Archive for HIV/AIDS
Of Brain Scans for Alzheimer’s, HIV Tests, and Unintended Consequences
Gina Kolata’s article in today’s NY Times discusses a proposed recommendation by medical experts to use brain scans to diagnose Alzheimer’s much sooner than is now possible. In practical terms, this “advance” would likely mean
“a two- to threefold increase in the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Many more people would be told they probably [...]
Equality and Backlash in Malawi and Uganda
Consider this quote from a gay rights activist:
“Long before we built a movement…, no one bothered about us. We got away with so many things. When we decided to come out and claim our space, society came harshly against us.
“This implies that we are stepping on people’s toes. People hate to see us free and [...]
Catching up to Reality on Blood Donations by Gay Men
When Obama was seeking the Presidency, the GLBT community had a well-defined punch list of action items, and he promised big things on all of them: repeal of DADT; repeal of DOMA (although he doesn’t support marriage equality); passing ENDA; passing inclusive hate crimes law (the only hole punched so far). A few others, notably [...]
The Public Health Peril in Oklahoma’s Anti-Abortion Obsession
Nan Hunter has just run a good summary of recent legislation in Oklahoma that, taken as a whole, is designed to prevent women from having abortions altogether. The state’s determination shows that, Roe v. Wade not to the contrary, there’s plenty that states can do to restrict what the Court has declared to be part [...]
Promise and Caution: Assessing the New HIV Vaccine
It’s all over the news this morning: The U.S. Army (partnered with the Thai Ministry of Public Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) has shown a modest, but statistically significant, protective effect from a vaccine against HIV.
Here are the details. The trial, which used a vaccine that is a combination of [...]
Bubbling Under
For reasons probably too psychoanalytically complex to unravel, I was once obsessed with the Billboard HOT 100 chart. And I was almost as obsessed with another chart, known only to savants, called “Bubbling Under,” which listed the next ten or sometimes twenty songs that didn’t quite make the grade. These songs were Kathy Griffin, D-List [...]
I’m Not Sick, Mr. President
Here’s Obama’s response to Brian Williams’s question about whether proponents of gay marriage have a friend in the White House:
Translation: No.
Instead, we get the boilerplate about civil unions, benefits — and “the right to visit each other in hospitals”?? After the show, I half-expected an episode of “L.A. Law.” How very late 80’s of you, [...]
Marriage Bans and HIV
This is interesting:
“In a new study conducted by economists at Emory University, it has been found that banning same-sex marriage raises the U.S. HIV infection rate by four cases per 100,000 people. Using data from the General Social Survey, a popular research tool that has gauged American public opinion for over four decades, Hugo Mialon [...]
Andrew Sullivan’s “Familiar Feeling” — and a Qualified Defense of Obama
Well, we’re not even four months into the Obama Administration and already the LGBT community is frustrated at the pace of developments. And, really, who can blame us, after the betrayals of the Clinton Administration and the hostility of his successor who-must-not-be-named? Here’s Andrew Sullivan, in a sobering and angry piece on the Atlantic website [...]
Equality Forum: Picking up an Important Piece on Health Services
On the day after Equality Forum’s week-long stampede finished trampling me, I’m able to stagger back to my computer and pick up a piece from last Saturday’s collaborative programming that I didn’t want to leave behind. (Tomorrow I hope to be able to post on the National Equality Rally that took place on Sunday.)
One of [...]