Burundi: Discriminatory Laws Hinder Burundi's Response to HIV

Speaking anonymously to protect against criminal charges and discrimination, Burundi health workers and social support workers spoke out against criminalization of same sex relationships and the detrimental effect laws have on providing healthcare to their communities:

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI), as well as sex workers, are among those most at risk of HIV infection. "Laws that criminalise consensual sexual conduct and real or perceived sexual orientation increase the risk of HIV/AIDS among the sexual minorities in Burundi," said Minani*, a member of Burundian Youth Network of HIV Positive (RNJ+).

"It makes sexual minorities afraid of showing themselves and afraid to visit the health clinics. They don't dare to go into government health agencies to request assistance, treatment or prevention services." Read More

Philippines: Closure of gay bars “to end AIDS” looms in Baguio

Health officials asked the city government on Wednesday to close down gay bars to prevent the spread of the dreaded disease AIDS, which showed an upsurge in the past several months. Dra. Celiaflor Brillantes, head of the social hygiene clinic, said 80 percent of the 60 AIDS cases in the city have been traced to men having sex with men and returning overseas workers, who got infected abroad.

“We have to close down the gay bars and strictly regulate the operation of nightspots in order to prevent the further increase of individuals contracting the dreaded disease,” Brillantes said. Read More

Gay teen in hospital after neo-Nazi attack in Madrid

A gay teen was hospitalized after he and his boyfriend were attacked by Neo-Nazis in Madrid. The pair, aged 17 and 23, were attacked by nine men and a woman all dressed in black Neo-Nazi attire including military-style boots.

The gay couple were sitting on a bench in front of the Temple of Debod with a friend, holding hands, when they were approached by the group at around 9pm. They were asked whether they were 'fags' or 'fascists' before they were attacked. Read More

ISIS says it threw 'gay' man off rooftop then stoned him to death

The Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Tuesday posted photographs appearing to show extremists throwing a "gay" man off a rooftop and then stoning him to death.

"The Islamic court in Wilayet al-Furat decided that a man who has practised sodomy must be thrown off the highest point in the city, and then stoned to death," read a statement accompanying the images. Read More

Gay Hero of Sydney Hostage Crisis Died a Second Class Citizen

The 16 hour siege of a Lindt coffee shop in Sydney, Australia ended when hostages attempted to flee while hostage Tori Johnson charged the terrorist. Tori Johnson was 34. He managed the Lindt Chocolate Café for two years. Employees and customers all said he was a good man, a kind man. He was also a gay man.

Author James Peron discusses Johnson and other heroes of recent terrorist attacks across the globe who happen to be gay. Read More

Some US conservatives urging right not to serve gays on religious grounds

Conservative lawmakers in states nationwide are pushing to expand the right of individuals and businesses to not provide certain services to same-sex couples on religious grounds. Critics of the bills say they could set far-reaching precedents. For example, they say, a man charged with domestic violence could argue that it is part of his religion to keep his wife in line or a taxpayer-funded homeless shelter could be permitted to turn away a Muslim family.

They argue, however, that gay and transgender people are the primary targets of these bills and that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is particularly vulnerable because many states do not explicitly ban discrimination against them. Read More

Church of England bishop: Church has a legacy of serious institutional homophobia

The Bishop of Buckingham has recorded a Christmas sermon for the LGBT community in which he condemns the Church of England’s treatment of gay people. The full video was recorded by the Bishop of Buckingham, the Rt Rev Dr Alan Wilson.

In it, he congratulates all same-sex couples who have married or converted their civil partnerships to marriage this year, and condemns the Church of England for its treatment of gay people. He says: “Christians believe God is love and those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. But, you may say, churches have a funny way of showing that sometimes. Read More

Swiss film festival dismisses controversial TV reporter Mona Iraqi

The organisers of a Swiss film festival have sacked their Egyptian representative, Mona Iraqi, because of her role in a recent police raid on a Cairo bathhouse which resulted in the arrest of 26 people. Iraqi, the presenter of an investigative current affairs programme, has been strongly criticised by rights activists for informing the police of alleged homosexual activity at a Ramsis bathhouse and precipitating a police raid.

On 7 December police raided the building and arrested 26 men, stripping them naked and rounding them into police vans. Pictures posted by Iraqi on her official Facebook page show her at the scene, filming events with her mobile phone. After the raid, Iraqi wrote on her Facebook page that “our program was able to break up a place for perversion between men and to catch them flagrantly in the act … My God, the result is beautiful.” Read More

Activists condemn Mona Iraqi, Egyptian TV presenter who reported men to the police for "deviance" then filmed them as they were arrested

Egyptian morality police of the Cairo Security Directorate, arrested approximately 26 individuals while at a public bathhouse for men. The men were arrested for the alleged “group practice of deviance” in exchange for money inside the bathhouse.

This incident happened after the bathhouse was reported to police by media presenter Mona Iraqi, who claimed that the men turned the place into a “den of group deviance.” Iraqi did not stop at reporting these men: she accompanied the police while they stormed the place and photographed groups of men while police gathered them naked, denying them the right to put on their clothes. The men desperately tried to conceal their identities, but they were filmed and photographed in clear infringement of their privacy rights and in obvious disregard to the law.

Arrests like these have been accompanied by a still more monstrous media crusade. The media present homosexuals as a group of “sick” individuals and criminals in need of therapy — or paints them as a deviant community that spread after the revolution. Read More

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