Jason Collins Announces Retirement
Collins, the first openly gay active player in a major men’s pro team sport, is ending his basketball career.
Annie Hollenbeck
editorial.advocate.com/sports/2014/11/19/jason-collins-announces-retirement
Category Archives: NEWS
Open Letter to the FDA: Stop Discriminating Against Gay Men
Open Letter to the FDA: Stop Discriminating Against Gay Men
Gay men cannot donate blood in America.
I was reminded of this discriminatory and illogical policy after a recent conversation about student advocacy on Twitter. In 2005, at the end of my junior year of high school, several friends and I mounted a campaign to change this rule. I wrote letters to and corresponded with members of the Red Cross and independent blood centers. Many of the people I spoke with expressed agreement that the policy was misguided. The medical director at the Red Cross’ Penn-Jersey Region branch, for example, wrote to me on Oct. 3, 2005, that “the American Red Cross believes it is time for the FDA to reevaluate the issue.” I reached out to the FDA, which sets the policy, and spoke with the consumer-safety officer in their Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. After he told me the decision lay with the FDA’s Blood Products Advisory Committee (BPAC), I followed up by drafting a letter to each of the committee’s members.
By that time, I had begun working for Equality Forum, a Philadelphia-based LGBT nonprofit. I turned the blood drive policy campaign over to my new employer and, for the next two summers, worked primarily on the Fortune 500 Non-Discrimination Project and LGBT History Month. The BPAC never responded to our letter, and the FDA continues to bar gay men from blood donation despite opposition from the American Osteopathic Association and the American Medical Association.
The FDA insists it is “open to changing the lifetime ban and is awaiting the results of new research that will provide additional evidence.” However, despite the FDA’s claims to the contrary, additional evidence is not needed. Evidence clearly supported changing the policy nine years ago, and the evidence is even stronger today.
A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services panel recently recommended replacing the lifetime ban with a one-year ban, but this change would only be a marginal improvement; the ban should be lifted altogether. Since the FDA is meeting to discuss the issue on Dec. 2, I am posting an updated, condensed version of my original letter below.
Open Letter
Dear FDA staff,
I wrote to each member of the Blood Products Advisory Committee nine years ago on behalf of dozens of students from Moorestown Friends School and the New Jersey Governor’s School of International Studies. We hoped you would reconsider the FDA’s policy barring “men who have had sex with other men (MSM), at any time since 1977” from donating blood. I remain concerned about this issue and am following up with this “open letter” to continue the conversation. The FDA’s policy still unnecessarily stigmatizes gay men and fails to most effectively “assure the safety” of individuals who receive donated blood.
The FDA claims this policy is warranted because gay men “are the population most severely affected by HIV. In 2010, MSM accounted for at least 61% of all new HIV infections in the U.S. and an estimated 77% of diagnosed HIV infections among males were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact.” While these numbers might sound impressive after a cursory review, they do not justify the policy.
First, homosexual males — men who have had sex with other men — are the only people the FDA bans from donation on the basis of an identity characteristic. While the FDA’s website implies otherwise, profiling on such a basis is discriminatory by definition. Listing statistics about the incidence of HIV in the gay population is eerily similar to overtly racist arguments in favor of racial profiling. The policy is (arguably) wrong regardless of its impact on the blood supply.
Second, the policy does not accurately identify the behaviors that put one at risk for HIV. As shown below, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) periodically publishes the “Estimated Per-Act Probability of Acquiring HIV from an Infected Source” (these estimates do not factor in the effects of condom usage):
Consider Tom, Heather, and John, three potential blood donors who don’t know whether or not their sexual partners have HIV. Tom, a gay man, is in a monogamous relationship and only has oral sex. Heather, a straight woman, is in a monogamous relationship and occasionally has anal sex. John, a straight man, has unprotected penile-vaginal intercourse with multiple partners.
According to the CDC’s probabilities, Tom is least likely to contract HIV and taint the blood supply. Yet Tom is the only person the FDA bars from blood donation.
The following revisions to the FDA’s policy would be more likely to “assure the safety” of donated blood:
- Remove the clause identifying “men who have had sex with other men (MSM), at any time since 1977” as high-risk.
- Add a clause identifying “receptive anal sex” as a high-risk behavior.
- Add a clause identifying “unprotected anal and/or vaginal sex with multiple partners” as a high-risk behavior.
A policy that incorrectly identifies high-risk groups instead of high-risk behaviors is neither effective nor just. I hope you will end the FDA’s institutionalized discrimination at your Dec. 2 meeting and look forward to hearing your response.
Sincerely,
Ben Spielberg
A version of this post first appeared on 34justice.
Courageous Transgender Woman & HRC Volunteer Earns Prominent Feature in Mississippi Newspaper
Courageous Transgender Woman & HRC Volunteer Earns Prominent Feature in Mississippi Newspaper
Through ‘Commercial Dispatch’ Story, Blossom Brown talks about living openly & honestly as a transgender Mississippian
HRC.org
Procter & Gamble Comes Out Strong For Same-Sex Marriage, Proves Inclusion Is Good Business
Procter & Gamble Comes Out Strong For Same-Sex Marriage, Proves Inclusion Is Good Business
Few major corporations have a better track record when it comes to internal LGBT policy than Procter & Gamble, and now the consumer product giant has evolved one step further. They’ve publicly embraced same-sex marriage, and in doing so, have set the bar even higher for profit-conscious corporate America.
“We have always supported our employees and fostered a culture of inclusion and respect – this includes the right to marry whomever they choose and to have that union legally recognized,” said Deborah P. Majoras, P&G’s chief legal officer and executive sponsor to GABLE – the company’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender-allied employee group.
The company weighed potential losses from angry customer fallout and decided the reward of supporting their LGBT employees and LGBT people everywhere outweighed any potential risk.
Their decision reflects an impressive history of inclusion within the company.
22 years ago in 1992, P&G first introduced anti-discrimination language into their equal employment opportunity clause. In 2001 they began offering full benefits to domestic partners, and in 2010 decided to include transgender transition benefits in their health package.
They’ve proven that the market can (and should) evolve alongside the rest of society. Meanwhile they continue to focus on their products, and with brands like Tide, Bounty, NyQuil and Crest, it’s hard to imagine sales slowing down by showing the LGBT community support.
Dan Tracer
Freedom to Marry Campaign Director Says Organization Will Disband if Supreme Court Rules for Marriage
Freedom to Marry Campaign Director Says Organization Will Disband if Supreme Court Rules for Marriage
The Washington Blade has a new interview out today with Marc Solomon — National Campaign Director for Freedom to Marry (pictured).
Probably the highlight of the interview comes at the end, when Solomon talks about what happens if the Supreme Court rules for marriage nationwide. Solomon says this would mean the end of Freedom to Marry, because the organization’s goal would be achieved:
We’ve always been set up as a campaign, and we are a campaign, and when we’ve won nationwide, we’re finished…I want to see some of the really good people stick around in LGBT stuff, or in other progressive causes, but Freedom to Marry’s done. That’s I think a great holding out is put yourself out of business.
Solomon is optimistic about such a ruling, deeming it “highly unlikely” that the court will rule against same-sex marriage. Further, with support climbing in the polls, he is “pretty confident” that voters are also more supportive of gay marriage. He suggests there will not be the same opposition to pro-gay marriage ballot marriages we saw in 2012.
Solomon also talks the long road it’s been to this point, saying he must’ve seen “more than 10 field organizers” bit by dogs while going door-to-door. “Other people have been chased down the street by homophobes,” he said. “We don’t send people door-to-door in Cambridge, or in Chelsea, or in parts of the Chicago that we’re doing well.”
Check out the whole interview here.
Jake Folsom
Pam Bondi Working Overtime to Stop Same-Sex Marriages in Florida
Pam Bondi Working Overtime to Stop Same-Sex Marriages in Florida
Florida’s thrice-engaged Attorney General has submitted a flurry of briefs to stop same-sex marriages from starting.
Matt Baume
Executive Action on Immigration
Executive Action on Immigration
It is widely expected that President Obama will soon issue his long-awaited executive action on immigration, but it is still unclear exactly what the relief package will include.
HRC.org
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/executive-action-on-immigration?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Former “Ex-Gay” Activist Marries A Man And Finally Finds His Happily Ever After
Former “Ex-Gay” Activist Marries A Man And Finally Finds His Happily Ever After
Smid and his husband, Larry McQueen, pose with their marriage certificate.
John Smid, who once claimed to have been “cured” of homosexuality and who worked with various “ex-gay” groups, is once again a married man. Only this time, he didn’t marry a woman. He and his partner, Larry McQueen, announced they tied the knot last weekend.
In 1980, Smid left his wife to be with guys, but he had misgivings and tried to go straight again by marrying a second woman and becoming a leading spokesman for conversion therapy. He ran Love In Action, an ex-gay ministry based in Memphis, and sat on the board of Exodus International for 11 years.
In 2011, he went ex-ex-gay, divorcing his second wife and admitting he “never met a man who experienced a change from homosexual to heterosexual.” He apologized for his past actions and launched a new ministry, Grace Rivers, which caters to the gay community.
“I believe that due to my former notoriety, my marriage will definitely have its impact,” he just told Towleroad in an interview.
He says he hopes it will encourage other self-proclaimed “ex-gays” to learn to accept who they are and lead more open and truthful lives.
“I believe it is encouraging for other former ex-gays, and maybe even those who are still trying to hold on to their ex-gay belief system,” he said. “We think our relationship reveals something very normal, not strange or deceptive gay stereotypes. We have come to realize that our marriage is very much the same as your average heterosexual marriage.”
When asked if there have been any people within the LGBT community who have given him grief over marrying a man, Smid replied: “No actually, I think that’s been worked out, but you never know, there may be some.”
Congrats to the happy new couple.
Related stories:
It’s “Ex-Gay” Awareness Month! Here Are Five Former Homos And What They’ve Been Up To Lately
STUDY: Two More Cases That Prove That Ex-Gay Therapy Is A Crock
Ex-Ex-Gays: Meet The People Who Tried To “Cure” You
Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Graham Gremore
Eli Lieb Wants You To Know You're 'Lightning In A Bottle' – VIDEO
Eli Lieb Wants You To Know You're 'Lightning In A Bottle' – VIDEO
Out singer-songwriter Eli Lieb is back with another original song, “Lightning in a Bottle,” about believing in the power of your own unbridled spirit. Lieb told Out Magazine,
“I want people to see the music video, hear the song, really listen to the lyrics, and live their truth. This is a celebration of people. I’ve lived promoting the idea of the authentic self and not to be afraid of who you are. It’s proven to be one of the key elements of my life and career. The song is about that: about being who you are.”
The music video for Lieb’s latest song, which just dropped today, features Shangela from RuPaul’s Drag Race, and professional dancers Jenna Riegel (Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company) and Caitlin Scranton (The Lucinda Dance Company). Lieb hopes this video will inspire people to be their truest selves: “It’s a feel-good video. I want people to be their brightest light.”
Watch the rousing video, AFTER THE JUMP…
And ICYMI, be sure to check out Lieb’s previous videos for “Zeppelin,” “Safe in My Hands,” “Young Love,” and a cover of P!nk’s “Try.”
Sean Mandell
www.towleroad.com/2014/11/eli-lieb-wants-you-to-know-youre-lightning-in-a-bottle-video.html
9 Tweets to Celebrate Trans Awareness Week
9 Tweets to Celebrate Trans Awareness Week
See how these trans advocates, students, and allies brought visibility to their trans community members this week.
Mitch Kellaway
www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/11/19/9-tweets-celebrate-trans-awareness-week
