Quickies: HIV Testing, Hate Crimes Legislation, Domestic Violence
By - Doctors Remiss in Suggesting HIV Tests to Queer Men – A new survey of gay and bisexual men conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that “47 percent of the men have never discussed their sexual orientation with their doctors, and 56 percent have never been advised by a doctor to be tested for H.I.V.” In the USA, the prevalence of HIV among gay and bi men is 20 times higher than in the general population.
- Philadelphia Considers Expanding Hate Crimes Legislation – City council members have introduced a bill to extend Philadelphia’s hate crime laws to cover perceived sexual orientation, gender expression, and disability. This comes in the wake of 3 arrests made in the Sept 11 assault on two gay men by a mob of white Catholic school alumni.
- “Gay Panic” Defense Illegal in CA – Yesterday California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the bill that outlawed using a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity as an excuse to ask for more lenient sentencing. CA is the first state to outlaw the gay/trans panic defense.
- Domestic Violence and Victim Blaming in the LGBT Community – “According to the CDC, bisexual women have a 75 percent rate of being with at least one violent partner, 46 percent of lesbian women — almost 1 in 2 have been involved in an abusive relationship, and for gay men, the figure is around 40 percent — double that experienced by straight men.”
- This Week in Marriage Equality – The Supreme Court deciding this week whether to hear same-sex marriage cases, and updates from LA, TX and MO.
- The Advocate Spotlights Artist C. Bedford – Bedford prefers to leave their gender ambiguous, like many of the subjects of their work. “My art is more important to me than my gender, and I think people should try to understand it for what it is, rather than trying to break it down by applying my physical attributes to ‘decode’ whatever it is I’ve made with stereotypes.”
- Ten Famous Women in Suits – These women know how to rock a suite.
Featured image: Evan Rachel Wood via Getty
I knew Janelle Monae and Tilda Swinton looked killer in anything, but wow, Lea DeLaria has probably the best picture on that page. She looks fabulous.
The domestic violence statistic is sad, doubly so because I see bigots trumpeting the numbers as evidence that there is something inherently wrong with homosexuality, which drives me crazy. Maybe if bigots stopped hating we would be more able to provide outreach and support systems to EVERYONE in domestic violence situations!
Finally: C’mon Notorious RBG! A reminder about her recent interview in New Republic as we get ready for SCOTUS to rule on gay marriage. http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119578/ruth-bader-ginsburg-interview-retirement-feminists-jazzercise
Doctors have always been remiss about HIV testing; it’s one reason some doctors want to make it a regular part of checkups for everybody. (But in general, people have developed an attitude of complacency. I feel no surge of pride knowing that Indians are more likely to be tested for HIV and less likely to test positive than whites; 50% of adults having been tested versus 43%, both statistics are shameful.)
On Cracked, they had a list of things “you” (well, if “you” are straight and cis) wouldn’t believe LGBT people still go through.. The last point had the author revealing that her girlfriend sexually assaulted her, and there wasn’t even a box on the form for her situation.