Pope Francis held an in-flight press conference on his way back to Rome in which he opened up about the debate surrounding last month’s Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family. When asked about the synod’s controversial phrasing regarding persons with homosexual orientation:
“The synod is a path; it is a journey, firstly. Secondly, the synod is not a parliament. It’s a protected space in which the Holy Spirit may speak,” the Holy Father told journalists. Read More
A spike in relationships that bridge the viral divide may be an unintended side effect of the use of Truvada for HIV prevention. Alex Garner, the founding editor of Positive Frontiers, notes that all these new approaches to safer sex have affected how negative and positive men relate to each other because they reduce a key emotional obstacle to love: fear.
Garner says the key to reducing stigma and increasing wellness is for both positive and negative men to talk openly about their health issues with each other. By having this dialogue, they may also rekindle that spark of commonality, in ways that can improve not just physical and but also mental health. Read More
Men who have sex with men and transgender people make up an alarming proportion of new HIV infections in Asia. In Pakistan, these key populations have traditionally been neglected in national HIV responses. Documenting the efforts of ongoing HIV and human rights work in Pakistan are two new films: 'Neglected No Longer: The Men who have Sex with Men and Transgender Community in Pakistan' and 'In from the Margins: Overcoming Barriers to Accessing HIV Services in Pakistan'. Read more and watch the films
Three journalists and an LGBT activist have fled Russia in recent days, seeking asylum in Germany and the U.S. on the basis of alleged homophobic abuse, a series of recent news reports revealed. Lauding the move, St. Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov told reporters that now it is the best time for Russia's gays to leave their country.
"It is clear that St. Petersburg 'homos' felt that they were needed [by the West]. This is the right time to leave Russia, in a state of political humiliation. This situation even gives these people the possibility to claim social benefits [in the West]," said Milonov, who is well known for his anti-gay sentiments. Read More
A concept paper prepared for the Ministry of Health said Jamaica's buggery law "negatively impacts policy implementation" in the fight against HIV/AIDS as it "makes it difficult for reporting and treatment and prevention programmes for the MSM (men who have sex with men) population".
Jamaica's buggery law, which is contained in the Offences Against the Person Act, prohibits anal sex between men, in public or in private. It is punishable by 10 years in prison with hard labour. Read More
Robert Biedron already made history once in Poland by becoming the first openly gay lawmaker in parliament in 2011. On Monday, he became the country's first openly gay mayor.
His successes are a marker of how quickly this deeply conservative and Catholic country has changed in the decade since it joined the European Union. Back then, in 2004, gay rights marches were still being banned and homosexuality was treated as a huge taboo. Since then a growing acceptance of gays and lesbians has arrived hand-in-hand with a flourishing economy. Read More
Europe’s top court, the European Court of Justice has blocked tests administered by European countries to determine cases of asylum seekers who say they are gay or lesbian. It has ruled that refugees who claim asylum on the grounds that they are homosexual – especially from African countries – should not have to undergo tests to prove it.
The ruling was a result of three men, including a Ugandan and one from a Muslim country, failing in their bids for asylum when a Dutch court said they had not proved their sexuality. Read More
Atlanta Fire Rescue Department Chief Kelvin Cochran started a month-long suspension without pay after employees complained about the content of his self-published religious book. Among other things, the book calls “homosexuality” and “lesbianism” a “sexual perversion” morally equivalent to “pederasty” and “bestiality.” Read More
Brenda was gang-raped to ‘cure’ her of being lesbian, leaving her with HIV which she passed on to her female partner. In Kenya, health workers are often particularly insensitive and ill-equipped to serve lesbians, lacking the knowledge on how to prevent HIV transmission between two women.
‘We are told that women cannot infect each other and sometimes they even ask us about our male sexual partners,’ Brenda adds. ‘Unfortunately our society defines us and our roles from the day we are born and we are raised to actively live up to those roles or face being ostracized.’
It is impossible to know how many ‘corrective rape’ cases there are each year, but the phenomenon is reported by lesbians all over Africa. Read More
A South African court has sentenced Lekgoa Lesley Motleleng to 30 years for the rape and murder of Duduzile Zozo, a 26-year-old black lesbian from a township east of Johannesburg.
The gruesome details of her death brought national attention to an epidemic of sexual assault targeting black lesbians in South Africa and the failure of the criminal justice system to respond to them. While there are no reliable statistics on how frequently black lesbians are targeted for so-called “corrective rape,” a 2013 study found that almost one in three lesbian or bisexual women in South Africa reported being the victims of “forced sex.” Read More
In a small community hall in London’s Soho, a group of young gay men gather. They are 16 to 25 years old. They come from all walks of life but they have two key things in common: They are vulnerable and they are living with HIV. Some of these young men are sex workers, homeless, and drug users. Many have been victims of sexual harassment. Others have traded sex for basic necessities to survive.
“Being homeless has made me have sex with people that can provide me with a place to sleep and this means I have little choice about the kind of sex I have,” said 16-year-old Russell. He is, in many ways, the new face of the HIV epidemic—not just in Britain, but also across the world. Read More