Short Film on PrEP: Unwrapping Truvada

Featuring Dan Savage, Cleve Jones, San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, and AIDS Healthcare Foundation head Michael Weinstein.

(Tipped by JMG reader Eric)

CDC Launches New HIV PSA Campaign

The Centers For Disease Control has launched a new PSA series titled "HIV Treatment Works."

More than 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV. This campaign features people from across the United States who are living with HIV talking about how sticking with care and treatment helps them stay healthy, protect others, and live longer, healthier lives. This campaign shows how people living with HIV have overcome barriers to get in care and stay on treatment. On this website, you will find information encouraging people living with HIV to get in care and stay on treatment, as well as resources on how to live well.

More videos in the series are at the link.

Feds Remind LGBT Community: Monday Is the Last Day To Sign Up For Obamacare

Via press release from the Department Of Health:

It’s critical for the LGBT community and all Americans to remember that Monday, March 31 is the last day of open enrollment and those who miss out can’t get covered through the Marketplace until 2015. Access to affordable care has long been an obstacle to good health and financial security for the LGBT community and all Americans. On average, LGBT Americans suffer from higher rates of cancer, obesity, HIV/AIDS and mental illness than the rest of the nation. For those with chronic conditions such as HIV/AIDS, dollar caps on annual and lifetime coverage meant astronomical bills and debt for many in the community. But thanks to the Affordable Care Act, it is a new day. Lifetime and annual dollar caps are a thing of the past and no one can be denied coverage based on their health history. Legally married couples are treated equally when it comes to coverage or financial assistance, no matter who they are married to.And, for the first time, Marketplace coverage is now affordable for the LGBT community and Americans all over the country. Remember: Monday, March 31 is the last day of enrollment - that’s only five days left to get everyone covered who still needs it.

If you miss the Monday deadline, there might be little bit of wiggle room.

CDC Features Florida Lesbian Couple In Anti-Smoking Campaign Ad

Boston's Fenway Health applauded the campaign last month:

Tobacco use is one of the biggest health issues impacting the LGBT community,” said Scout, PhD, Director of the Network for LGBT Health Equity. “Right now it’s still historic to see LGBT inclusion in a national health media campaign. I hope other health agencies follow CDC’s lead and start to make it routine.” The ‘Tips From Former Smokers’ campaign will include ad buys tailored to populations that have smoking disparities, access to tobacco quitlines in multiple languages, and online materials customized for special populations. Expect to see the ads run on TV, radio, print, and online through June. During 2012, the Tips From Former Smokers campaign resulted in 200,000 additional quitline calls across the nation.

A supporting video has been posted on YouTube.

Chicago LGBT Health Clinic Must Pay Back Misspent Federal Grant Money

Chicago's venerable Howard Brown Center, which provides invaluable health services to the city's LGBT population, must repay over $700K in federal grant money that was meant to be used for an HIV study.

The deal comes two years after the health clinic network announced the federal Department of Health and Human Services was investigating Howard Brown officers' use of federal money from a grant for an HIV/AIDS study to pay for the agency's operating costs. "This is all behind us now," said [Jamal] Edwards, who took the helm of the health clinic network in 2010, after allegations of misspending became public. The Uptown-based health clinic was founded in 1974 and provides health care and research primarily focused on the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender community.

Shortly after Edwards took over in 2010, Howard Brown teetered on the verge of closure after the financial mismanagement of its former officers was revealed. The Center notes that the feds could have demanded as much as $3 million in fines. Close call.

LGBT Cancer Survey

Take the survey.

It's National HIV Testing Day

So notes the Centers for Disease Control:

The majority of the estimated 56,000 new HIV infections that occur each year are transmitted by those who are unaware of their infection. Effective HIV treatments now allow people living with HIV to live long, productive lives, yet nearly 17,000 people with AIDS still die every year in the United States. Despite these troubling statistics, the majority of Americans have still never taken an HIV test. Many people don’t recognize that they’re at risk for HIV infection, even if they engage in behaviors that put them at risk. Others may fear what a positive diagnosis could mean for them, despite the effective treatments now available. And many people don’t yet realize that testing today is quick, easy and confidential. On this National HIV Testing Day, don’t let fear or misinformation stop you from getting tested. I strongly encourage all Americans to get tested for HIV, and to text and tweet hivtest.org to your friends and family to encourage them to do the same. HIV testing is the critical first step to protect yourself and your loved ones from HIV, and to help end the HIV epidemic in the United States.

In addition to the LGBT community health centers, there are many locations in New York City which offer rapid same-day HIV testing. Know your status.

CHICAGO: Anonymous Donor Offers $100K Matching Grant To LGBT Health Center

After last week's report that Chicago's Howard Brown LGBT Health Center may be forced to close due to financial mismanagement, an anonymous donor has offered to match gifts from the public up to $100,000. The offer comes from a man who credits Howard Brown with saving his son's life.

In a news conference last Thursday, Howard Brown made an unprecedented appeal to the community to help raise $500,000 in 50 days in order to sustain its health and wellness services and to keep operating. Immediately, donations of all sizes started coming in from donors willing to help keep Howard Brown open. Within five days, the organization raised $90,000 through donations – from on-line to cash donations by walk-in donors. Upon hearing the news about the crisis, one donor called Howard Brown President and CEO Jamal M. Edwards. After a brief, but emotional, conversation the donor generously offered a $100,000 challenge grant for the appeal. The donor credits Howard Brown Health Center with saving his son’s life and said, emphatically, “we can’t let this happen; we can’t let Howard Brown fail.” The challenge grant is contingent upon raising matching funds of $100,000 by Nov. 30.

Instantly double any gift to Howard Brown by donating here.

HCR Bill Ditches LGBT Health Provisions

The reconciled health care reform bill posted by the House is stripped of previously included provisions addressing LGBT concerns, such as the taxation of employee partner benefits. The HRC is disappointed, but supports the bill.

While we are saddened that the House has abandoned provisions that would make care more accessible and affordable to our community, we recognize that the health reform measure will still help all Americans, including LGBT people. Important reforms like eliminating pre-existing condition limitations and expanding Medicaid will significantly impact people living with HIV and AIDS. We urge Congress to pass this legislation, addressing the nation’s dire need for reform in our health care system and clearing the way for Congress to act on the many issues it needs to address, including ones of great importance to the LGBT community.

Lawmakers did manage to find $50M to fund abstinence-only sex education.

Survey Request From The National LGBT Cancer Network

The National LGBT Cancer Network would like your help.

The National LGBT Cancer Network wants to do something about the increasing prevalence of anal cancer in our community. First, we need to find out what people know about anal cancer. We are asking gay and bisexual men to complete a brief (5-minute) anonymous online survey to assess their knowledge of anal cancer. We are particularly interested in hearing from and hope that you will publicize this request through your blog, listserves, website, mailing lists. The more respondents we have, the more we learn.

In the general population, anal cancer is a rare disease, but among men who have sex with men (MSM), the incidence of anal cancer is 40% higher and increasing annually. However, the majority of gay men know little about the disease, have ever been tested for it, or even know that screening tests exist. Health care professionals, too, remain divided on how and whether to screen for it. In fact, a standardized screening protocol for anal cancer does not yet exist.

To participate, click here.

THANK YOU. To learn more about cancer in the LGBT community and the work of the National LGBT Cancer Network, please visit our website, www.cancer-network.org.

Please consider taking part, it will only take you a few minutes.

UPDATE: JMG reader Band makes the excellent point that you should take the survey before reading the comments on this post, which may influence how you answer the survey's questions. Take the survey FIRST.

New LGBT Health Center Opens In Boston

Fenway Health in Boston has opened what is thought to be the largest building ever built for a LGBT organization.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino cut the ribbon as Fenway Health officially named its new 1340 Boylston Street home The Ansin Building at a ceremony attended by 200 people on Thursday, May 7. The 100,000 square foot, $60 million facility, generously named by Ron and Ed Ansin in loving memory of Peter Ansin (1957 – 1992), is believed to be the largest facility ever constructed by an organization with a specific mission to serve the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Speakers at the dedication ceremony included the Mayor, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center President Paul Levy, City Council President Mike Ross, Representative Byron Rushing, philanthropist and Fenway donor Ron Ansin, developer Steve Samuels and Fenway Health President and CEO Dr. Stephen Boswell. In a moving speech, Mayor Menino credited Fenway with saving the life of a close friend who had struggled with the fact that he was gay. “[Fenway] gave him all the support in the world, right here, and that’s what they do every day. They save people’s lives,” the Mayor said.

(Photo credit: Marilyn Humphries)

Lawsuits Filed To Block "Objectionable" Healthcare Rules

Three federal lawsuits have been filed to block Dubya's parting shot at health care, which allows providers to withhold treatment in situations where they personally object to the care requested.

In three lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the states and groups sought an immediate court order preventing the regulation from going into effect Tuesday and a permanent decision voiding the rule. On the way out, the Bush administration has left a ticking political time bomb that is set to explode literally on the day of the president's inaugural and blow apart women's rights," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who filed one of the suits on behalf of his state, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island. "This midnight rule is a nightmare for hospitals and clinics, as well as women."

Blumenthal's lawsuit challenges the regulation on several grounds, charging that it is too vague and overbroad and conflicts with other federal laws and state laws. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed a second suit on behalf of its affiliates, while the American Civil Liberties Union filed sued on behalf of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, which represents many state and county health departments, among other providers.

Some doctors have refused to artificially inseminate lesbian patients; they would be legally protected from such actions under the new rules.

NYC's HIV Rate 3X That Of Nation

NYC's rate of new HIV infections is three times that of the rest of the country.

Based on a new model for tracking recent infections developed by the Centers for Disease Control, city health officials estimated that 72 out of every 100,000 New Yorkers contracted the virus that causes AIDS in 2006, compared with 23 out of every 100,000 individuals in America. Overall, 4,800 New Yorkers became infected with HIV that year, including 3,863 New York City residents.

According to the department's calculations, 50% of the new infections — about 2,372 cases — occurred among men who had sex with other men, while 8%, or 372, came from intravenous drug use. The vast majority of cases occurred among men, who accounted for 76% of infections in 2006. Nearly half of the new infections, 46%, occurred among black New Yorkers, while those between the ages of 30 and 39 accounted for 29% of the new infections.

The city distributed 38 million free condoms last year and expects to exceed that number in 2008, despite the complaints of people like the Catholic League's Bill Donohue, who says, "When you promiscuously distribute it on the street corners, as if it were a lollipop, you're sending a message, however unwittingly, that this is kind of casual." See how he worked "promiscuous" into a sentence about condom distribution?

Staph Superbug Cases Spiking In Gay Men

Doctors and hospitals are seeing a big surge in staph superbug infections in gay men around the country.

San Francisco General Hospital researchers have been chasing the rogue strain of drug-resistant staph called USA300 since they first isolated it from a patient specimen seven years ago.

With every turn, the aggressive and persistent bug keeps getting worse. Now, a new variant of that strain, resistant to six major kinds of antibiotics, is spreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.

City doctors first spotted the original USA300 during tests for patients treated at a walk-in clinic for skin infections in 2001. Since then, they have watched it morph from laboratory curiosity into the dominant form of staph infection in much of the United States.

"It stormed into town and just took over, displacing everything else," said Dr. Chip Chambers, infectious disease chief for the renowned hospital.

At first, USA300 hit the down-and-out: injection-drug users, jail inmates, homeless men and women. Today it is also infecting suburban moms, executives, doctors, athletes and children. It has turned up in tattoo parlors and newborn nurseries. People with HIV infection seem especially prone to it, but it also strikes patients, gay and straight, who have no previous health problems.

Staph infections are usually treatable but can be lethal. USA300 is as dangerous as they come - it can attack organs throughout the body, forcing doctors to amputate fingers, toes and limbs. Its most disturbing trait, however, is just how easily it gets around.

[snip]

USA300 is one of a dozen distinct varieties of MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, now circulating. The first MRSA strain, resistant to the penicillin substitute methicillin, was discovered in 1961. It continues to evolve. More than 200 families of the strain have come and gone since. USA300 is shaping up as the worst of the lot.

The various MRSA families have been gaining strength as a public health menace for years.

MRSA infections used to be confined to hospitalized patients. But in the late 1990s, people began contracting them in community settings - in gyms, jails, schools and even at home. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated last fall that drug-resistant staph was killing 19,000 Americans a year - more than are dying of AIDS.

From the Free Republic comments on this story:

-"I thought AIDS was bad enough. I guess they will get us all killed through their “choice” of lifestyle and spread their misery to one and all. Misery loves company."
-"Quarantine. Learn the lesson of AIDS. They can have sex with each other in quarantine until they die from the bacterial infection."
-"In Iran these sickos would’ve been executed and this would have a quick end put to it."

Gay Rape Hotline Set Up In SF

In a joint venture with the gay support group Community United Against Violence, San Francisco has unveiled a new campaign encouraging gay men to come forward and report rapes. With a hotline and a website, the groups hope to reduce the stigma and increase the reporting of the attacks, the majority of which take place in the Castro. In 2007, 18 cases have already been reported.

Anti-Holsinger Campaign Builds

More information is coming to light about the past of Surgeon General nominee James Holsinger as steam builds in the campaign to oppose his nomination. Kids, Dubya has really out-twatted himself with this homophobic, unscientific, Christer nutjob.

Kentucky.com: "In 1991, Dr. James W. Holsinger -- a University of Kentucky professor who is President Bush's nominee for U.S. surgeon general -- wrote a paper arguing that gay sex is biologically unnatural and unhealthy.

Like male and female pipe fittings, certain male and female body parts are designed for each other, Holsinger wrote in a paper prepared for a United Methodist Church committee studying homosexuality. "When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur," Holsinger wrote in the paper, titled Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality."

Gabrielle Rotello on Huffington Post: "I guess it's no big surprise that our lame duck, brain dead president would nominate an outspoken 'phobe to be the top doctor of a nation where gays and lesbians pay taxes like anybody else. And a nation still in the midst of an AIDS epidemic and a host of other health issues affecting lesbians and gay men."

Ronald Jackson, deputy director of AIDS Action: "Dr. Holsinger has a track record of anti-gay sentiments. We feel that his views on homosexuality will infuse and guide his policies and direction as surgeon general."

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force: "With the nomination of Dr. Holsinger, the Bush administration is once again elevating ideology over public policy and once again throwing red meat to its ravenous anti-gay supporters. Dr. Holsinger's record shows that his own biases will not allow him to look objectively at scientific information. Consequently, he is not qualified to be Surgeon General and we call upon the Senate to promptly reject his nomination."

Bible Belt Blogger: Gay sex, he (Holsinger) warned, can lead to "lacerations, perforations and deaths...The anatomic and physiologic facts of alimentation and reproduction simply do not change based on any cultural setting. In fact, the logical complementarity of the human sexes has been so recognized in our culture that it has entered our vocabulary in the form of naming various pipe fittings either the male fitting or the female fitting depending upon which one interlocks within the other. When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur as noted above."
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