LOS ANGELES: Vaccinations Urged For Gay Men After Three Meningitis Deaths

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health today urged that gay and bisexual men be vaccinated for meningitis. Eight cases of meningitis have been reported in the Los Angeles area since the start of the year and there have been three deaths.

All men who have sex with men, whether or not they identify as gay or bisexual and "regardless of HIV status, who regularly have close or intimate contact with multiple partners, or who seek partners through the use of digital applications, particularly those who share cigarettes, marijuana or use illegal drugs, should visit their health provider to be vaccinated against invasive meningococcal disease," department director Dr. Jonathan Fielding said in a statement. The county will provide free vaccinations for patients without health insurance, starting on April 3, he added. Those interested can call 211 or visit the department's website to get a listing of provider clinics.

Investigators have found "commonalities" in four of the latest cases. This outbreak cluster apparently includes the three fatalities.

The department said that in contrast to investigations of illnesses in 2012 and 2013, "commonalities were found" among the four cases in men who have sex with men this year: Three lived or socialized in the West Hollywood and North Hollywood areas and three were 27-28 years of age. The fourth meningitis patient was 50 years old, the department reported. Invasive meningococcal disease stems from a rare bacterial infection that can spread to the blood, brain or spinal cord and can affect the entire body -- sometimes causing death. It is spread by close exposure to sneezing or coughing or direct contact with saliva or nose mucus -- though it's less contagious than influenza, the health department said.

From the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center:

“Invasive meningococcal disease is very serious and potentially deadly,” says Center Medical Director Dr. Robert Bolan. “We’re concerned there have been four reported cases among gay and bisexual men in just the first three months of this year and that the county is reporting commonalities among some of the cases. Though it’s important to note that IMD is not spread by casual contact, such as being in the same room with someone who may be infected, I encourage gay and bisexual men—regardless of their HIV status, but especially those who are HIV-positive—to get vaccinated. It’s possible that people who are HIV-positive, and gay men in general, may be at greater risk of infection.”

Three of the eight reported Los Angeles area cases have occurred in HIV+ men. Reports do not say whether any of those three cases are among the fatalities.

RELATED: Beginning in the fall of 2012, New York City experienced an outbreak of meningitis that included cases among gay and bisexual men. At least seven deaths resulted. City and state departments of public health reacted aggressively, launching vaccination campaigns that were praised by local activists. Those vaccination campaigns were declared a success in August 2013 following six months of no new reported cases, but not before the likes of World Net Daily, David Barton, and Scott Lively had declared that God was using meningitis to punish gay men.

Stoli Donates $300K To LA LGBT Center

"The responses to the attacks on LGBT rights in Russia show that our lives are global and interconnected. Some responded to the attacks on LGBT rights in Russia by boycotting Stoli. It’s worth clarifying that SPI Group, which is in no way affiliated with the Russian government, has been the owner of the Stolichnaya brand outside of Russia since 1997. The Stolichnaya made in Russia for the local market is owned by a state-controlled entity. We feel it is important to raise our voice again and let the LGBT community know we share the same desire for justice and equality. And we are invested in achieving a brighter tomorrow for all. We are proud to be working with the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center to make our joint vision possible through the Leadership LAB, which empowers LGBT people to defeat prejudice locally, while developing leaders in LGBT communities in the U.S. and around the world. - SPI Group president John Esposito, in an Advocate op-ed announcing a $300,000 donation to the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center.

Homeless Youth: Any Given Tuesday

A short film from the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center. Gay Star News recaps:

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center is the only organization in Los Angeles dedicated to providing these kids with food, clothing, medical care and a warm bed. They offer these young people, kicked out by their parents for being LGBT, the help they need to get off the streets and make it on their own. Writer/director Trent Kendrick and producer Michael Fossat were so inspired and touched by a tour of The Center that they developed and produced a short film called Any Given Tuesday. The film dramatizes a scenario that is all too real: parents find out son is gay and immediately kick him out of the house. He ends up on the streets and turns to prostitution and drugs and considers suicide. The filmmakers have some star power to help drive home the point: Elton John and spouse David Furnish, actors Jamie Foxx and James Woods, television journalist Lisa Ling and reality TV stars Lisa Vanderpump and Bruno Tonioli.

Los Angeles City Council Calls On Feds To End Social Security Discrimination

Today the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution calling on the federal government to end Social Security policies that discriminate against same-sex couples. Via press release from the LA Gay & Lesbian Center:

“LGBT workers pay into the system like everyone else,” said Councilmember Koretz, “so the federal government has no business denying same-sex couples equal benefits. It’s unfair, it’s un-American and it must change.” Councilmember Rosendahl said: “With the energy of our youth and the wisdom of our seniors, we’ll get our rights.” On April 11, just days before Americans must file their tax returns, Councilmember Koretz will join Senator Barbara Boxer and many others at Rock for Equality, a rally, march and ‘rock-in’ to demand equal benefits for LGBT tax payers. Hundreds of people will meet in front of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s McDonald/Wright building, followed by a march to the Hollywood Social Security office where they will stage a rally and rocking chair ‘rock-in.’

Senator Boxer, who just pledged her support for Rock for Equality, said: “I look forward to being at Rock for Equality on April 11, and applaud the organizers and participants of this event for their efforts to achieve equality in Social Security benefits.” Senator Boxer is not alone among Washington, D.C. leaders who agree that Social Security discrimination must end. President Barack Obama said at a recent town hall meeting in Florida: “The notion that someone who’s working really hard for 30 years can’t take their death benefits and transfer them to the person they love the most in the world, and who has supported them all their lives… that just doesn’t seem fair… it doesn’t seem right…”

Go the Rock For Equality site for information on the campaign to grant same-sex couples the same Social Security benefits as any other married American.

Grammy Nom For Murder Music Singer Buju Banton Sparks Growing Outrage

Jamaican reggae singer Buju Banton, whose songs have openly called for the murder of gay men, received a Grammy nomination last week, much to the growing outrage and condemnation of the LGBT community.

Los Angeles LGBT Center:

Throughout his career, Banton has performed music that promotes a culture of violence against lesbian and gay people; he sings in “Boom, Bye Bye” that “faggots get up and run” when he comes, that “they have to die,” and that he will shoot them in the head or “burn them up bad.” Banton is completely unrepentant, refuses to stop performing the song, and recently said, “There is no end to the war between me and faggots." “It’s an affront to LGBT people, and to all fair-minded people around the world, that Buju Banton was nominated,” says Center Chief Public Affairs Officer Jim Key. “We certainly hope the members of the Recording Academy will not bestow the prestigious honor of a Grammy on someone whose music promotes murder.”

GLAAD:

Earlier this year, a series of Buju Banton concerts in the U.S. were canceled after protests from the LGBT community. Despite meeting with LGBT leaders in San Francisco in October, Banton later claimed that “there is no end to the war between me and f****t.” While we are disappointed that the Recording Academy has chosen to honor Banton’s album, “Rasta Got Soul,” with a nomination the highest honor in music, we are hopeful that the Grammy voters will chose to bestow the Grammy for Best Reggae Album on one of the other nominees who manage to record reggae that does not condone hate.

The other nominees for Best Reggae Album are Gregory Issacs, Sean Paul, Julian Marley, and Stephen Marley.

Heroes Of Love

The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center has set up a Valentine's Day e-card of thanks to send to our straight allies. You can send cyber-thanks to: Julian Bond - NAACP Chairman, Jerry Brown - California Attorney General, Judy Chu - State Board of Equalization, Maria Elena Durazo - L.A. County AFL-CIO, Dianne Feinstein - U.S. Senator, Ronald George -Chief Justice California Supreme Court, Dolores Huerta - Co-founder United Farm Workers, Alice Huffman - California NAACP, Bill Maher -Host, Real Time with Bill Maher, Gavin Newsom - Mayor of San Francisco, Jack O'Connell - Superintendent of Public Instruction. Brad Pitt - Actor, Jerry Sanders - Mayor of San Diego, Antonio Villaraigosa - Mayor of Los Angeles, Karin Wang - Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

What, no Jon Stewart? No Keith Olbermann?

More Warren Reactions: Frank, Solmonese, GLAAD, LA LGBT Center

I've been inundated with emails from various groups denouncing the selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. I'll add to this post through the day as I get to them.

Barney Frank:

“I am very disappointed by President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to honor Reverend Rick Warren with a prominent role in his inauguration. Religious leaders obviously have every right to speak out in opposition to anti-discrimination measures, even in the degrading terms that Rev. Warren has used with regard to same-sex marriage. But that does not confer upon them the right to a place of honor in the inauguration ceremony of a president whose stated commitment to LGBT rights won him the strong support of the great majority of those who support that cause.

“It is irrelevant that Rev. Warren invited Senator Obama to address his congregation, since he extended an equal invitation to Senator McCain. Furthermore, the President-Elect has not simply invited Rev. Warren to give a speech as part of a series in which various views are presented. The selection of a member of the clergy to occupy this uniquely elevated position has always been considered a mark of respect and approval by those who are being inaugurated.”

Joe Solmonese:

What the Obama team needs to understand is that for many LGBT Americans, this November was bittersweet. We were thrilled with Obama's victory and, in fact, many of us worked the phones, pounded the pavement and wrote checks to make that happen. But the next day, we learned that Proposition 8 passed in California, and our hearts sank. It was the biggest loss our community has faced in decades.

One of the biggest reasons for that hurtful outcome was the Rev. Rick Warren, who publicly endorsed Proposition 8 in late October. He told his parishioners and reporters alike that "any pastor could be considered doing hate speech if he shared his views that he didn't think homosexuality was the most natural way for relationships." But civil marriage rights for same-sex couples had nothing whatsoever to do with religion.

More recently, he even compared same-sex marriage to incest, pedophilia and polygamy. He may cloak himself in media-friendly happy talk that plays well on television, but he stands steadfastly against any measure of equality for LGBT Americans.

President-elect Obama must now, as my mother used to say, put some meat on the bone. We've seen appointment after appointment of talented Americans who come from constituencies that are part of this country and that helped gain his election. Well, we're one of those constituencies who actually worked and voted for Obama, unlike Warren and probably most of his 21,000 parishioners. Yet, we're the ones left waiting for some real evidence of inclusion.

So, are we angry about Rick Warren? You bet we are. And including a gay marching band in the inaugural festivities doesn't heal this wound. It only serves to make us question the promises that Barack Obama made in his historic quest to be president. We pray we weren't misled.

LA Gay & Lesbian Center:

Obama’s response to press inquiries on the subject rings hollow. He talks about others like Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Joseph Lowery who will share the spotlight and bring alternative views to the stage, as though it’s important to have “balanced” representation regarding the issue of our civil rights. Joseph Lowery does not represent an alternative viewpoint to Warren. He represents an ethical and just choice on behalf of people historically oppressed and left off the presidential stage. Is it important to “balance” the work of a person who has spent his life fighting racial bigotry and discrimination with someone who opposes those ideals? Are these the politics of hope we have heard so much about?

Continuing his defense, Obama spoke eloquently about his campaign’s support for full equality for lesbians and gay men as an indication of how he will govern. Unfortunately, he did not and does not now stand for our full equality since he has made it clear that he opposes marriage equality. In this regard, he walks in lock step with Warren, even though Obama opposed the passage of Prop 8.

Warren played an important role in helping to re-write the California constitution to eliminate our rights. So now it is clear. If President-elect Obama does not disinvite Rick Warren, then he is defining what inclusion in America will mean under his administration. It will mean that the practice of bigotry is acceptable, and that as president—in the name of “inclusion”—he will provide a place and platform for that bigotry to be expressed and grow. Apparently we are welcome into the big tent of hope, but if we choose to enter, we should do so knowing we are in hostile, yet “balanced” territory.”

GLAAD:

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today called on the media to examine Rick Warren's history of anti-gay rhetoric and efforts to oppose marriage equality upon his selection to deliver the invocation at President-elect Obama's inauguration.

"The inauguration of a new President is a day when Americans should be brought together, to signal a new beginning for our country. It is therefore deeply troubling that the President-elect has selected someone whose defamatory and damaging anti-gay statements and views, including linking marriage for committed same-sex couples to incest and pedophilia, clearly divide rather than unite Americans," said GLAAD President Neil Giuliano. "Media outlets have a responsibility to scrutinize Rick Warren's history of using his powerful platform to advance anti-gay rhetoric and prevent loving couples from being able to take care of and be responsible for one another."

LA Gay Center Gala Draws Stars

Hosted by comedian Alec Mapa, Saturday night's Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center's 36th Annual Gala brought out more than 1000 supporters to hear Linda Ronstadt, Jenifer Lewis, and the LA Gay Men's Chorus. (ABOVE: George Takei, Center CEO Lorri L. Jean, Alec Mapa, Jane Lynch, . Photo by David Arenas. BELOW: Alex Mapa and LA Gay Men's Chorus, Jenifer Lewis, Shirley MacLaine, Linda Ronstadt. Photos by Beck Starr.)