiretroviral have access to effective contraception, and will be re-evaluating its guidance as new evidence emerges, Baggaley told Devex. But there are concerns the agency could introduce blanket restrictions for women of childbearing age, which would force them to take other antiretroviral drugs that have worse side effects. The controversy could also lead to delays in the rollout of other forms of the drug, such as a pediatric version.
The conference also featured new data from the APPROACH study, which is evaluating the safety of several different HIV vaccines currently undergoing clinical trials in the U.S., East Africa, South Africa, and Thailand — but researchers admitted a vaccine will take years to develop.
6. The Trump effect
The shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump’s beefed-up “global gag rule,” otherwise known as the Mexico City Policy, loomed large over the conference, and a number of sessions discussed how it is negatively affecting HIV programs. Unlike previous iterations of the policy — which restricts U.S. funding to non-U.S. organizations that offer services related to abortion — Trump’s version is applied to almost all U.S. global health assistance, including PEPFAR.
Santos Simione from AMODEFA, an NGO that offers sexual health and HIV services in Mozambique, said his organization had lost U.S. funding due to the gag rule and was forced to close half of its youth clinics, which offered sexual and reproductive health services alongside HIV testing, counseling, and antiretroviral therapy.
“We could not provide condoms … testing … we just stopped everything,” Simione said.
Participants also spoke of a chilling effect, whereby organizations have stopped offering services that may not actually be prohibited under the rule, and raised concerns about PEPFAR’s staying power within a hostile Trump administration.
Meanwhile, there was heated debate about arrangements for the next conference, which the International AIDS Society has said will take place in San Francisco, California, in 2020. The decision has been met with fierce opposition and threats to boycott the event from AIDS campaigners who say many key population groups affected by HIV will have difficulties attending due to strict immigration policies. In 2009, former U.S. President Barack Obama lifted a restriction banning people with HIV from entering the country, but sex workers and people who use drugs still face legal challenges entering.
The governor of New York has called for an investigation to be launched after a same-sex couple was reportedly denied a marriage license.
Dylan Toften, from the town of Root, posted on Facebook that he and his partner were rejected for a lisence by the town clerk, Laurel “Sherrie” Eriksen.
The incident was confirmed by the town attorney Robert Subik, who told local newspaper the Daily Gazette that the licence was not granted because the couple did not make an appointment and because of the clerk’s religious beliefs.Governor Andrew Cuomo has called for the incident to be investigated in a statement posted on his official website.
Same-sex marriages have been legally recognised in New York state since 2011 (Theo Wargo/Getty)
“The denial of a marriage license to a same-sex couple yesterday in Montgomery County is an unconscionable act of discrimination that goes against our values as New Yorkers,” he wrote.
“Personally I cannot believe that this could happen anywhere in this country, let alone in the State of New York. Marriage equality is the law of the land, and it has been in New York since we were the first big state to pass the Marriage Equality Act in 2011. I am directing an investigation into this incident to ensure that it never happens again.
“On behalf of all New Yorkers, I would like to congratulate Dylan Toften and his future husband on their marriage. I invite them to come to Albany, and I would be happy to offer my services as an officiant at their wedding.”
Subik told the newspaper in an email: “She has a religious objection and has referred the matter to her deputy clerk, who has no such objection and will issue the license when they make an appointment.”
Governor Cuomo (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty)
“The clerks are both part-time and don’t man the office Monday through Friday. Of course, the two men are free to go to another jurisdiction to obtain their license.”
Same-sex marriage have been legally recognised in the state of New York since 2011 and has been legal across the US since 2015.
The results from the poll, published by Gallup, mark the highest level of support the firm has ever recorded in more than 20 years of asking US citizens about their views on the issue.
In 1996, when Gallup first surveyed Americans on same-sex marriage, only 27 percent were in support.
The data showed that 83 percent of those who classed themselves as Democrats said they support legally recognised same-sex marriage – compared to less than half (44 percent) of Republican respondents.
The LGBT Foundation said there has been a recent rise in cases of shigella among men who have sex with men.
Shigellosis, or shigella, is an intestinal infection caused when bacteria found in poo gets into your mouth.
Last month, health officials in San Diego issued an advisory over the sexual transmitted infection. It said that gay and bisexual men, homeless individuals, and people with compromised immune systems could be at an increased risk for the intestinal disease.
In 2017, San Diego recorded the highest number of cases in 20 years, including a disproportional increase in the gay and bisexual community and among the homeless population.
How do you get it?
Shigella can be caught from rimming, oral sex, or putting your fingers in your mouth after handling used condoms, douches or sex toys, the LGBT Foundation says.
Signs of infection include having an upset stomach, fever, stomach ache, and diarrhoea which might have blood in it.
These symptoms can last for around a week. Shigella is closely related to the E.coli bacteria.
Disease and infections magazine outbreaknewstoday.com reported that the number of cases typically increases in the late summer and fall.
How to lower risk of shigella infection
The LGBT Foundation says you can lower your risk of infection by washing your hands, bum and genitals after sex.
You could also use dental dams, condoms, and fisting gloves to protect you when having oral sex, fisting, and fingering.
It is also recommended that you change condoms between partners, and between anal and oral sex, whether they’re on a penis, hands, or sex toys.
Hygiene as prevention: Wash often and don’t re-use condoms. Photo: Mark Johnson
Shigella treatment
Shigella is treated with a course of antibiotics, the Foundation says. However, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned last month of an increasing number of antibiotic-resistant shigella infections.
If you think you have shigella, go to a sexual health (GUM) clinic or your GP and explain your symptoms. You may also want to say that you think you may have picked up an infection from sex.
Seth Owen was sent to gay ‘conversion’ therapy by his parents (gofundme)
A gay teenager whose parents sent him to ‘conversion’ therapy and forced him out of their home will be able to go to college after his teacher raised more than $70,000 in six weeks.
Seth Owen, 18, is set to achieve his “life goal” of attending Georgetown University, thanks to his former biology teacher Jane Martin and the more than 1,100 donors who have contributed to his cause.
Seth was $20,000 short from reaching his “life goal” (gofundme)
This was after Seth’s Southern Baptist parents discovered he was secretly gay.
“I was writing a paper, and my dad decided to check my phone late in the evening,” he told NBC
“He found a damning photograph of me and another guy. Nothing inappropriate, but it clearly indicated that I was gay.”
After his parents interrogated him about his sexuality until 4:30am, it wasn’t long before he was forced into therapy aimed at changing his sexuality.
Seth, Martin and his wife (gofundme)
“They sent me to a Christian counsellor,” he said. “It was clear that their intent was for me to walk out of therapy straight.”
He added: “It was not like a conversion camp, but it was definitely awkward conversion therapy where they tried encouraging stereotypical masculine tasks and things like that.”
Seth convinced his parents to let him leave the therapy after a few months, but in February, during his crucial senior year, their vocal intolerance reached new levels.
“I mean, there was just incident after incident,” he said. “They talked very negatively about the LGBTQ+ community. They said that gay people would not serve in the church.
“Then they were talking about transgender people as though they weren’t human, and that really, really bothered me.”
Jane Martin with her wife (jane martin/facebook)
After numerous arguments, his parents gave him an ultimatum: go to their anti-gay church, or leave their home.
He couldn’t choose any other option but to leave – but he still had hope that his parents wouldn’t go through with it.
“The worst part was I was packing my bags, and I was walking out the door, and I was hoping that my mum would stand in my way,” remembered Seth.
“I was hoping that she would say: ‘I love my child more than I love my religion.’”
She didn’t, meaning that the teenager had to spend the next months sleeping at friends’ houses and working full-time to support himself while he completed high school with a 4.16 GPA.
And when the Georgetown acceptance letter came through, there was more pain in store for Seth, who realised that his financial aid package had been put together with the expectation that his family would contribute.
“I started to cry, because I realised there was no way that I could go to college,” said the 18-year-old. “Georgetown was my only option, because I had already denied my other acceptances.”
It was then that his former teacher and mentor Martin, whose same-sex wedding Seth attended as the ring bearer, stepped in.
On June 18, she started a GoFundMe page with a target of $20,000 and the message that “I know the goal seems unrealistic and the circumstances aren’t ideal, but I also know communities can make the impossible possible.
“It’s Pride Month and rainbows abound around the world. Help me bring a rainbow in the midst of Seth’s storm.”
The community responded – and how. The goal has been smashed more than three times over as people have rushed to help Seth live out his dream.
There have been nine gifts of $1,000 or more – plus a $500 donation from Martin herself – but the figure has been reached through community spirit.
Students protesting at Georgetown (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty)
“After we had hit $2,000, Seth was just like, ‘I’m so surprised that people, like, actually care about me,’” Martin said.
“He has had so much support and so many people reach out and say ‘You’re not alone,’ and ‘It gets better,’ all of the things that we all need to hear when we’re queer teenagers and are suffering,” she added.
“I’m just excited for him to have this community literally come around and put all of our arms together and bring him up and raise him up for the first time.”
Seth responded to the tsunami of support on the GoFundMe page, writing: “I simply cannot say thank you to you all enough. My dreams have come true because of you all.
“Through this entire process of sharing my story, I have been shown by an abundance of loving and generous people that Jacksonville is a place of growth and support.
“I appreciate that you all have given me the reassurance to live authentically and the ability to continue to be relentless and tenacious in pursuing my dreams,” he added.
“Your passionate response to my situation reassures me that Jacksonville (and our country) will not tolerate injustices towards the LGBTQ+ community.
“Since this story became public, I have had numerous people reach out to me and say that they are going through similar situations.
“Unfortunately, this is still a problem in Jacksonville (and across the country) for many people, not just me.
“So, I ask that you all continue to be allies in whatever capacity, not just for the LGBTQ+ community, but for all marginalised groups.”
The teenager said he was “forever grateful to you all for making my lifelong dream of attending college possible.”
Next month, he will move to Washington DC to join Georgetown’s Class of 2022.
Last month, San Francisco’s LGBT+ community held a celebratory funeral for trans student Daine Grey, who took his own life, after crowdfunding more than $25,000 – including a donation from celebrity chef Nigella Lawson – to pay for the costs.
A Fortune 500 company has named an openly gay woman to the role of president and CEO.
Effective August 1, Beth Ford will take the reins of food and agricultural cooperative Land O’Lakes, Inc., ranked 216 in the annual ranking of the largest companies in the US compiled by the American publication Fortune.
She joined the company in 2011 and has more than 20 years’ experience specifically in the areas of technology and research and development. The company statement announcing her appointment on Thursday made no reference to her appointment breaking new ground for the LGBT+ business community, although it stated that the new CEO is married to a woman: “Ford and her spouse, Jill Schurtz, have three teenage children and live in Minneapolis.”
Chief Executive Officer of Time Inc., Laura Lang speaks during a Fortune 500 event on May 7, 2012 in New York City (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Time)
Ford joins a small club of openly gay business leaders running a Fortune 500 company. “By Fortune’s count, Ford will be the third openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company and the first woman,” the publication wrote—Apple’s Tim Cook and the Dow Chemical Company’s Jim Fitterling being the other two.
“Ford said it didn’t even come up in her discussions with the board. But she conceded that ‘it’s not nothing,’” Fortune’s article read.
“If it gives someone encouragement and belief that they can be their authentic self and live their life and things are possible, than that’s a terrific moment,” Ford told the publication, adding that she remembers what it was like not to be out in her workplace when she was in her 20s.
“I think I’ve been fortunate since my mid-30s of being just who I am,” Ford said, adding: “Work is hard enough, and then when you have to feel as though you can’t be who are, that’s got to be incredibly difficult.”
Apple’s Tim Cook and the Dow Chemical Company’s Jim Fitterling are the only other two openly gay business leaders running a Fortune 500 company (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
In a separate statement to CNN, Ford said: “I am extraordinarily grateful to work at a company that values family, including my own.”
The LGBT+ rights group congratulated Ford on her appointment. “Her authentic leadership as an out lesbian is well-known in the LGBT corporate community, and the fact that she is assuming this role as an out lesbian sends an especially powerful message,” says Deena Fidas, HRC director of workplace equality, told CNN.
“This is not a story of someone getting into the higher echelons of leadership and then coming out, this is someone walking into this role with her full self,” Fidas added.
