US: New PrEP campaign targets men who like to 'party'

A new series of public service announcements is aimed at getting effective HIV prevention into the hands of those who are most at-risk of contracting the virus: men who enjoy recreational sex and drug use, but may be ashamed to address those habits with a doctor. 

As creator Kenny Neal Shults explains: "When we sat down to consider the best audiences for the campaigns we knew only one thing for certain: We wanted to address gay men who might fall under the puritanical 'Truvada Whore' classification. That is, we wanted to reach men whose sexual and recreational drug behaviors both put them at a greater risk for both contracting HIV and being stigmatized for even considering going on PrEP." Read more via the Advocate

'Transformational' HIV injection every eight weeks could replace daily pills

An injection every 8 weeks could replace the current HIV treatment of daily pills, experts have revealed.
A combination of two long-acting HIV medicines – rilpivirine and cabotegravir – injected every four or eight weeks have been just as effective at suppressing the AIDS-causing virus as a daily oral regimen of three HIV medicines in phase 2 clinical trials.

If successfully developed and approved by regulators, the new treatment could offer people living with HIV who are virologically suppressed the option to switch from the standard daily regimen of three-drug therapy to a long acting all-injectable regimen that could potentially maintain viral suppression with just six or twelve shots of each drug per year. Read more via Gay Star News

US: The NFL must move the 2017 Super Bowl out of Houston

The defeat of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) represents one of the ugliest moments in the LGBT rights movement since Proposition 8 in California. Except that this time the target was transgender people, and it was far, far nastier.

Opponents went out of their way to misrepresent the actual contents of the bill, which was to provide legal protections in jobs, housing, and in places of public accommodations for people regardless of things like sex, race, veteran status, sexual orientation and gender identity. 

It also happens that Houston is to be the site of the 2017 Super Bowl. In the past, the NFL punished the city of Phoenix by moving the 1990 Super Bowl out of the state when Arizona voters did not approve a state wide holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King. The NFL wanted to send a message that they would not tolerate even the appearance of supporting racism.

Similarly, the NFL hinted in 2014 that they would move the Super Bowl if Arizona passed a "License to Discriminate" bill allowing people to refuse to serve LGBT people on religious grounds. While the bill ultimately was vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer (a Republican), it is believed by many that the NFL's threat was a factor in her decision to make such a politically unpopular move. Yet here we stand today.   Read more via OutSports

Tanzania: Fighting social stigma to prevent HIV spread

Staggering AIDS death toll has forced conservative Tanzania to help gay people long rejected by its health system. In a country where obtaining legal rights for gay people is not likely to happen soon, they are using a public health crisis to demand recognition. Tanzania has the 4th-highest number of deaths from AIDS in the world, and the HIV infection rate among gay men is more than four times the national average - yet stigma prevents many from seeking treatment.

As one man said: "In the government hospitals, we face discrimination. Instead of treating us, they'll call people over: 'Come and see, we have a gay here.' Then they'll say, 'We can't treat you. Get out of here.'"

While gay men are rarely, if ever, prosecuted under the law in Tanzania, the social stigma it perpetuates can be deadly. A new program is working to change that. Read more via Al Jazeera

Uganda: I am Other

The Queer Collective, a new organization in Kampala, Uganda with the goal of creating a space for queer artists working in east Africa to come together and share their work, is fundraising to support its first major project. I am Other will document the stories of LGBTQ people across Uganda. 

 

I am other
"I Am Other" is a multi-media research and documentation project with the goal of recording the lives and stories of LGBTQ Ugandans across the country. 

• The proposed project will collect and document through photography, audio, and video interviews the stories of LGBTQ Ugandans to preserve an often invisible community for purposes of austerity and visibility. 
• Because many political, cultural, and religious leaders believe that LGBTQ Ugandans are "un-African" and do not exist — it is important to document the vast gender and sexual orientation diversity in the country. 
• Supporting this research and documentation project will generate the first online visual archive of the daily lives of LGBTQ Ugandans — and serve as a much needed tool for local activists to fight for their human rights as LGBTQ persons. 
• The project is apart of Queer Collective — a new arts initiative with the goal of creating a space for queer artists working in east Africa to come together and share their work locally, nationally, and internationally. Queer collective aims to empower and validate LGBTQ artists by providing education and mentorship programs that will improve their craft and enable them to become economically self sustaining vessels of social change. See the group's Indiegogo campaign to learn more

Elton John partners with PEPFAR, will petition world leaders on HIV, AIDS treatment

Rock star Elton John is working to use his global fame and charitable foundations to help overturn homophobic laws around the world. John and his husband, David Furnish, unveiled a new $10 million partnership with the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to increase access to medication for people with HIV and AIDS in countries that are prejudiced toward the LGBT community.
 
John noted: "We're seeing an alarming growth in infections amongst these communities [where] we find that LGBT people are stigmatized where they live." He added that the stigmatizing laws a relics from the Commonwealth and said, "These laws can be changed very easily by the Queen saying, 'change the law.' I haven't approached her about that yet."  Watch the interview and read more via CNBC

US: Weddings of same-sex couples boosted state and local economies by $813M this summer

Marriages by same-sex couples have generated an estimated $813 million boost to state and local economies and $52 million in state and local sales tax revenue since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision extending marriage equality, according to a new study.

Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, 96,000 same-sex couples have tied the knot. This study, titled “Estimating the Economic Impact of Marriage for Same-sex Couples after Obergefell,” estimates the impact of those marriages on state and local economies, sales tax revenue and job creation.   Read more via Williams Institute 

Australia: Business study says firms can do more to promote diversity and inclusion

A study carried out by the University of Sydney Business School (USBS) has concluded that Australian companies could be doing more to promote diversity and inclusion (D&I), and that doing so will boost business performance. The study, entitled Benchmarking Diversity and Inclusion Practices in Australia, found that approximately 4 out of ten companies (39%) who responded to the survey had no diversity and inclusion budget.

‘I think the budget issue is quite a complex one,’ said Associate Professor Di van den Broek from the University of Sydney’s Business School. ‘Sixty per cent of our respondents said they had a budget but a lot of those who had a budget said it was inadequate to push through the diversity and inclusion agenda that they wanted.’

Another key finding was that only 41% of diversity and inclusion practitioners said that their organizations measured the outcomes of their D&I initiatives. This is despite the fact that an increasing number of companies are recognizing the business benefits of promoting diversity and inclusion.  Read more via Gay Star News 

Japan: Lifenet to let same-sex partners be designated policy beneficiaries

Lifenet Insurance Co. has said it will allow policyholders to designate their same-sex partners as their life insurance beneficiaries. The Japanese company currently restricts the scope of beneficiary designation to legal spouses and relatives within two degrees of relationship, as well as to opposite-sex partners in de facto relationships under certain conditions.

The move comes after Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward put an ordinance into force in April to allow the municipality to certify same-sex partnerships as equivalent to marriage. The ward began accepting applications this week. Read more via Japan Times 

Taiwan: 78,000 march for marriage equality, rights in Taipei LGBT pride parade

Nearly 80,000 locals and tourists converged in the Taiwanese capital city of Taipei on Saturday to support marriage equality and LGBT rights at the 13th Taiwan LGBT Pride parade.

The parade this year saw many participants from other parts of the world, including the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore as over 300 LGBTI activists attended the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)-Asia conference in Taipei earlier in the week.

Organizers say this year’s theme ‘No Age Limit’ encourages attendees to bring their children along, and for attendees and the public to rethink societal norms with regard to age, sex and gender. Organizers also called for more space and rights to allow Taiwan’s youth to explore their sexuality. Read more via Gay Star News 

Jamaica: Deliriously happy after first Montego Bay Pride

We are deliriously happy to report that Montego Bay Pride 2015 was an unqualified success!! The best quote from someone who attended the intense one-day event was that it felt like a real Pride, as nearly 100 persons of all classes, sexualities and gender expressions (including several straight allies) freely and easily rubbed shoulders in a safe, fun and incident-free environment!

Our major sponsors (The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, The Round Hill Hotel and Villas, the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and Miracle Transport) were awesome and we simply can’t thank them enough. Through their overwhelming generosity we were able to ensure that Pride was accessible to all by providing free meals, entertainment and ground transportation to our happy revelers! Several persons also donated Pride swag — especially the critical rainbow masks that allowed members of the community to freely and safely enjoy the day without fear of unintended exposure.

Most Pride patrons agreed that we must — and will — be hosting another Pride event in Montego Bay in 2016. Truly, Pride is Here to Stay in the Bay. 

 Read more via 76crimes
 

Iceland: Reykjavik Pride, Close-knit community key

Iceland’s national assembly, the Althingi, was the first parliamentary democracy in the world, founded in 930 by Vikings interested in distributing resources, making laws and dispensing justice. Democracy and progressive social justice values continue to thrive here: homosexuality was decriminalized in 1940, Iceland was the first nation to democratically elect a female president, and in 2009 Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became prime minister — the world’s first elected, openly lesbian head of government.

I’ve arrived here for Pride. It’s the last stop on a 2015 tour of my 2009 documentary Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride that the Canadian embassies in Helsinki, Stockholm and Reykjavik have organized cooperatively. The screening in Reykjavik draws a full house, the biggest audience of the tour.

“I think that we gained a lot by being such a small country because it’s easier to raise awareness when it’s a small group,” says Ugla Stefanía Jónsdóttir, a trans activist who sits on the panel following the film’s presentation.

“It’s usually that everybody knows someone that belongs to any of these groups,” Jónsdóttir says. “So it’s more difficult to be the asshole who is against someone because you will know someone eventually.” Read more via Daily Xtra