India's first transgender mayor wins election by over 4000 votes

History has been made in India after a transgender candidate won a mayoral election in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh Municipal Corporation. Independent candidate Madhu Kinnar defeated her opposition by 4357 votes on 4 January, beating the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Mahaveer Guruji to become mayor of Raigarh.

The win is a historic occasion for the LGBT population in Raigarh, which lies west of the India-Bangladesh border. However homosexuality still remains a criminal offence in India, with those caught in sexual acts imprisoned.  Read More

In Depth: Dashed Hopes in Gay Ukraine

Ukrainians thought that, post-Maidan, their country would start to look more like Europe. But for members of the LGBT community, things may have even gotten worse. 

“I believe we are in between two evils: Russian homophobic culture and Ukrainian homophobic intolerance,” says Olena Semenova, an LGBT activist.

The Ukrainian gay and lesbian community is large and vibrant, especially in Kiev, where gay clubs and bars operate in relative peace. But many of its members prefer to remain closeted. Homophobia in Ukraine is pervasive and deep-rooted, sharing many parallels with Russia’s. Read More

Ireland: Leo Varadkar becomes Ireland’s first openly gay minister

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has come out publicly saying, “I am a gay man, it’s not a secret, but not something that everyone would necessarily know but isn’t something I’ve spoken publicly about before.” 

While confirming that the decision to go public about his sexuality had lifted a weight off his shoulders, Mr Varadkar admitted that some people in the Fine Gael party may judge him, but that it was an important precedent to set for future politicians. Read More 

Despite Legal Gay Marriage These US States Forbid Teaching About Gay Sex

This month the US Supreme Court announced it would decide in the current term whether all 50 states must allow same-sex couples to marry. But while legal gay marriage has spread rapidly over the last several years, sex education laws in many states remain in the Dark Ages—even in states where gay marriage is allowed.

Sex education is only mandated for middle or high schoolers in 22 states, but almost every state in the nation has policies governing what teachers should emphasize or avoid if they teach sex ed. In 20 states, this means spelling out how teachers should cover homosexuality: 9 states require that information on sexual orientation be "inclusive," while 11 states have either pro-heterosexual or anti-homosexual biases. Read More

Bisexual women are more likely to self-harm than lesbians

A new study published in the Journal of Public Health has claimed  bisexual women were 65% more likely to report eating problems and 37% were more likely to self-harm than lesbians.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine also found they were more likely to have suffered from depression and anxiety than lesbians. Read More

Trans Buddy Program to Support LGBT Patients

Fear of being stigmatized by healthcare professionals is a barrier for many patients who are members of the LGBT community — it’s one of the most-reported reasons transgender individuals do not go to the doctor.

A peer advocacy volunteer group at Vanderbilt University Medical Center plans to change that through a pilot program called Trans Buddy. Program founder, Kale Edmiston said: “I want transgender patients to know that they can come to Vanderbilt and be treated with respect. Through Trans Buddy, patients will have the support of someone they can relate to and trust.”

Trans Buddy will provide support services during primary care, clinic, and specialty appointments as well as have an on-call service for emergent care.  Read More

New UN report calls for changes to legal environment to enhance HIV response in Pakistan

A new report, jointly released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Country Team and the National AIDS Control Programme of Pakistan, calls for adoption and revision of laws and policies to create a more effective national HIV response that will mitigate the impact of HIV and promote and protect the human rights of key populations and vulnerable groups, particularly men who have sex with men and transgender people.  Read more

Kenya is making progress on gay rights, says AG Githu Muigai

Speaking at the 21st Universal Periodic Review, at the United Nations, Attorney General Githu Muigai said that Kenya has made progress on rights of the country’s gay community.

As Kenya’s human rights records is being assessed, the Attorney General was responding to recommendations made by Slovenia, Sweden, Brazil, and Chile that Kenya should decriminalize same sex relations and adopt non-discrimination law covering Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI)

"It is not Government policy to discriminate against persons based on their sexual orientation and gender identity," Githu said Despite these statements, same sex relations remain criminalized in Kenya. Read More

Zimbabwe: Health minister calls for better healthcare for men having sex in prison

Despite there being laws against gay sex in Zimbabwe, a health minister has called for better healthcare for men who have sex with men in prison. Calls were made by stakeholders in the health sector, for gay men should be included in HIV and AIDS strategies.

Dr Owen Mugurungi, the HIV and TB director at the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health said it would be disastrous to ignore the fact that men have gay sex in prisons.
“We might want to deny that men have sex with men but we know that in prisons that thing does happen,” he said. Read More 

US: Rare type of syphilis infects 6 statewide, leaves 2 blind

Health officials are warning about an unusual cluster of syphilis infections that strike the eyes, with six cases reported in Washington state since mid-December, including four in King County. Two people have been blinded by the disease. That’s an unusually high number of cases of ocular syphilis, which affects fewer than one in every million people in the general population each year, according to Dr. Russell Van Gelder, chair of the ophthalmology department at the University of Washington. Even among people with syphilis, ocular disease is detected in perhaps 10 percent of patients, he added.

The King County cases are all men, including three who report having sex with other men, the group most affected by syphilis in the region. Three are HIV-positive; people with HIV are often infected with syphilis, too. Read more via the Seattle Times