"Pathologization – Being lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or trans is not an illness"

Speaking ahead of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on 17 May, a group of United Nations and international human rights experts* call for an urgent end to the pathologization of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) adults and children.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, a group of UN human rights experts, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’  Rights and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe urge Governments worldwide to reform medical classifications and to adopt measures to prevent all forms of forced treatments and procedures on LGBT persons....

Pathologizing and stigmatizing medical classifications relating to gender identity and expression are used to justify subjecting trans people, even at young ages, to forced or coercive sterilization, hormone therapy, surgeries, and psychiatric evaluations, and in other ways abusively conditioning their human rights. Read more via OHCHR

Australia: Victoria budgets $30 million to support LGBTI citizens

Victorian budget statement is a big win for LGBTI people, with the state’s government investing in several services and facilities.

Confirming Premier Daniel Andrews’ announcement last week, $15 million will be set aside for an LGBTI Pride Centre, which will showcase queer art and history, co-locate LGBTI advisory, health and support services, and feature community spaces which will provide a safe environment for LGBTI Victorians to meet and socialise.

The $29 million package also includes $4 million for a grants program to strengthen the sustainability of LGBTI community organisations and to support LGBTI community leaders who help Victorians live free from discrimination.   Read more via Same Same 

UK: Young gay, bisexual men six times more likely to attempt suicide than older counterparts

Conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and funded by Stonewall, the study found gay and bisexual men under the age of 26 were six times more likely to attempt suicide or self-harm compared to men in that group aged over 45. They were also twice as likely to be depressed or anxious. The researchers say the results reinforce the importance of mental health interventions reaching those who need them most, as well as people who actively seek help.

The study is the first to examine the mental health differences within gay and bisexual men in the UK. Using data from the Stonewall Gay and Bisexual Men's Health Survey, the researchers analysed responses of 5,799 gay and bisexual men aged 16 and over living in the UK. Depression, anxiety, attempted suicide and self-harm were examined against a range of life factors. Age, ethnicity, income and education were all found to have a large impact on mental health.

Black gay and bisexual men were twice as likely to be depressed and five times more likely to have attempted suicide than the white majority. Men in the lower wage bracket were more likely to be depressed, anxious, attempt suicide or self-harm. Those with lower levels of education were twice as likely to experience one of those issues compared to those with degree level education, only in part due to earning a lower wage. Read more via Science Daily 

Japan: Why it is important for you as a medical or welfare worker to understand LGBT needs

Only recently, the term LGBT has entered the vocabulary in Japan. There is nothing special about LGBT individuals. They are ordinary people who go to school or work daily, shop at a local supermarket with many others, and use medical institutions. Still, many people think they have never met a person who is LGBT, or LGBT individuals don’t live in their community.

Have you ever thought of why you, the user or worker of medical or welfare services, don’t “see” any LGBT individuals? LGBT individuals are invisible in Japan because the majority of them find it difficult to assert what their needs are.
 
Without understanding the needs and problems unique to LGBT individuals and their concerns for their future wellbeing, medical providers may experience miscommunication or non-communication with their clients, leading to treatment interruption and decreased quality of life (QOL). For the provider or servicer, such individuals may be puzzling users for whom treatment or support is difficult. However, this cycle can be changed, if only the typical ethos is applied: “Each individual should be respected.”

On a fundamental level, nothing will change by whether or not your client has come out to you. To respect sexual diversity such as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender also means to respect those who don’t identify as LGBT. This is what we want to convey in this booklet.  Read more the report here

Colombia: Historical decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights published a landmark decision ruling that the Colombian State is accountable for denying Ángel Alberto Duque, a HIV positive gay man, the enjoyment of his right to equality and nondiscrimination when he was denied the pension of his long time partner.
 
This is the first time that the IACHR rules on issues related to same-sex couples and the second, after Atala Riffo and daughters vs. Chile, on LGBTI rights. The potential impact of this decision on regional jurisprudence and on the international human rights system is enormous.
 
In 2002, the private pension fund –Colfondos- denied to Mr. Duque the pension of his deceased partner of 10 years, Jhon Óscar Jiménez. A judge ratified the decision arguing that the petitioner was in a same-sex relationship and that the “family had to be protected.”

The Court orders the Colombian State to start paying the pension within three months and retroactively for 13 years plus a US10000 dollar for immaterial injuries.  Read more via El Espectador 

US: Zika virus reportedly transferred from male-to-male for the first time

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed officially that Zika can be transferred through anal sex, as reports come in of transmission between a couple from Dallas.

The Zika virus, which is commonly passed through mosquitoes, has been declared as a global public health emergency by The World Health Organization. Doctors have described it as “a pandemic in progress”, causing infants to be born with microcephaly, which is when the brain develops at a much slower rate, and it has also been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare nervous system disorder that can cause temporary paralysis.

Studies are now being done to assess how long the virus can survive in semen, and thus how long it is possible that the infection could be passed onto a sexual partner. The virus has previously been detected two months after symptoms began, reports say.

The majority of people who have been diagnosed with the Zika virus so far have been asymptomatic, but it is not yet clear whether a lack of symptoms means that the virus is not present in the semen. Cases of the virus being detected in the semen has been limited to the men who had shown symptoms, currently.   Read more via Attitude

UK: NHS England reconsiders PrEP drugs after legal threats

The NHS will reconsider a decision to abandon the roll-out of HIV-preventing PrEP drugs to gay men in the UK–after a legal threat. The drug has been endorsed by the World Health Organisation and is already routinely available to at-risk men in a number of countries, including the United States, Canada, France and Israel.

In the UK, a recently concluded two-year study found the drug was greatly effective at reducing the risk of HIV transmission – but in a surprise U-turn last month, NHS England kicked the issue into the long grass today by ordering a further two-year study instead of a roll-out.

The decision had infuriated HIV groups, who have warned that it puts people at risk of HIV transmission and puts the UK well behind other countries. However, after the National AIDS Trust launched legal action over the decision, it today received a response from NHS England confirming that “NHS England will carefully consider its position on commissioning PrEP in light of [NAT’s] representations”.  The body will now meet in May to decide whether to put PrEP back into the decision-making process – just months after opting to stop it. Read more via PinkNews

UK: 'Super-gonorrhoea' is spreading and will become untreatable, doctors fear

An outbreak of highly drug-resistant "super-gonorrhoea" is sweeping across Britain and could become untreatable, medics fear. A national alert was triggered by Public Health England last September after the rare strain of the sexually transmitted superbug was detected in 15 people. However, Public Health England (PHE) is understood to have acknowledged that efforts to contain the spread have been of "limited success". 

The alert comes after Chancellor George Osborne warned resistance to antibiotics will become "an even greater threat to mankind than cancer" without global action. PHE said an increase in cases of super-gonorrhoea was a "further sign of the very real threat of antibiotic resistance to our ability to treat infections".

The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV issued an alert to clinicians urging them to follow up cases of high level drug resistant gonorrhoea and trace their sexual partners. Its president, Dr Elizabeth Carlin, said: "The spread of high level azithromycin-resistant gonorrhoea is a huge concern and it is essential that every effort is made to contain further spread. 

 Read more via the Telegraph 

High-risk anal HPV infections persist in a significant proportion of HIV-negative MSM

Anal infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) types associated with a high risk of pre-cancerous and cancerous cell changes persisted for two years in 37% of men who have sex with men (MSM) enrolled in an international study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The prospective, observational study involved 406 HIV-negative MSM recruited in Brazil, Mexico and the United States. Among men with prevalent high-risk HPV infection, 37% retained the infection for at least 24 months and HPV-16 infection persisted for at least 24 months in 30% of those with this infection at baseline.

“Slightly over one-third of MSM exhibited persistence of prevalence high-risk types for > 24 months indicating that prevalent high-risk anal HPV infection may be a clinically important event,” comment the investigators. “These results may help inform future anal cancer screening that uses HPV-DNA testing.”  Read more via AIDSmap 

UNDP: New tool launched to improve HIV Prevention Programmes for Transgender People

A new UN publication was launched today to enable governments, public-health officials, programme managers, NGOs and health workers to create and improve HIV prevention programmes for transgender people.

The new publication, Implementing comprehensive HIV prevention programmes with transgender people captures issues such as the need to empower communities of transgender people; address the stigma, discrimination and violence that they face; provide comprehensive health-care services that are accessible and acceptable to transgender people; and manage programmes. Known informally as the TRANSIT (transgender implementation tool), the publication was developed with contributions from over 90 experts from around the world, including many transgender people.

A key feature of the tool is examples of promising practices drawn from programmes around the world, showing how they have tackled challenges and found creative solutions to programming in environments with limited resources, or where legal or social obstacles make it especially difficult to provide services to transgender people.

“The case examples show that it can be done,” said Clifton Cortez, Team Leader, Gender, Key Populations and LGBTI of the HIV, Health and Development Group at UNDP.  Read more via UNDP