For the first time, a study showed that a drug used to treat HIV infection also can help prevent it when taken before and after risky sex by gay men, the Associated Press reported. The study, done in France and Canada, is the first to test "on demand" use of Truvada, a pill combining two AIDS drugs, by people planning to have risky sex. The uninfected men who took it were 86 percent less likely to get HIV compared to men given placebos. Daily Truvada pills are used now to prevent HIV infection in people at high risk for it, and studies show the drug helps even when some doses are skipped.
The gay U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic has sharply criticized comments the country's tourism minister made against LGBT tourists, The Washington Blade noted. James "Wally" Brewster slammed what the publication El Caribe described as Tourism Minister Francisco Garc�a's assertion that the country "is not interested in exploiting the potential of the said market." "When the official that is the head, the boss of the Dominican government, says that he does not want a certain group of people, it puts us in a difficult situation in terms of supporting tourist activity in this country," Brewster said.
In Britain, UKIP's ( the UK Independence Party's ) LGBT group chair has resigned over concerns that the party's leadership has failed to "set a gay-friendly tone," The Guardian reported. Announcing his resignation on Twitter, Tom Booker said that his departure was because he "simply couldn't defend the party any more." Booker, who runs a hydrotherapy pool in Peterborough, will be replaced by Flo Lewis. UKIP's LGBT group actually opposes same-sex marriage on the grounds of religious freedom.
Finland's president has signed the same-sex marriage bill into law—but couples will have to wait until 2017 to get married, Gay Star News reported. President Sauli Niinisto confirmed the new law that will make marriage gender-neutral will come into force on March 1, 2017. This is the first piece of legislation that has been brought to Parliament by the public, under the citizens' initiative, and approved as the law of the land.
In Australia, Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath announced that the state's new Labor Government will reinstate civil-partnership ceremonies after they were scrapped by the former LNP Government, according to Gay News Network. Marriage-equality advocates have welcomed the move but insist civil partnerships are still no substitute for full marriage equality. Australian Marriage Equality National Director Rodney Croome said the move proved there was mounting support within both the government and community at large for same-sex marriage.
Approximately 200 participants from more than 30 countries gathered for the three-day Regional Dialogue on LGBTI Human Rights and Health in Asia-Pacific at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, according to Gay Star News. Speakers included Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, a member of Parliament of Mongolia; and Louise Wall, a member of Parliament of New Zealand, among others. Participants reflected on advances achieved in recent years; persistent challenges LGBTI people experience in the areas of health, education, employment and social protection; and LGBTI-rights advocacy.
Two men have been arrested near Saint Petersburg, Russia, over the murder of a gay man, Gay Star News reported. The body of a 38-year-old man who had been stabbed 26 times was found on Monday night in a town in the Vsevolozhsk region of Russia. Police have arrested two men—aged 20 and 21—in connection with the murder, which officials believe took place following a heavy night of drinking.
Mona Iraqi—an Egyptian journalist who drew international attention last year for allegedly instigating a raid on a gay bathhouse in Cairo in order to generate a story about AIDS—will stand trial on libel and slander charges for her role in the vice-squad operation, Slate reported. ( The owner of the television station that aired the program has reportedly also been charged. ) Twenty-six men were arrested when police entered the bathhouse in December, bringing the establishment's patrons into the street in various states of undress before booking them on charges ranging from "debauchery" to "organizing same-sex orgies."
More than 150,000 people have signed a petition against a Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party ( DUP )-backed "conscience clause" bill that would permit anti-gay discrimination, according to Pink News. The bill was drawn up by DUP member of the Legislative Assembly Paul Givan after a Christian-run bakery faced legal action for refusing to bake a cake with a pro-equal marriage slogan. Sinn Fein and the SDLP have said they will block the bill when it comes before the Assembly. U.S. activist group All Out launched the online petition against the bill.
In Argentina, same-sex activist couple Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre—whose union helped bring about the country's marriage-equality law—are divorcing, according to LaNacion.com . On Twitter, Di Bello—a legislator candidate with the Miles Capital party—posted, "It becomes very complex keep waiting 'the right time' to communicate that, for months, we are separated and divorcing." This happened after Freyre made controversial comments on social media regarding an event called the March of Silence. The twosome were married for six years.
A study suggests that Western lowland gorillas in southern Cameroon appear to be the source for the second-most-lethal category of the immunodeficiency virus that crossed into humans, The Chicago Tribune noted. The category, called HIV-1 group O, has not been nearly as dangerous to humans as group M, which has infected more than 40 million people worldwide. However, its origin and history had been a mystery.
The Senate of Kazakhstan has passed a draft bill outlawing promotion of "non-traditional sexual orientation," Pink News noted. The bill, similar to the infamous Russian measure, is reportedly intended to protect children from what is considered harmful information. Although homosexuality has been legal in Kazakhstan since 1998, it is still widely frowned upon in society.
"Gay" has been put on a banned list by UK retail giant Marks & Spencer, and cannot be used when ordering flowers from its website, Gay Star News stated. However, while the typical swear words are also out, M&S does allow the anti-trans slurs "tranny" and "she-male." A spokesman for M&S said, "An automatic phrase checker is in place to prevent the use and misuse of certain words, and it includes hundreds of words of varying nature."
