US: Researchers and iPhone launch landmark study of LGBTQ health

Researchers are preparing the largest national study of LGBTQ health ever. The Population Research in Identity and Disparities for Equality, or PRIDE, Study is the first study of this kind to better understand the health of LGBTQ adults in the United States. It’s a longitudinal cohort study that uses an iPhone app to connect with and track sexual & gender minority adults over time to understand factors related to health & disease in this population.  

The PRIDE Study app is based on ResearchKit, an open-source software framework developed by Apple, which helps researchers gather data more frequently and accurately from participants using mobile devices. For example, other researchers have created apps to measure dexterity and gait in Parkinson’s disease patients and blood glucose levels in diabetes patients. The PRIDE Study is the first to use this platform to study a population rather than a specific disease. Read More

Europe: How to prevent HIV and STI in men who have sex with men

Many European countries have had specific prevention programmes for men who have sex with men (MSM) since the early years of the HIV epidemic. But sex between men is still the predominant mode of HIV transmission across the EU/EEA. In its new guidance HIV and STI prevention among men who have sex with men, ECDC identifies seven key services to reduce and prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI) among MSM.

The guidance suggests scientifically proven interventions that range from vaccination, better access to testing and condoms to timely treatment and targeted health promotion. For maximum effect, these are best applied in combination. 
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OHCHR: Sexual and reproductive health and rights

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) launched a new information series on sexual and reproductive health and rights. The series includes topics such as Abortion, Adolescents, HIV and AIDS, Violence against Women, LGBTI people, among others. For each topic, it provides the latest data, the human rights standards and the international agreements. Find the series here  

The 29th session of the Human Rights Council concluded on 3 July at a report was presented to updated the Office of the High Commission on violence and discrimination against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. The report can be read here. 

Thailand: Stand against homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools

Asia-Pacific countries have committed to taking steps to address bullying in schools during a regional consultation organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Asia-Pacific regional offices.

 “We know [that] exclusion, bullying and violence have immediate, long-term and intergenerational effects. This includes school attendance, performance, and completion,” said UNESCO Bangkok Director Gwang-Jo Kim. “And for those that think that bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity only affects LGBTI [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex] people? This is wrong. It affects the whole climate of the school and community." Read More

Mormon church facing growing pressure from within on LGBT rights

After the legalization of same-sex marriage, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sought to continue its strong opposition to marriage equality. The Church released a statement on June 26: “The Supreme Court’s decision does not alter the Lord’s doctrine that marriage is a union between a man and a woman ordained by God. 

However, within the church, a number of Mormons have been advocating for LGBT equality – and see the ruling as a chance for a clean break from the church’s previous scaremongering. Mormons for Equality executive director Spencer W. Clark said: “It will take time to overcome and repent of our past, but as we’ve seen already, the more that we come to know same-sex couples and their children, the more we discover that our fears were misplaced. Mormons believe in the importance of families, and for increasing numbers of Mormons, that means all families.”

While it’s highly unlikely the Church will change its stance on same-sex marriage any time soon, its members in Mormons for Equality and Mormons Building Bridges represent a softer side of the religion. Read More 

Belgium: United Protestant Church of Belgium will accept homosexual pastors

The United Protestant Church of Belgium published a press release on stating that the EPUB now accepts homosexual pastors. The Protestant Synod decided it in an extraordinary assembly around the topic “Homosexuality and pastoral ministry”.

A work group wrote a recommendation that was sent to the local churches and then debated by districts before taking the decision in the Synod. The final decision was that homosexuality is not a criterion to exclude candidates for the ministry.

Pastor Steven H. Fuite, president of the EPUB, insists that the opinion of the Synod is only a “recommendation” and that no one is forced: “Every parish can choose the pastor they want”. The press release talks about unity in diversity. Mr. Fuite explains that this recommendation means that no parish can force their opinion into another. “The differences in our Bible interpretations should not be reasons for disunion”.  Read More
 

Africa: Cardinals and bishops hold conference to oppose divorce and homosexuality

They were five cardinals and forty-five bishops from as many African countries who met in Ghana, from June 8-11. All in the clear light of day, not almost in secret like some of their colleagues from Germany, France, and Switzerland, who had gathered a few days before at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

The conference theme was indicated from the very first remarks by Guinean cardinal Robert Sarah: “to protect the family from all the ideologies that want to destroy it, and therefore also from the national and international policies that impede the promotion of positive values.”

Cardinal Sarah urged Africa to resist outside ideas: “Why should we think that only the Western vision of man, of the world, of society is good, just, universal? The Church must fight to say no to this new colonization." Read More 

Vatican: LGBT Catholics Find Little Encouragement in Family Synod Document

The “working document,” released that will guide discussion at this fall’s Vatican synod on the family doesn’t reflect a lot of outreach to LGBT people — and LGBT Catholic groups are objecting.

The portions of the paper dealing with LGBT issues “hardly reflect the rich discussions which have taken place, internationally and at all levels in the Church, on the welcome, respect, and value which should be afforded to lesbian and gay people in the Catholic community,” says a press release from the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, a coalition of LGBT-supportive groups.

The coalition also denounces the document’s “unfounded statement” that international organizations are threatening poor countries with a loss of financial aid if they do not adopt marriage equality. The church should instead condemn countries that criminalize LGBT identity, with punishments including torture and the death penalty, the group said in its release. Read More

Lithuania: Weeding out new army recruits by asking if they like flowers

Lithuania has come up with a unique way of ensuring their army doesn't have any gays in it, and that is by asking new recruits whether they like picking flowers. Having reintroduced compulsory military draft earlier this year, randomly selected candidates will now have to report to a military recruitment office in order to be screened for suitability.

The screening, which includes a psychological test, asks 'Does the candidate like picking flowers or has the candidate ever considered a career in the floral industry?' Another question asks if a male candidate has ever desired to be a woman.

Kęstutis Ramanauskas, a psychiatrist at a military recruitment office in Klaipėda, western Lithuania, said: 'After reviewing initial data supplied by the [psychological] test, I try to analyse the person more thoroughly. I use it as a criteria to screen them out. Though it is claimed that [homosexuality] is not a disease, but it is.' Read More

For LGBT millennials, online dating apps are a blessing and a curse

In today’s app-happy world, finding love is as easy as the swipe of a finger. For a generation raised in front of LED screens, it’s only logical that technology now plays such a huge part in the adult love lives of millennials (and plenty of non-millennials as well). Conditioned to socialize online as young adults, these 18 to 34 year olds are now taking the same approach to finding partners.

Unlike their straight counterparts, LGBT millennials don’t always have the same opportunities for the traditional courtship behaviors the Times is so intent on eulogizing. Indeed, for LGBT singles in conservative families or communities, online dating may be the only safe way to meet potential suitors. Anxieties are amplified in countries where homosexuality is still illegal. Recently, creators of gay dating app Scruff created an alert for the 100 some countries where it’s dangerous to be openly LGBT. In these areas, LGBT visitors and longtime inhabitants end up using the app to find dates or sexual encounters. 

Furthermore, while some dating apps have developed something of a negative reputation for their emphasis on no strings attached sexual encounters, it’s not quite so black and white. Forced online, even those in favor of long-term relationship may change their minds after more traditional routes become inaccessible or uncomfortable. Read More

US: The Family Research Council’s anti-trans guide is an embarrassing failure of logic

Conservative Christian think tank and political lobbying organization, the Family Research Council has long traded in dubious claims and hateful rhetoric. New document, “Understanding and Responding to the Transgender Movement,” is no exception: Authors, Dale O’Leary and Peter Sprigg, fall back on the usual appeals to discredited pseudoscience and decades-old scholarship. But they also embrace a far more surprising referent, the language of the feminist and queer activists they’ve spent decades fighting, even as they back away from their own conceptual and intellectual vocabularies.

While the FRC pitches itself as a defender of a “Christian worldview,” O’Leary and Sprigg claim to be protecting a far more nebulous concept. “In recent decades,” they write in their introduction, “there has been an assault on the sexes.” Read More

Apple launches new App Store section showcasing LGBT content to commemorate 1969 Stonewall riots

In the featured  App Store section, Apple is highlighting apps, movies, music, TV, podcasts, and books that represent the LGBT community. Selections include Milk, a 2008 drama based during the 1970s push for gay liberation, the HBO film The Normal Heart, the drama Brokeback Mountain, music from artists like Adam Lambert, Sam Smith, and Neon Trees, and various other TV shows, podcasts, books, music, movies, magazines, and apps. Read More