Watch - Living in fear: Egypt's gay community

Two men exchange rings and hug in celebration aboard a Nile boat, as ululations fill the air and a traditional engagement song plays in the background.

But within days, their celebration has turned to shock and sadness: after a video of the "gay wedding" spread across Egyptian social media, the men were arrested and eventually sentenced to three years in prison for distributing pornographic material.

Homosexuality is not mentioned in the Egyptian penal code, and technically it is not illegal, but members of the LGBT community are often arrested and charged with pornography, prostitution or debauchery. Read More

California men shed condoms in favor of Gilead's HIV prevention pill

The good news: A pill from Gilead Sciences Inc. stops HIV infection among people at high risk of contracting the AIDS virus. The bad news: Men taking the drug to prevent HIV appear to be having more sex without a condom, putting them at risk of contracting other sexually transmitted diseases.  Read More

UK: HIV most often passed on by younger gay men who have undiagnosed HIV, are not on treatment, and have an ongoing partnership

A modelling study based on the UK’s HIV epidemic among gay men estimates that two-thirds of infections originate in men with undiagnosed HIV, 85% in men who are not taking treatment and 90% within the context of an ongoing sexual partnership.

Moreover, HIV transmissions most frequently involve men under the age of 35 who report relatively high levels of sexual activity, according to the study published online ahead of print in AIDS. Read More

Website for MSM health launched in East Africa

Men who have sex with men (MSM) living in East Africa, where homophobia is on the rise, now have access to a unique website, Afya4Men.info, which contains comprehensive sexual health information targeted to their specific needs.

“Specific MSM medical competence has already been developed in these countries but due to often hostile environments, in many instances including criminalisation of male-to-male sex, has resulted in a lack of localised relevant information being freely available to MSM themselves,” said Prof James McIntyre, CEO of Anova.  Afya4Men.info is entirely bilingual, offering information in both Swahili and English. Read More 

35 gay activists attacked in Zimbabwe

A dozen unidentified men Friday (19 December) crashed an end-of-year party thrown by the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe at a private venue in the capital Harare.

'The unidentified men entered the venue and started beating people using logs, iron bars, empty beer bottles and clenched fists. The men also demanded cash and gadgets from the members present in the hall whilst attacking them.' Read More

Zimbabwe Government to create HIV programme for gays

The government is going to create a specific HIV /AIDS programme targeting homosexuals and sex workers as a way of controlling the infection rate, a senior government official has revealed. This is the first time the government has publicly acknowledged the existence of this minority population sector and said it would include it in its national programmes.

Homosexuality has been politicized by President Robert Mugabe who is on record denouncing the practice. As a result of Mugabe’s anti-gay stance officials have routinely reserved their comments on gay issues. The Zimbabwean gay community has continued to complain about being left out of government programmes, saying that this fuels the spread of the HIV virus. Read More

At Least 594 LGBT People Were Murdered In The Americas In A 15-Month Period

A report just released identified 594 people believed to be LGBT were murdered between the beginning of 2013 and the end of March, 2014. The victims include four who were decapitated.

The count was compiled by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which is an arm of the Organization of American States. In addition to the 594 killed, an additional 176 people survived “serious attacks.” The IACHR said the real count of LGBT people killed or assaulted during this period is likely higher than these figures suggest, because the majority of countries in the Americas do not track hate crimes targeting LGBTI people. As governments do little documentation of such crimes, this count was largely compiled from media accounts and reports by activist organizations, and many crimes may have gone unreported. Read More

U.S. Kicks African Nation From Trade Agreement Over Anti-LGBT Crackdown

The decision to drop the small West African nation from special trade status under the African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000 came late Tuesday afternoon, just after media in the Gambia announced that three men would be put on trial for homosexuality. These are the first to face trial since police began arresting people on allegations of homosexuality in November. At least 16 more are known to be in detention, and Gambian human rights activists do not know if they are even still alive.  Read More

Middle East funds Gambia as EU cuts aid over human rights concerns

The European Union has withdrawn millions of euros of funding for Gambia due to its poor human rights record, and after Jammeh signed into law an act that would imprison homosexuals for life. The Muslim West African nation will now rely increasingly on donors from the Middle East for development projects. The shift in soft power is of concern to Western governments in a region where Islamist militancy in northern Nigeria and northern Mali is fuelling instability, diplomatic sources said.

"West Africa has a large, impressionable youth population that have no access to jobs. Their loyalty might be bought through aid, sometimes by those sympathetic to the Islamification of the region," said one diplomat. Read More

UNICEF releases its first official, public position on sexual orientation, gender identity and children

The 6-page position paper is available now: All children, irrespective of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, have the right to a safe and healthy childhood that is free from discrimination. The same principle applies to all children irrespective of their parents sexual orientation or gender identity.

Both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights make clear that human rights are universal. No person — child or adult — should suffer abuse, discrimination, exploitation, marginalization or violence of any kind for any reason, including on the basis of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Read More