During the rally, which was attended by at least 150 people and took place in the hot sun, activists talked about the need to respect civil rights and thanked the police for protection of the event, talking about “how important it is to be free in a not so free country,” activist Valery Sozaev also spoke about HIV and AIDS. There were not only representatives of the LGBT community, but representatives of the feminist movement came to the event. One of the members of the LGBT movement Kirill Kalugin brought a torn rainbow flag, which was used in the rally last year, not as peaceful as today. Read More
Truvada: It's Time To Take the Fucking Pill
This month, Tim Murphy wrote in New York magazine, "This summer—on social media, on Fire Island, at the Christopher Street pier, and in certain cohorts around the country—what many gay men are talking about among themselves is Truvada [the once-a-day pill to help keep people from contracting H.I.V.]." Rich Juzwiak reconsiders the drug. Read More
What is Gay Sex Now?
Editor Saeed Jones joins journalists Steven Thrasher and Dave Tuller to discuss sex, gay men, and what we are (and aren’t) doing. “Marriage and wedding registries are much easier to talk about than fucking.” A conversation on gay sex, health, and drugs. Read more
With Nigeria’s anti-gay law, HIV care drops 10%-70%
The extent of the devastation that Nigeria’s anti-gay law is wreaking on Nigerian anti-AIDS efforts is coming into view.
Among Nigerian men who have sex with men, the number of people reached for HIV prevention has dropped drastically since the signing of the anti-gay “Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill” in January. According to a survey of five anti-AIDS organizations in five Nigerian states, HIV prevention contacts (using UNAIDS’s Comprehensive Minimum Prevention Package Intervention) are:
Down 40 percent in Lagos state
Down 30 percent in Rivers state.
Down 10 percent in Cross River state.
Down 30 percent in Abuja (Federal Capital Territory).
Down 70 percent in Kano state.
Why One of the Biggest LGBT Orgs Has Stopped Supporting ENDA: Hobby Lobby reverberates in the LGBT community
It’s not just about birth control. When the Supreme Court ruled last week that closely held corporations like Hobby Lobby wouldn’t have to cover the cost of contraception because of sincerely held religious beliefs, it didn’t take long for many to see the coming storm. If companies are allowed to treat women differently in access to health care, after all, what’s to stop them from discriminating against LGBT individuals based on the same religious grounds?
In the fight over LGBT rights, the Hobby Lobby decision is already beginning to do three things: embolden supporters of so-called religious freedom bills in several states; encourage the push for a religious exemption in executive protections for LGBT employees; and put backers of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in a position where they feel they have to withdraw support. Read More
Heat Crime: LGBTQ politics for a changing climate
Climate change is a queer issue. The effects of climate change have a direct and unique impact on the lives of the LGBTQ The details of an individual's sexual orientation seem at first to be as far removed from the concentration of atmospheric CO2 as the butterfly's wings from the hurricane. But butterflies can cause hurricanes, and understanding this connection is mandatory for those of us in the hurricane's path.community and must not be ignored. Op-ed for Huffington Post. Read More
Pressure on South Africa to host talks to end gay persecution
Rights groups across the continent now accuse South Africa of stalling on the crucial meeting to follow up on a United Nations report titled Discriminatory Laws and Practices and Acts of Violence Against Individuals Based on Their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. "It is essential for policymakers and gatekeepers to have a dialogue with civil society on this issue," says Tendai Thondhlana, spokesperson for African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (Amsher), based in Johannesburg. "In some countries, governments say violence against sexual minorities doesn't exist. It is up to us to show them the evidence." Read More
Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act struck down by court
The Constitutional Court nullified the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2014 for having been passed by Parliament without the required quorum of at least one third of all legislators. In a unanimous ruling, the panel of five justices blamed the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga for acting illegally by abdicating her constitutional responsibility of ascertaining whether there was quorum in the House before the Bill was passed into law.
The ruling does not mean that the court nullified the content or substance of the law. The Bill can be easily returned to Parliament and passed again, with the required quorum. This petition involved a group of pro-gay activists who sued the government challenging the passing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
Read more from Uganda
In depth coverage at Buzzfeed
LGBT activist confronts Nigerian president during Washington visit
A gay Nigerian activist who sought asylum in the United States confronted President Goodluck Jonathan over the country’s recently passed anti-LGBT law at a dinner in the president’s honor hosted by business groups in Washington on Wednesday. Micheal Ighodaro left Nigeria in 2012 after his ribs and hand were broken in an attack in the capital of Abuja and is now a fellow at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in New York. “If you think the law is unconstitutional, you have the right to go to court,” the activist says President Goodluck Jonathan told him. Read More
Nepal drafts new laws to recriminalize gay sex, stall same-sex marriage recognition.
It’s a dramatic reversal for Nepal whose Supreme Court ruled in 2007 to ensure broad protections for LGBTI people. Today, the LGBTI community faces fresh opposition as the law ministry under law and justice minister of the ruling Nepali Congress is seeking to enact punitive laws to recriminalize gay sex. Read more
Uganda HIV nurse continues to languish in Kampala jail
Melbourne brought an update from Rosemary Namubiru, the HIV+ nurse charged with criminally negligent behavior for using an intravenous needle, that she had accidentally pricked her finger with, on a child. The child was not infected and HIV/Aids activists condemned the trial. Read More
Scottish dentist sacked for failing to reveal HIV positive status
Health chiefs said the dentist had to be suspended over "dishonest conduct" when he failed to disclose his HIV status and caused an infection scare. More than 10,000 patients who visited the surgery were tested after they were told there was a "very slight" risk they had been exposed to the virus. The ban preventing HIV positive NHS staff from performing certain medical procedures was scrapped in England, Wales and Scotland last year. Healthcare workers with HIV face no restrictions but must be on a register and monitored every three months by doctors to ensure they are on the correct treatment and that their viral load is undetectable. Read More