FDA Recommends Lifting Lifetime Ban On Gay Men Donating Blood
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s administration on Tuesday recommended ending the lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood.

The new recommendations are contained in draft guidance issued by the Food and Drug Administration. The public will have 30 days to comment on the policy, and the FDA will later issue final rules.

Men who have had sex with other men, even just once, have been banned from giving blood since 1985, near the start of the AIDS epidemic. As The New York Times has noted, “Restrictions on donors were written when H.I.V. testing was slower and less refined. Today, some tests can detect the virus in blood as little as nine days after infection.”

For years, gay rights advocates have blasted the rule as discriminatory and pushed for a change.

The FDA’s newly proposed policy — which has been expected since December — says men will have to wait at least one year after having sex with another man before giving blood. From the draft guidelines:

Although not making a change would maintain the current level of safety of the blood supply…there is evidence that the [lifetime] deferral policy is becoming less effective over time. In addition, the policy is perceived by some as discriminatory. […]

Change to a one-year deferral is also support by other evidence, including the experience in countries that have already changed their policies to a one-year deferral (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Hungary, Japan, Sweden and United Kingdom).

And in a win for the transgender community, the FDA also says that when donors fill out questionnaires about their history, gender identity should be “self-identified and self-reported.” Right now, donor policy is based on sex at birth. The draft guidance recommends a change so that donors are able to self-identify at the donation site.

Robert M. Wah, president of the American Medical Association, commended the FDA for “taking a step in the right direction to end the lifetime ban that prohibits men who have had sex with men (MSM) from ever donating blood.”

“The AMA fully supports and has been a strong advocate for eliminating these current public policies as we believe that the latest scientific evidence should dictate blood and tissue donation deferral periods to ensure the safety of the national blood supply,” Wah said in a statement to The Huffington Post. “The AMA’s policy supports using scientifically-based deferral periods that are consistently and fairly applied to donors based on their risk level.”

Even if the policy changes, many gay men would not be able to donate blood. For example, someone in a sexually active monogamous gay couple would still be barred from donating.

A group of senators, led by Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), said in December that such a policy change would be “a step forward” but one that would still prevent “many low-risk individuals from donating blood.”

The FDA said Tuesday it has taken steps to implement a national blood surveillance system that will help it monitor the safety of the blood supply and determine future actions on blood policy. In other words, it will be watching to see if the rules on donations can be changed down the line.

The Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, which studies lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, has calculated the number of men who would likely donate and the pints of blood that would become available under three scenarios: a complete end to the ban, a 12-month deferral, and a five-year deferral.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/12/gay-blood-ban_n_7264942.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Alarming Number of Transgender People Killed Worldwide in the Last Seven Years

An updated report by a human rights group in Europe found that over 1,700 transgender people have killed worldwide in the past seven years — and those are just reported murders.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/alarming-number-of-transgender-people-killed-worldwide-in-the-last-seven-ye?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Recap Realness: Five in the Pink

After weeks of bitching about how Trixie shouldn’t be here, Ginger is suddenly sad to have sent her home. Not enough to pull a Katniss Everdeen and go in her place, but enough to express an audience-friendly amount of remorse in a talking head segment. Across the room, teamwork seems to have built a bond between Katya and Violet. They’re at opposite ends of many spectrums (old/young, funny/wooden, disgusting/fashionable), but they share a love of the vogue-tango, I guess. They seem like people who’d be into a thing that’s not actually a thing.

Then, out of nowhere, Ginger comes for Violet for not having lip synced yet, so Violet comes for Ginger for showing weakness, so Ginger says that she cries every night (wait, really?), and it’s real heated. We’ve got like three or four plotlines in the air already and the credits haven’t even shown yet. This opening segment is more eventful than some of the earlier episodes in their entirety.

And we’ve still got so much to cover. Kennedy reminds us the following morning that the Old Lady Brigade is here to stay, though the fact that we’re being told this immediately makes me worry that we’ll lose one of them to lip syncing or Alzheimer’s in the near future. At least they all survive long enough to listen (with hearing aids firmly in place, one assumes) to Ru’s latest Teleglam (feel free to use that for Season 8, bee tee dubs) about branding or whatever.

Ru descends the staircase not to immediately explain what the hell she’s talking about, but instead to haul out the puppet mini-challenge. Remember how last season, the contestants could all do eerily accurate impersonations of each other? Cling to that memory, because it was a moment of crystallized beauty that will comfort you in the face of drudgery this show sometimes becomes. Everyone tries, but this basically becomes a Muppet Show version of the reading challenge. And you’d think that would be fun, but other than the felt on their hands, everyone is out of material. Violet gets bonus points for her eerily accurate visual recreation of Katya, but Ginger’s takedown of our favorite useless beauty earns her a win.

Now here’s where the day takes a turn for the delightfully insane. After teasing a world-famous special guest, Ru introduces a live, completely silent person in a Hello Kitty plush costume. This being haunts the periphery of the episode to remind us that cartoons are alive and have opinions, and thus we live in a world without laws or gods. The main task for the week is to sew an original creation out of the Sanrio products hauled in by the underused Pit Crew.

As the ladies begin their preparation for this project (which consists mostly of complaining about it), Ru continues her Parade of Absurdity. See, last night she met with the Devil at the crossroads in order to gain unclean powers. Imbued with His insolent glory, she performed the Dark Rite that would call forth an Old One from his restless slumber. And lo, Santino is risen! The girls recoil in dread from his droopy gaze and vile stench. (Well, that’s not strictly true. Ginger reuses her “flood my basement” line and Violet seems to throw some flirty glances. Maybe Mr. Rice’s contract stipulated that he’d only appear if it looked like at least two people wanted to have sex with him.)

He circles the workroom to dispense his wisdom, though it seems clear that he’s going to be making clothes for these ladies outright because there’s simply no way they’re doing it on their own. A job’s a job, right, Santino? He also pretends to be an expert on corseting with Ginger, who I’m sure is really excited to hear what a thin man with no drag experience has to say on this issue.

Just as they’re leaving (in a burst of sulfur and flame, one assumes), Ru stops for one final barb. She’d like everyone to create a second look, in which they’ll embody a new BFF for Hello Kitty. To help them with the task and make sure that the episode remains fully reminiscent of a fever dream, she gives everyone giant white heads. (After this many days of applying heavy make-up, they’ve probably already got those. I hope they’ve been exfoliating!)

On the main stage, this ends up being a riot. Note to the producers: make next season’s assignments weirder and dumber. Between this bobble-headed nonsense and the tape face challenge, it’s clear that half-assed, clownish bullshit has much higher entertainment value than carefully scripted and rehearsed pageantry. I could watch female impersonators embodying counterfeit Sanrio characters all day. I give extra points to Ginger, the only contestant to notice that Hello Kitty and her friends have non-human features, and Katya, for committing so completely to the Soviet silliness.

The runway looks balance pretty well between camp and couture. Though Ginger’s cat lady cuteness comes correct and Pearl manages to make an irregular children’s sleeping bag look fashionable, Violet rockets to a win with her retro-futuristic set-phasers-to-kawaii concoction. On the other hand, Kennedy’s bow-ridden bathing suit was accurately clocked by heaven-sent guest judge Rebecca Romijn as a “basic ho stroll outfit.” I feel bad for poor Katya, who admitted that she had no idea what she was doing, but her valiant attempt to cover for it with a complicated backstory still kind of came across like a verbal combover. Girl, we know there’s nothing under there.

And so the Dancing K’s must duel to the death. It’s a tough call. On the one hand, Katya is infinitely more interesting as a performer and contestant, serving her special blend of beauty and mental illness in fashion choices and interview segments alike. Kennedy is a little duller all around (having twice this episode bluntly informed the judges that she lacks creativity), but there’s no question that she sinks Katya in this sync. Though I hate to see her go, it’s time to put this mail-order bride back in her packaging and send her home. In her honor, I’m going to pour out a bottle of vodka. Into my mouth.

Chris J. Kelly performs under the drag name Ariel Italic; in addition to this recap, he hosts weekly Drag Race viewings at the 9^th Avenue Saloon in New York City.

Chris Kelly

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/GgdsHwf_UV4/rupauls-drag-race-recap-realness-five-in-the-pink-20150512

New 'Pitch Perfect 2' Sneak Peak Mashes Up Beyoncé, David Guetta and Pat Benatar: VIDEO

Sean Mandell

www.towleroad.com/2015/05/new-pitch-perfect-2-sneak-peak-mashes-up-beyonc%C3%A9-david-guetta-and-pat-benatar-video.html

Arizona Pastor Steven Anderson Claims Anti-Gay Businesses Are 'Destroying America' By 'Being Too Nice' To LGBT Customers
Bakeries, florist shops and other venues have become a surprising battleground for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in recent years, with many right-wing pundits proudly supporting business owners who have turned away same-sex couples seeking cakes, bouquets and other wedding-related services.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise that Pastor Steven Anderson of Arizona’s Faithful Word Baptist Church takes a defiant stance against those conservative entrepreneurs, arguing that they are actually “being too nice” to the LGBT community and, as such, “are not standing for the word of God.”

In a fiery, somewhat convoluted sermon originally posted by The New Civil Rights Movement, the right-wing pastor pointed to Oregon’s Sweet Cakes by Melissa, whose owners, Aaron and Melissa Klein, were recently slapped with a fine of at least $135,000 for turning away a lesbian couple who sought a wedding cake in 2013.

He said he didn’t feel sorry that the Kleins had been fined and shuttered their business in the wake of the controversy, because he believes that “they are tools of the media to brainwash you.”

Arguing that the Kleins attend a “stupid, liberal church,” Anderson notes, “[Melissa] is not taking a stand [against same-sex marriage] at all. It’s weak, it’s worthless. She is part of what is destroying America.”

He then adds, “Who thinks it’s a hard decision if some faggot wants you to make them a wedding cake? Anyone struggling with that right now?”

He also had harsh words for Indiana’s Memories Pizza, which became the first business to publicly vow to reject gay weddings in the wake of the state’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”

“Nobody even asked them to cater a wedding with cheap, stupid pizza,” he says.

Anderson, who “holds no college degree but has well over 140 chapters of the Bible memorized word-for-word” according to his church’s website, is no stranger to controversial declarations. In early December, he argued that “we can have an AIDS-free world by Christmas” if gays were “executed.”

He has also suggested that women should be silent in church, claiming in a sermon, “I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/12/steven-anderson-anti-gay-bakery-_n_7259316.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

HHS Finalizes Regulations for Lifesaving HOPE Act

Over the past two decades advances in science have changed the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, transformed the lives of people living with HIV, and the care that is available to them.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/hhs-finalizes-regulations-for-lifesaving-hope-act?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Davey Wavey Interviews Straight Bodybuilders Against Bullying: VIDEO

Sean Mandell

www.towleroad.com/2015/05/davey-wavey-interviews-straight-bodybuilders-against-bullying-video.html

Op-ed: My Son's Gaydar Stinks

When kids don’t grow up learning stereotypes, determining who’s gay and who’s not becomes a little more complicated.

read more

James Sie

www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/05/12/op-ed-my-sons-gaydar-stinks

Follow the rainbow: Key West Pride to unveil multicolored crosswalk

Get set for a splash of color at annual LGBTI party, taking place from 10-14 June

read more

jamiet

www.gaystarnews.com/article/follow-rainbow-key-west-pride-unveil-multicolored-crosswalk120515