South Korea: Government slammed for hosting 'conversion therapy' seminars

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has written to South Korean officials to express concern over two recent 'conversion therapy' seminars hosted in government buildings.

The letter dated 3 April said the failure of high-level government officials and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) to denounce 'gay cures' and the groups promoting these practices contravened the country's international commitments to human rights.

'Two recent convenings by anti-LGBT hate organizations in South Korean government buildings that convey the troubling impression of the government’s tacit endorsement of so-called “conversion therapy” and tolerance for discrimination against LGBT Koreans,' the letter reads. Read More

New Zealand: Urgent attention needed on trans and intersex healthcare

Parliament’s Health Select Committee has heard that the lack of healthcare services for trans and intersex people is a priority public health issue where urgent intervention is needed. 

Auckland counsellor and advocate Tom Hamilton told gathered MPs that trans and intersex people and their whanau find wide variety of care standards. Lack of expertise results "in frustration for the community, which leads to further delay in treatment, possible mental health deterioration and extra costs being met by the individuals … or individuals actually educating the health professionals to improve their experience of care.”

Hamilton’s submission follows a petition urging the government to take action “to address the inadequate supply of publicly funded gender reassignment health services, including counselling, endocrinology and surgical services, in New Zealand”.   Read More

Brazil: HIV-Specific criminal law introduced amid media frenzy and moral panic over ‘barebacking’ gay subculture

A simply worded amendment covering ‘heinous crimes’– which currently includes murder, extortion, rape, child exploitation and spreading an epidemic that results in death – adds individuals who “transmit and infect consciously and deliberately others with the AIDS virus. (sic)” was presented to the Brazilian Parliament by the populist Congressman, Pompeo de Mattos.

The bill has considerable support thanks to an outbreak of moral panic that began with an article in the daily newspaper, O Estado de S. Paulo, that uncovered the gay ‘barebacking’ subculture and further suggested that some men were deliberately passing on HIV to unsuspecting partners. Days later, it was reported that police were now looking into the allegations.  Read More

Cuba: Lesbians receiving unequal treatment from health services

A new report finds that in addition to other forms of discrimination, lesbian and bisexual women in Cuba face unequal treatment from public health services and their specific sexual and reproductive health needs are ignored.

Lesbians receive less information about STI prevention than other population groups and they have fewer welcoming institutional spaces where they can socialise and discuss their problems, said the report. The research study debunks the myth that engaging in lesbian sex avoids all infection risks, although these are indeed much lower than for other sexual behaviours.

Women represented 18.5% of the 2,156 new HIV-positive cases diagnosed in Cuba in 2013, bringing the total number of people living with the virus to 16,400, according to the Ministry of Public Health. Read More 

Brazil: Politician claims 'gay blood' should be separated

A Brazilian Congressman Jair Bolsonaro claimed patients receiving blood transfusions should be able to demand ‘heterosexual blood’.

The congressman said his party, the far-right Progressive Party, wants to introduce a policy which would see people be made aware if they are receiving blood from a gay donor. Patients should also be allowed to ask to not receive the blood if it makes them uncomfortable and, instead, request blood donated by a heterosexual person.

Blood donations from men who have sex with men were previously banned completely, but in 2013 the ban was lifted allowing MSM to donate if they are in a long term relationship or if they have not had sex in the past 12 months. Read More

France: National ethics body rules for indefinite ban on gay blood donation

France's National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) believes maintaining a ban is not a matter of gay rights, but a health issue as there are still “scientific uncertainties” on the risks of using blood from homosexuals.

“Giving blood is not a right. What matters most is the health and the protection of the receiver,” said Jean-Claude Ameisen, president of the CCNE. The committee says that lifting it now “could expose people to medical risks, which should be taken into consideration from an ethical point of view."

The ban covers people who habitually practice same sex relations, and those who confessed to even a singular gay contact during preliminary interviews for potential donors.

President of the LGBT Federation, Stephanie Nicot, called it absurd: "It's risky behavior that should lead to exclusion, and only a temporary one, not the fact that you are gay or you had a homosexual relationship 20 years ago. This is an extremely worrying sign," he said. Read More

Bhutan: UNDP study on stigma, discrimination, & Universal Access in the gay and trans community

The new report looks at barriers Bhutanese gay men and other men who have sex with men and transgender people have in accessing health services. In addition to the strengths, limitations and needs of the health services dealing with marginalized peoples' sexual health, the study puts forth a set of concrete recommendations. Find the report here 

Eastern European and Central Asian MSM and transgender people are absent from HIV dialogue

A new report from the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health finds men who have sex with men and transgender people are not involved in strategic discussions around HIV in most nations of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Lack of reliable epidemiological data, high stigma, and policies that restrict the access of MSM and TG to information on HIV are key factors that preclude the two key populations from meaningfully participating in the country dialogue processes, contributing to HIV/AIDS program planning, and otherwise cooperating with the Global Fund.

 “The absence of key populations of MSM and transgender people in the country dialogue challenges the legitimacy of these processes in our region,” says Vitaly Djuma, ECOM’s Executive Director. Read More 

US: Alzheimer's a growing concern among LGBTs

A major concern for health care providers is the large number of LGBT seniors who are already socially isolated and may be reluctant to seek out services due to past experiences with discrimination in a health care setting. If they are living with dementia, they may not be accessing the care they need. Read More 

UK: LGBT older people with dementia should not be forced back into the closet

The government’s Dementia Strategy for England must include a “specific reference to LGBT issues”, the National Care Forum has warned. Dementia is at the top of the national agenda (by 2025, says the Alzheimer’s Society, there will be an estimated 1 million people with dementia in the UK), but there is no specific reference to LGBT issues in the National Dementia Strategy. Given LGBT older people may be estranged from their relatives and lack family support, formal care is likely to be even more important than it is for their heterosexual peers. Read More

New Zealand: Condoms optional: Promoting the PrEP philosophy

Visiting American porn actor Blue Bailey is amongst those who advocate for more opportunities for at-risk gay and bi men to have anal sex without condoms, based on reducing the infectiveness of those with HIV and pre-priming HIV-negative people with medications to ward off infection. 

“Blue Bailey seems to be a voice for the strand of American thinking that is militantly anti-condom, as if condoms are some kind of oppression of gay men,” says the NZAF's Executive Director Shaun Robinson. As for Bailey's claim in an interview with GayNZ.com that promoting condom use shames and stigmatises gay men, Robinson says HIV and gay men's sexual health “is not a product of oppression it's about simple biological risks - anal sex is 18x riskier than vaginal sex for HIV & has similar risks for syphilis, gonorrhea. Gay men need to protect themselves just as women need to protect from cervical cancer, it's a fact of life.”  Read More