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83 House Lawmakers Urge VA to Cover Gender Reassignment Surgery

A group of House lawmakers is calling on the Department of Veterans to incorporate gender reassignment surgery as part of its coverage for U.S. veterans, calling denial of the procedure for transgender people “unconscionable.”In the Sept. 7 letter, the lawmakers respond to a request for comment on coverage for gender reassignment surgery. “Simply put, the VA has an obligation to provide the necessary care that is prescribed to enrolled veterans by their health care practitioners,” the letter says. “It is unconscionable to deny veterans the same access to health care services that civilians receive in the private sector, and that […]

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National LGBT Cancer Network Wins $2.5M Federal Award Expanding

The National LGBT Cancer Network is the newest recipient of a $2.5 million five year award from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand resources for their grantees serving LGBTQ people at risk for tobacco-related cancers. “The LGBTQ communities smoke at rates significantly higher than other populations. That alone increases our cancer risks dramatically,” said Liz Margolies, the Executive Director of the National LGBT Cancer Network. The Cancer Network’s new award will expand their NYC presence to Providence, RI, the base for their Principal Investigator, Dr. Scout. For more than a decade, Dr. Scout has led this CDC health […]

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Will Singapore be the Next Country to Decriminalize Gay Sex?

A veteran diplomat has urged Singapore’s LGBT+ community to challenge a law prohibiting gay sex after India’s Supreme Court struck down the country’s ban on Thursday. Tommy Koh, the country’s former UN ambassador, called for a class action suit to change Singapore’s Section 377A law, which, like India’s now-defunct legislation, was put in place under British colonial rule. Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam has also raised the possibility of repealing the law, which carries a sentence of up to two years in prison and predates Singapore’s independence in 1965 by a decade. Tommy Koh is currently serving as Singapore’s Ambassador-at-large […]

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India’s Highest Court Struck Down a Law Banning Queer Sex

India’s highest court has just struck down a more than century-old prohibition on gay sex, calling the Victorian-era law “irrational, indefensible, and manifestly arbitrary.” The ruling represents a hard-fought victory for gay-rights activists in India, who have been battling the law for more than a decade. But it’s also a symbolic break with India’s colonial past. The law, known as Section 377, dates to when the British Empire ruled India. The court’s ruling on Thursday effectively makes it illegal to discriminate against people based on sexuality, though it doesn’t permit same-sex marriage. Section 377 was inconsistently enforced, but police and […]

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Trans Woman Shot Dead in Philadelphia is the 19th killed in the US this Year

Shantee Tucker is the 19th reported case of a trans person being killed in the US so far in 2018. (Shantee Tucker/Facebook) A black trans women shot dead in Philadelphia on Wednesday morning has become the 19th reported case of a trans person being killed in the US so far this year. Shantee Tucker, who had celebrated her 30th birthday on Sunday (September 2), was found suffering from a gunshot wound by police at about 1am on a highway in the Hunting Park area of the city, according to local media reports. She was taken to Temple University Hospital, where she […]

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Pioneering Gay Pastor, Who Called for Church to Welcome LGBT People in 1960s, Dies Aged 95

Gay pastor Robert Wood has passed away aged 95. (Equality Forum) Robert Wood, who called on churches to welcome gay people in the 1960s, has died aged 95. Wood passed away at his home in New Hampshire on August 19, his friend Rejean Blanchette, who cared for him in his later years, confirmed to The New York Times. Born on May 21, 1923, the pastor marched at early gay rights protests, years before the Stonewall Riots in 1969.Wood reportedly came out as gay to the public when his article titled “Spiritual Exercises” was published in a gay magazine, showing him photographed in […]

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Airline Allows Straight Parents to Board with Kids—but Not Gay Dads

Jeff Cobb was denied early boarding (jeffcobb415/twitter) A gay couple has claimed that they were denied early boarding with their daughter—only to see straight parents walk through with children. Jeff Cobb and his husband were flying with Taiwanese airline EVA Air from San Francisco to Thailand on Saturday (September 1) when they were reportedly separated on the false basis that only one parent could accompany a child onto the plane. Cobb described on Twitter how “my husband and I were told only one of us could join our 19-month-old in the family boarding group of EVA Air 27 from SFO […]

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Three-quarters of LGBT People Want More Support from Companies—and Not Just for Pride

New research suggests that LGBT+ people want companies to implement support services, instead of just sponsoring Pride events or using the rainbow flag in their marketing. The latest research by YouGov indicates that queer people would prefer businesses to actively implement networks that will support LGBT+ staff and customers over actions such as paying to have a float at a Pride parade. The study of 1,711 adults in the UK—136 of whom were LGBT+—revealed that nearly three quarters of LGBT+ people said they would feel “more positive” if companies introduced services or policies to support their LGBT+ customers.In comparison, half of LGBT+ […]

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Three STDs Are Roaring Back in America

We don’t talk much about chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis, in part because it can seem like they’re not big health issues anymore. But it turns out more and more Americans may be quietly suffering from these once nearly eliminated STDs. According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis reported in the United States in 2017 — the highest cumulative number ever recorded, and one that surpassed a 2016 record high. The leap in cases over the last few years are truly eye-popping. Between 2013 […]

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12-year-old Girl Speaks Out after Being Forced to Flee Town by Threats

Maddison Kleeman Rose chose to speak publicly (HBO/VICE News) A 12-year-old girl who is being forced to flee her hometown after transphobic knife threats has spoken out about what’s happening. Police shut down schools in Achille, Oklahoma for two days earlier this month after threats emerged to a transgender student, Maddie. Messages had come to light in a Facebook group for parents of students, where several people had vented about Maddie being allowed to use the female bathroom. Maddison Kleeman Rose (HBO/VICE News)v They referred to the 12-year-old girl as “it,” “this thing,” “half baked maggot” and “the transgender,” and threatened to […]

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