Robbie Rogers gets multi-year contact extension with Los Angeles Galaxy
He remains the first and only openly gay player in Major League Soccer league
gregh
www.gaystarnews.com/article/robbie-rogers-gets-multi-year-contact-extension-los-angeles-galaxy141114
Ark. Church Gets Threatening Note in Response to Marriage Equality Support
After a Unitarian Universalist minister wrote a pro-LGBT letter to the editor of an area newspaper, her church got an anonymous homophobic note.
Stevie St. John
Stop Picking On Zachary Quinto
You can count on one hand the number of times a young, openly gay Hollywood actor has talked about HIV/AIDS in the last decade. In fact, you’d probably only need a couple of fingers. Zachary Quinto just boldly went where few gay thirty-somethings have gone before, talking passionately about how HIV is affecting his community, and he’s getting dumped on for straying from the HIV/AIDS party line. I want to thank him for being one of the few that gives a shit, and for speaking out about gay men and HIV.
For the record, I’m a fan. Heck, I’m practically a Quinto stalker. Being a dedicated Trekker since the series started reruns in 1969, I’ve been under his sway since his first uttered “live long, and prosper.” I admired his acting chops on stage in The Glass Menagerie, and froze up when he walked right past me at Anderson Cooper’s 46th birthday party. So yeah, stop picking on my Zachary!
But seriously, here’s what Mr. Quinto said to OUT Magazine that’s raised hackles:
“I think there’s a tremendous sense of complacency in the LGBT community,” Quinto says, citing the rising number of HIV infections in adolescents. “AIDS has lost the edge of horror it possessed when it swept through the world in the ’80s. Today’s generation sees it more as something to live with and something to be much less fearful of. And that comes with a sense of, dare I say, laziness.”
Quinto is similarly candid on prophylactic drugs, like PrEP, which many gay people have embraced as a long-awaited panacea. “We need to be really vigilant and open about the fact that these drugs are not to be taken to increase our ability to have recreational sex,” he says. “There’s an incredible underlying irresponsibility to that way of thinking…and we don’t yet know enough about this vein of medication to see where it’ll take us down the line.”
Sure, there’s some unhelpful finger-wagging here that won’t win Quinto any brownie points with many young gay men, but can anyone deny that complacency is now a major driver of new HIV infections in this group? Most of us have learned the hard way that using the plague years to browbeat younger generations doesn’t work, but hearing a 37-year-old reference those times should count for something. Quinto has learned his history, with evident respect, which puts him light-years ahead of most gay men his age.
His PrEP comments created the most stink. One wishes he hadn’t ditched Spock’s logic and love of science when discussing one of the most promising advances in the fight against HIV in years. But again, I’m amazed he mentioned it at all. According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey, only 26 percent of gay or bisexual men have even heard that there’s a drug that prevents HIV infections.
Let’s use this as a teachable moment. I’d love to introduce Quinto to many of the early adopters of PrEP. Most of them are wise beyond their years, and have spent more time than most thinking about their own health and the health of their community. They are the epitome of gay male responsibility.
What do you say, Zack? Let’s talk.
Portia de Rossi, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ryan Murphy and more celebrate TV's impact on LGBTI equality
Paley Center gala in LA also draws Norman Lear who said TV ‘has brought us closer to true equality for all’
gregh
Watch: Lennie & Pearl’s Heartwarming Love Story
PHOTOS: Gay State Rep. Brian Sims Posts Deliciously Beefy TBT, But He Hasn’t Lost The Goods
We suddenly became interested in Pennsylvania state politics today when openly gay rep. Brian Sims posted this beeftastic TBT:
“Holy #ThrowbackThursday! This was taken in September 2000, a few hours before the first game of my senior year at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. We were in Tennessee for the NCAA Kick-Off Classic to start the season.”
And even though his 2000 self is undeniable hunky, Brian is currently giving us daddy-at-the-office perfection.
Like when he…
…gets asked the tough questions.
…gives a little smirk.
…gets behind the podium.
…gets some “me time” in Provincetown.
…sits with a wide stance.
Now put those devilish good looks to work and get things done.
Dan Tracer
Is the FDA Policy on Gay Men Donating Blood Winding Down?
The FDA’s longstanding policy of banning men who have sex with men (MSMs) from giving blood due to HIV transmission concerns may be on its way out the door after a U.S. advisory panel recommended for the first time that the 31-year ban be partially lifted.
Bloomberg reports:
Doctors and blood-donation advocates who advise the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services voted 16-2 today to suggest that men who have had sex with men should be able to give blood after being abstinent for one year. Their recommendation will be considered by a group of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration in a Dec. 2 meeting. While the FDA doesn’t have to follow either panel’s advice, their recommendations are considered influential.
“The system, in my mind, has been very successful, in part, I believe, because the public has trust in the system and the decisions we make,” said Jay Menitove, chairman of the advisory group that met today. “To maintain that trust and compliance on the part of the public, it is time to modernize.”
The Human Rights Campaign reacts:
“This recommendation — although nominally better than the existing policy — falls far short because it continues to stigmatize gay and bisexual men, preventing them from donating life-saving blood based solely on their sexual orientation,” said David Stacy, HRC’s Government Affairs Director. “The current policy, adopted in the earliest days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the new recommendation are both simply wrong and can no longer be justified in light of scientific research and updated blood screening technology. It’s far past time for this stigma to end.”
The American Red Cross supports the proposal, which mirrors similar 12-month deferral policies that have been implemented in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
Kyler Geoffroy
www.towleroad.com/2014/11/is-the-fda-policy-on-gay-men-donating-blood-winding-down-.html
House Republican Suggests Last-Ditch Effort to Vote on ENDA
As some in Congress attempt one last effort to vote on ENDA before the end of the term, a conservative lobbying group says it’s one of the biggest ‘threats’ of the session.
Michelle Garcia
www.advocate.com/enda/2014/11/13/house-republican-suggests-last-ditch-effort-vote-enda
Gavin Grimm, Transgender Teen, Fighting To Use Men's Restroom At School
A transgender teen in Virginia is fighting for the right to use the bathroom that corresponds with his gender identity.
Gavin Grimm is a 10th grader who was assigned female at birth and came out as transgender earlier this year. Now, the 15-year-old is generating a larger conversation surrounding bathroom rights for individuals identifying as transgender in Virginia.
The Gloucester County School Board is slated to hold a meeting on Dec. 9 to make a decision surrounding the bathroom rights of transgender individuals.
“The issue for me is that the only proposal to be voted on December 9 is for Gavin to go back to using the girls restroom, and there needs to be another proposal, because Gavin is not going to use the girls restroom, not going to happen. Gavin is a boy,” Grimm’s mother reportedly stated.
Transgender students and school districts regularly battle over issues like this. After much debate and controversy, California passed a bill in 2013 that allows transgender students to use the bathroom and play on the sports team that corresponds with their gender identity. Additionally, Philadelphia passed similar legislation late last year.
Gay marriages begin in Kansas after US Supreme Court lifts stay
State’s governor and attorney general vow to continue legal fight to uphold ban
gregh
www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-marriages-begin-kansas-after-us-supreme-court-lifts-stay131114
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