Tens of thousands march for gay rights in Taiwan

In carnival splendor participants in the 2014 Taiwan LGBT Pride Parade posed for selfies with onlookers, comfortable and extravert in their lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender skins.

The parade attracted tens of thousands of LGBT rights supporters from across the globe, who took to Taipei's streets for "A Walk in Queer Shoes", celebrating the diversity of LGBT groups. Read More

Real Religious Liberty is not Oppression

Religious liberty is one of the defining issues of our time — offering distinct challenges and historic opportunities for LGBTQ people and everyone who is struggling to create a more just society. As the Christian Right continues to use the term to frame their issues, we must not concede the definition of religious liberty to interlopers. Read More 

CARICOM Joins Gay Activist Maurice Tomlinson In Suit Against Belize & Trinidad

Activist Maurice Tomlinson has challenged the Immigration Acts of Belize, Trinidad, and Tobago  which ban the entry of homosexuals, mentally challenged, and physically disabled people. 

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) now joins with Tomlinson's suit to the Caribbean Court of Justice and will provide supporting evidence to his cause. They have become involved because the treaty deals with the right to free movement of non-nationals and the CARICOM Secretariat argues that all CARICOM states must treat all the nationals of CARICOM the same. Read More

Ugandan court dismisses case against activist Sam Ganafa

High-profile LGBTI rights activist Samuel K. Ganafa and three colleagues had been charged with “unnatural offenses,” a crime that is punishable by as much as a life sentence.

He was subjected to forced HIV testing and then, as the trial against him proceeded, the prosecution repeatedly requested delays.  On Oct. 8, nearly a year after his arrest, the prosecution asked for another delay, but the court has rejected the request and dismissed the charges. Read More

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Amnesty International launches report "Rule by Law: Discriminatory Legislation and Legitimized Abuses in Uganda."

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This report documents the human rights impact of three pieces of legislation: the Public Order Management Act, the Anti-Pornography Act, and the Anti-Homosexuality Act: in particular, the impact that these laws have had on the ability of civil society to organise, on discrimination against women, and on the lives of people who are or are believed to be LGBTI.  Read the report here

High effectiveness seen in English PrEP trial

The Steering Committee* of the PROUD trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in gay men in England announced today that participants currently on the deferred arm of the study, who have not yet started PrEP, will be recalled to their clinics and offered the opportunity to begin PrEP ahead of schedule. This is because the effectiveness seen in the trial has exceeded the threshold set for trial continuation.

Although the exact effectiveness seen in the trial is yet to be established pending analysis and follow-up of participants, the indications are that it is considerably in excess of that originally anticipated by the researchers.  Read more

Second European PrEP study is closed early due to high effectiveness

In an extraordinary development, a second European scientific trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has had its randomised phase closed early due to high effectiveness, just two weeks after the UK PROUD trial did exactly the same thing. The investigators of the IPERGAY trial, which has six sites in France and one in Canada, announced today a “Significant breakthrough in the fight against HIV and AIDS” because IPERGAY had successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of its PrEP regimen. 

The ANRS IPERGAY trial demonstrates the effectiveness of a preventive treatment (antiretroviral treatment) against HIV/AIDS when taken at the time of sexual intercourse. All trial participants will now benefit from this prophylaxis. Read More 

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Ebola, HIV, and the Politics of Contagion: Op-Ed

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Throughout American history, there are dozen of cases of hysteria surrounding the apparent outbreak of an epidemic, from recent fears over Asian bird flu to fears of cholera outbreaks in the 19th century. But the question of fear needs to be contextualized, not just in terms of alleviating Americans' paranoia, but rather by thinking about how various populations within the nation have consistently lived under a threat of infection.

The fear of Ebola tells us more about one's social status and, dare I say, privilege, rather than about the disease itself. For many gay men, who have lived amid HIV "outbreak" for the last thirty years, the threat of Ebola perhaps has not rattled them as much as their heterosexual counterparts. Read More