Labour Party commits to fertility equality for all HIV-positive people

Walmart continues to evolve in how it treats marginalized employees and customers — the nation's largest retailer recently announced a partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation to expand awareness on HIV treatment and prevention options.Last year, Walmart released their first three Specialty Pharmacies of the Community (SPOCs), which feature “HIV-trained pharmacists, enhanced care coordination, healthy lifestyle recommendations and emotional support services from our Community Health Workers,” according to the company. To double down on these efforts, the company is also launching four new HIV-focused SPOCs that will feature pharmacy professionals and staff trained with the guidance of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Anti-LGBTQ+ U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri started crying on the House floor Thursday as she begged her fellow representatives to vote against the Reflect for Marriage Act, which will write marriage equality into federal law.“I’ll tell you my priorities,” said Hartzler, a Republican.

Marriage equality is one step closer to being codified into federal law. The House of Representatives voted 258-169 in favor of the legislation.

The House gave final passage on Thursday to legislation to ensure federal recognition of same-sex and interracial unions, clearing a final milestone in Congress before going to President Joe Biden.

Nicole Scherzinger will headline one of Sydney WorldPride’s most highly anticipated events, the Bondi Beach Party, on 4 March 2023.

WNBA Star Brittney Griner is free from the Russian penal system according to U.S. officials.Griner was released in a prison swap between the U.S. and Russia as has been expected.

Voguing competition series Legendary has been called by HBO Max after three seasons, leaving fans devastated.

(CNN) -- There were no active drugs found in actress Anne Heche's system at the time of her car crash in August, according to a Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner report released Tuesday.Certain drugs were detected from prior use through a urine and blood test but were determined to be inactive at the time of the accident, the coroner report states.An inactive metabolite of cocaine was found through a blood test taken when Heche arrived at the hospital, which the coroner's office said indicates the drug was used in the past but not at the time of the crash."Cannabinoids were detected in the urine" but not in the blood test, which "is consistent with prior use but not at the time of injury," the report states.Fentanyl was also detected but was from hospital treatment, according to the report.Heche's death was ruled an accident in August, CNN previously reported. The coroner cited inhalation and thermal injuries as the cause of her death.CNN has reached out to Homer Heche Laffoon, the executor of Heche's estate, for comment.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros.

I am on the sauce a bit so I will prob regret this later. BUT people’s choice didn’t allow me to bring my partner to the awards.

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Despite PrEP’s effectiveness at preventing HIV, new research has revealed that just 20% of people know about it in the UK.

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Europe has seen a rise in undiagnosed HIV infections — the World Health Organization (WHO) and European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported that between at least 2018 to 2021, there have been more HIV infections than diagnoses.The full report showed that testing rates fell during the COVID-19 pandemic and has hindered progress toward eliminating new HIV transmissions by 2030.“We should all be deeply concerned by the data on HIV testing, treatment and care in Europe and Central Asia,” said Dr. Hans Henri P.

HBO’s critically acclaimed series Los Espookys has been cancelled after two seasons. 

A small, phase 1 trial testing a new HIV vaccine delivered positive results in 97 percent of recipients.The vaccine was created from an engineered version of a protein within the HIV virus. This particle, according to an article on Science Alert, was designed to get the body ready to produce the neutralizing antibodies thought to be critical for HIV immunity.Forty-eight participants received either the vaccine or a placebo, while 35 of the 36 dosed with the vaccine showed an activation of antibody precursor B cells that could pave the way to immunity.The results of the study were published in the academic journal Science alongside World AIDS Day.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced on World AIDS Day that people living with HIV and chronic hepatitis B will be allowed to join the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.The USPHS Commissioned Corps — housed under HHS and led by Admiral Rachel Levine, Assistant Secretary for Health, and U.S.

Grab your masks and beware of clickers! HBO has released the official trailer for The Last of Us, and it’s terrifying.  

The Israeli LGBTQIA+ community truly concerned about the agreement between Israeli Prime Minister-delegate Netanyahu and the single stridently anti-gay member of the Noam party, Avi Moaz, a party whose main goal is to enact anti-gay policies, and considers gay rights to be “the destruction of the family.”The agreement is for Maoz to be a deputy minister for the Prime Minister, in charge of a new “National-Jewish identity.”“Do you know how much those marches harm holy Jerusalem, its public space?” he said. “You want to demonstrate — demonstrate.

Art Basel, Art N Folly, and EqualPride have teamed together to present “Iridescent,” a new LGBTQ+ curated art fair that breaks the mold of traditional art events. Iridescent LGBTQ+ Art Fair brings together a diversity of artists and a cross-section of sexual orientations, allowing them to explore identity through art.

When Arturo Blazquez started studying theology three years ago, he approached it as a hobby, because he couldn’t conceive that he would be allowed to work in Germany’s Catholic Church as an openly gay man living with his husband in Berlin.

America’s new Dr. Ruth, Glenn Beck is weighing in on procreation, marriage, and children.

New York State Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas announced Thursday, World AIDS Day, that she will introduce a bill to decriminalize the sexual activity of people living with sexually transmitted infections.The bill would repeal New York State Public Health Law 2307, a 76-year-old law that makes it a misdemeanor for any person with a known STI to have sexual intercourse with another. The bill would also expunge any prior convictions.

A recent court ruling in Japan has delivered mixed results on the issue of marriage equality.A Tokyo District Court on Wednesday upheld the country’s ban on marriage equality, but also ruled the lack of legal protections for same-sex partners and their families infringed on their human rights. Japan is currently the only state among the G7 nations that does not recognize marriage equality.“This is actually a fairly positive ruling,” Nobuhito Sawasaki, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told Reuters.

“AIDS is God’s punishment!” proclaims the choir in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical A Strange Loop, in a scene where the protagonist — a young queer Black man — argues with his parents in a heartbreaking dialogue in which they conflate HIV with being gay. This show paints a poignant picture of the current state of HIV: that there is a lot of work that remains to be done to eradicate HIV and stigma, particularly in communities of color.This brilliant show illustrates that HIV today is mainly affecting queer communities of color, and because of stigma and discrimination, we are not talking about it enough, and we need this topic to be highlighted everywhere in mainstream media and entertainment.Currently, HIV is most devastatingly impacting queer black and Latinx communities, straight cisgender black women, transgender women of color, and sex workers.

On World AIDS Day, President Joe Biden and his administration are celebrating the advances made in fighting the disease and highlighting their efforts for further progress toward ending the epidemic at home and abroad.Among other things, the State Department has announced a new five-year strategy to guide PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, a global program that has been in place since 2003.“We are at a pivotal moment in the global AIDS response,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a document on the PEPFAR strategy, “Fulfilling America’s Promise to End the HIV/AIDS Pandemic by 2030.” “We are closer than ever to reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of ending the global AIDS pandemic as a public health threat by 2030. That goal is within reach thanks in part to nearly 20 years of unwavering bipartisan U.S.

At 2:00 PM ET on Wednesday the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security published its latest terrorism threat report, and for the first time LGBTQI+ people were listed as “targets of potential violence,” which DHS warned could be “lethal.”  Barely hours later, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace shared the news with Chasten Buttigieg, who was so stunned for several seconds he was speechless.

To commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1, GLAAD released their 2022 State of HIV Stigma Study, which included some encouraging findings. This four-page study, which has been tracking HIV stigma annually since 2020, focused on Americans’ attitudes and knowledge of HIV.Findings from the study showed around 87 percent of adults agree there is still stigma around HIV.

The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps — part of the Department of Health and Human Services — announced Thursday, on World AIDS Day, that it is changing its policies to allow future applicants living with HIV and chronic hepatitis B to join.In its announcement, the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps said that those living with HIV or chronic hepatitis B had previously been found to be medically disqualified.

Cheddar Gorgeous is auctioning off her ‘Tickled Pink Runway’ from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK for World AIDS Day.

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Even though I work in fashion, I’m not that interested in cool things, and I don’t have many friends in the industry — not even other designers. When I host a party, it’s usually a casual affair, not exactly Instagrammable. This was no exception.

Eight-time Grammy winner Fergie seemed thrilled to reunite with her former collaborator - three-time Grammy winner Nelly - at the 36th Annual Footwear News Awards in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday.The 47-year-old pop diva (born Stacy Ann Ferguson) wore a black blazer featuring silver branch embellishments with matching Spandex bell bottoms selected by stylist B. Åkerlund.Fergie - who owns footwear lines Fergalicious by Fergie and Fergie Footwear - gave her 5ft4in stature a big boost with 3in platform black and silver boots.

A record 120 cities have earned a perfect 100 score on this year’s Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index, which rates cities on antidiscrimination laws, benefits for public employees, and other factors that contribute to a positive climate for LGBTQ+ people.That number is up from 110 in the 2021 index and just 11 in its inaugural year, 2012, “illustrating the striking advancements municipalities have made despite some being in states that have seen increased extremist-led anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation,” notes an HRC press release. The HRC Foundation released the index in partnership with the Equality Federation Institute.“LGBTQ+ people everywhere deserve to live in welcoming places that are focused on building equality for all,” JoDee Winterhof, HRC senior vice president of policy and political affairs, said in the release. “Since its launch 11 years ago, the main priority of the Municipal Equality Index remains supporting and celebrating the work cities do to serve LGBTQ+ people in the places they call home.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado honored the victims and the heroes of the Club Q shooting in a speech on the Senate floor before the vote on the Respect for Marriage Act Tuesday.Bennet, a Democrat who was reelected this year, offered information about the five people killed the night of November 19 — Derrick Rump, Daniel Davis Aston, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, and Raymond Green Vance — and showed their pictures.

(CNN) -- House Democrats chose caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries of New York to succeed Nancy Pelosi as leader of the Democrats in the chamber next year, a historic move that will make him the first Black person to lead one of the two major parties in either chamber of Congress.House Democrats met behind closed doors Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill to make their decision.Jeffries ran unopposed as leader, with Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark, current assistant speaker, running as whip and California Rep.

The Food and Drug Administration is opening up blood donations to sexually-active men in monogamous relationships with other men, according to the Wall Street Journal.Currently, FDA policy makes all gay and bisexual men abstain from sex for three months before donating blood. This restrictive policy came after gay and bi men were essentially locked out of blood donation efforts for decades due to HIV fears — medical experts have long called limits on LGBTQ+ blood donation outdated and stigmatizing.“While today’s reports of an overdue move from the FDA is an important step, our community and leading medical experts will not stop advocating for the FDA to lift all restrictions against qualified LGBTQ blood donor candidates,” Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement. “As LGBTQ leaders and medical experts have been saying for years: bans and restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men are rooted in stigma, not science.

Dallas received a score of 100 on Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index. In Texas, 25 cities were rated. Arlington, Austin, Fort Worth and San Antonio also received top scores. Houston scored 76.

(CNN) -- Hours before the Senate voted to protect same-sex marriage rights, Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin tapped twice on the wooden table before her for good luck."I'm not a superstitious person," the Democrat told CNN. "But I still have to do that."Baldwin needed not worry; She had not left the rights of LGBTQ people like herself up to fate.

Six senior religious leaders have released a video outlining the LGBTQ+ safeguarding principles agreed on at a conference earlier this year.

Singapore’s parliament repealed a colonial-era law that criminalised sex between men in a groundbreaking change.

Taking PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of getting HIV, so GAY TIMES worked with London’s leading sexual health clinic, 56 Dean Street, to answer some of its most frequently asked questions about the drug.

Singapore repealed a law that banned gay sex on Tuesday. However, the country’s parliament also took a jab at LGBTQ+ rights by amending the constitution that would prevent certain court challenges to the country's ban on same-sex marriage.LGBTQ+ activists were heartened by the repeal of the gay sex, according to Reuters.But the amendment also passed blocks legal action against certain definitions like that of marriage, family, etc.

For anyone wondering what marriage means to one of the best-known gay men in the U.S., Chasten Buttigieg has an answer.“My marriage has filled this house with so much love it makes me want to be a better husband, father, and citizen every day,” the husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote in a Tuesday post on Medium. “It’s called me to something bigger than myself while recognizing that my kids are now the most important thing in life, and I’d do anything to protect them.

LGBTQ+ politicians, civil rights activists, and allies are thrilled with the U.S. Senate’s passage Tuesday of the Respect for Marriage Act, which will write marriage equality into federal law and protect it from being rescinded by the Supreme Court.The House of Representatives has already approved the bill, but since the Senate amended it with a religious freedom provision, it has to go back to the House for another vote.

The U.S. Senate voted 61-36 Tuesday to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which will write marriage equality into federal law, maintaining it even if the Supreme Court overturns its 2015 ruling that established equal marriage rights nationwide.The bill has already been passed by the House of Representatives, but the Senate added an amendment to it aimed at protecting religious freedom, so the new version needs to be voted on by the House before it can go to President Joe Biden for his expected signature.“Today, after many rounds of bipartisan talks and after many doubts that we could even reach this point, we are taking the momentous step forward for greater justice for LGBTQ Americans,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote.He said the first person he would call after the vote would be his daughter Alison, who is in a same-sex marriage."What a great day," he added after the vote finished.The push for the Respect for Marriage Act came after Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Obergefell v.

(CNN) -- The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on final passage of a bipartisan bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriage.The chamber on Monday night reached an agreement to hold three amendment votes starting at 3:45 p.m. ET before a final passage vote.

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