Charity criticized for handing out condoms

A Yorkshire org has come under fire for nailing bags of condoms to trees in a popular cruising area.

In UK, New initiative launched to tackle homelessness among LGBT youth

Four leading LGBT charities have announced the launch of a new initiative to reduce homelessness among young LGBT people.

The initiative, known as ‘Jigsaw’, brings together the legal advisers Stonewall Housing, youth homelessness and support charity the Albert Kennedy Trust, the mental health organisation PACE and Galop, which supports victims of homophobic crime.

A joint statement from the groups said: “Despite the greater legal recognition of LGBT people, social acceptance is far from universal.

“Even in London today, many young LGBT people face rejection from their own family, persecution from their own communities, and even physical attack.

“Furthermore, most offenders of homophobic hate crime are aged between 16 and 20″.

Michael Nastari, the co-ordinator of Jigsaw, and a director of LGBT Youth Homelessness Prevention Network, commented: “The effects of homophobia and transphobia on young people’s lives can be devastating. As a result, they can fail to succeed in education, miss out on employment and training, and suffer a range of mental health issues.

See New initiative launched to tackle homelessness among LGBT youth

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In UK RC Church rejects gay parents claims

The Roman Catholic Church has reacted angrily to comments endorsing gay parenthood from a charity with strong links to the Church.

Terry Prendergast of Marriage Care, which is partly funded by the Church, said there was no evidence children were harmed by having same-sex parents.

But the organisation representing Catholic bishops said children need parental role models of both genders.

It said Mr Prendergast, a former priest who has since married, was wrong.

Mr Prendergast made his comments to a gathering of gay Roman Catholics in Leicester.

He told the audience at the Quest conference that same-sex families, along with single and cohabiting parents, suffered discrimination and denigration because they fell short of the Vatican’s definition of what constituted a real family.

The views expressed by Terry Prendergast about the definition of family and marriage are clearly not a reflection of the Church’s teaching, nor those of the Bishops’ Conference

Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Agencies obey gay adoption rules

Instead, he said, they should be held up as role models and an advert for Catholicism.

Mr Prendergast also claimed that there was no evidence to show that children of same-sex parents suffered in any way, and that the elements that made for successful child-rearing were stable relationships.

But the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales has insisted that Mr Prendergast is wrong.

Pastoral response

In a statement, the organisation acknowledged that although it was difficult to define what a family was, the Church still believed that stability for children came from having parents of opposite genders who could provide different role models.

See Church rejects gay parents claims

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Gay men booted from altar duty Canada.com

A gay man has filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal against a Catholic bishop after being removed from his volunteer job as an altar server because of his sexual orientation.

Jim Corcoran was asked to step down from his role at St. Michael’s Church in Cobourg, 100 kilometres east of Toronto, after 12 of his fellow parishioners complained to the diocese of Peterborough.

In an interview, Corcoran said he was told by his parish priest in April that he and his partner would have to end their altar duties. He said it was Bishop Nicola De Angelis’s decision, not the priest’s.

Corcoran added that he and his partner of 19 years have been chaste for years, which makes the decision to remove them even more difficult to comprehend.

Corcoran, 50, said he is seeking $20,000 from each parishioner and $25,000 from the bishop. He said he wants the money to be donated to a charity of his choice.

See Gay men booted from altar duty

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TSA refuses to hire HIV+ Air Force Vetr to scan luggage, ACLU to sues - wonder if Obama will at lteat fix this?

Transportation Security Administration Refused To Hire Qualified Baggage Screener Because He Has HIV

MIAMI – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a complaint with the Transportation Security Administration on behalf of an Air Force Veteran who was refused a job as a baggage screener with the Transportation Security Administration because he has HIV.

“I was looking for a way to be able to serve my country once again and to supplement my income through this financial crisis with the possibility of changing my career. But after a lengthy interview and screening process, I was told that I am incapable and unworthy because I have HIV,” said Michael Lamarre, who worked in intelligence for the National Security Administration while serving in the Air Force from 1984 to 1987. “I am a long term HIV survivor, and it has never interfered in my ability to work. As I have learned having lived with HIV for nearly 20 years, people with HIV need to be able to make a living and support themselves just like everyone else as well as have the right to serve their country.”

In the spring of 2008, Lamarre applied online for a baggage screening position at the Fort Lauderdale airport with the TSA. He passed an aptitude test in November 2008, and then underwent a comprehensive security clearance. In March 2009, he was finally invited to come in for an interview. At the interview, which included further testing, he was told that he would have to pass a physical. Lamarre was required to disclose that he HIV at the physical. As a result, he was told to submit additional information from his doctor, including his most recent lab results and a form from his doctor stating that his HIV would not interfere with his ability to perform the duties of as baggage screener, which he did.

Lamarre has lived with HIV for 19 years. His viral load is nearly undetectable and he has never had any of the medical conditions associated with AIDS. Just last November he completed a 165 mile bike ride for charity in just 2 days.

Shortly after submitting the additional information, Lamarre received a letter from Comprehensive Health Services, the contractor who administered the physical, saying that he was disqualified for the job because of his HIV status. A copy of the letter is available at http://www.aclu.org/hiv/discrim/39829lgl20090428.html. During follow up calls to Comprehensive Health Services, he was told that the reason he was rejected is because his HIV status makes him more susceptible to virus and infections and that it was for his own benefit.

Today the ACLU filed a complaint on Lamarre’s behalf with the Equal Employment Opportunity Counselor for the Eastern Region of the TSA charging that the TSA is in violation of its own policy barring discrimination against people with disabilities. A copy of TSA’s non-discrimination policy is available on their website at: http://www.tsa.gov/assets/pdf/civil_rights_policy.pdf. The complaint also charges that the refusal to hire Lamarre violated his equal protection guarantees. It asks the TSA to rescind Lamarre’s disqualification from employment.

“In the nearly 20 years that Michael Lamarre has lived with HIV, it has never affected his ability to work,” said Robert Rosenwald, Director of the LGBT Project of the ACLU of Florida. “HIV discrimination is always wrong, but it is especially shameful when government is behind the discrimination. I hope the TSA recognizes the harm it is causing Michael and our country by refusing to hire a highly motivated and qualified employee.”

“As we have known for quite a while now, people living with HIV can lead long and productive lives and can make significant contributions in all professions, including baggage screeners,” said Dr. Margaret Fischl, MD, director and principal investigator of the AIDS clinical research unit at the University of Miami. “A baggage screener with HIV would pose no risk to others and would be no more likely to become infected with a cold or virus than anyone else working in the airport.”

A copy of the complaint filed by the ACLU as well as the letter notifying Lamarre that he was being disqualified because he has HIV and the paperwork submitted by his doctor stating he is physically capable of performing the duties is available at http://www.aclu.org/hiv/discrim/39827res20090611.html.

In addition to Rosenwald, Lamarre is being represented by Shelbi Day, a staff attorney with the LGBT Project of the ACLU of Florida, James Esseks, co-director of the ACLU’s AIDS Project and Rose Saxe, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s AIDS Project.

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AIDS/LifeCycle charity bike ride gets personal when recession hits

Timothy Brodt is among more than 2,000 bike riders who left Sunday on a 545-mile trek from San Francisco to Los Angeles as part of the AIDS/LifeCycle benefit. He carried with him a small black-and-white photo of his Uncle Richard, who died of AIDS more than 20 years ago.

For the last two years, Brodt has participated in the annual bike ride to raise money for HIV and AIDS-related services at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

“I had this idea of me doing a great thing,” Brodt said, recalling how he felt when he first participated in the bike ride. “I’m helping others.”

But Brodt, once a television producer with a six-figure salary, never thought “others” could include him.

After losing his job and health insurance, Brodt, 37, now relies on the same services that he raised money for in the past for his own HIV treatment.

He was laid off last April. Although he was offered another job in the industry, he decided to take time off to reassess his career. When he was ready to return to work, previous job offers had dried up. By then, he said, people who had provided job leads were losing their own positions.

Savings stretched only so far. Brodt moved into an older, cheaper apartment on the edge of Hollywood and gave up his car. Some weeks, he said, he had less than $20 in his bank account.

After six months, Brodt could no longer afford the $500 monthly payment for COBRA health insurance benefits. His HIV medications could run several thousand dollars a year. He stopped taking them.

It wasn’t long before he started to feel fatigued and depressed.

“I thought, maybe I need to talk to someone . . . Maybe I’m just depressed. I can’t find a job,” Brodt said. “I didn’t really think it had to do with HIV.”

Brodt’s symptoms were a textbook example of what can happen when someone who is HIV positive stops taking medication, said Brad Hare, medical director of UC San Francisco’s Positive Health Program at San Francisco General Hospital. A lapse in treatment can increase the risk of disease progression and medication resistance, he said.
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Celebs attend Austrian AIDS gala

(Vienna) “Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria Parker, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and singer Katy Perry attended a flamboyant Austrian charity gala on the weekend dedicated to raising money for people with HIV and AIDS.

Other celebrities spotted at the Life Ball were actress Fran Drescher, former Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson …

Duane Reade Announces Premier-Level Sponsorship of AIDS Walk New York

~Announces Partnership to Provide New Yorkers with Free HIV/AIDS Testing~

NEW YORK, NY — Duane Reade Holdings, Inc. today announced that The Duane Reade Charitable Foundation has doubled its support from last year and will donate $100,000 as a Premier-level sponsor of AIDS Walk New York (AWNY). AWNY raises funds for Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and fifty other AIDS service organizations in the New York tri-state area. AWNY is the world’s largest HIV/AIDS fundraising event and has raised more than $100 million since 1996. This year’s 10-kilometer AWNY is expected to attract more than 45,000 participants and will be held in New York City’s Central Park on Sunday, May 17th, 2009. In partnership with GMHC, Duane Reade will also provide free, confidential, on-the-spot, HIV testing starting in June 2009 in several neighborhoods/locations throughout the New York metropolitan area.

Jim Scarfone, Senior Vice President Human Resources & Administration for Duane Reade and a Trustee of The Duane Reade Charitable Foundation, commented, “As the only uniquely New York drug store chain, Duane Reade understands the needs of our city’s residents and strives to give back to the community in meaningful ways. As such, we are very pleased to support GMHC and the 2009 AIDS Walk New York for the third straight year and join in their efforts to promote awareness and prevention of the spread of HIV in New York City. Moreover, we are pleased to be able to double our support for the 2009 walk, and to partner with GMHC to provide free, confidential and on-the-spot HIV testing through their mobile testing unit for the second year.”

According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York City has more residents living with HIV or AIDS than any other city in the United States. More than 100,000 New Yorkers currently live with HIV, a virus that has become the third leading cause of death for New Yorkers under the age of 65. More than 1,000 New Yorkers each year find out they are HIV-positive when they already have AIDS due to a lack of testing, prevention, and education about the disease.

“We are immensely grateful for Duane Reade’s outstanding support of AIDS Walk New York and our partnership in expanding HIV testing throughout the boroughs,” said Marjorie J. Hill, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Gay Men’s Health Crisis. “Having a trusted family friend like Duane Reade as a partner helps us to continue breaking through the barriers associated with HIV testing such as stigma, fear and lack of access to care. With their ongoing help, we will continue to find the one of four HIV-positive New Yorkers who are unaware of their HIV status, and provide them with the information and care they need.”

To learn more about AIDS Walk New York and its benefactors, please visit www.aidswalk.net/newyork.

To learn more about GMHC, please visit http://www.gmhc.org/.

The Duane Reade Charitable Foundation was formed in March 2007 and is committed to supporting charitable organizations that promote health and wellness in New York’s communities. A portion of the charity’s budget is also reserved to support programs that address local community needs.

About Duane Reade

Uniquely New York since 1960, Duane Reade is the largest drug store chain in the metropolitan New York City area. Focused on making the lives of New Yorkers easier, Duane Reade offers a wide variety of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, health and beauty care items, cosmetics and other daily essentials — How I Feel, How I Look, and What I Need Now — in over 250 convenient locations.

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Gay men ‘at risk’ as UK rates for new HIV infections soar to highest in Europe

Charity Unicef has warned that Britain now has the highest number of new HIV infections in western Europe, with gay and bisexual men and black Africans most at risk.
In 2007, there were more than 7,700 new HIV diagnoses in the UK and the organisation has also said infection rates in young people are rising, with ten per cent of new infections occurring in those aged between 16 and 24.
The second highest figure for new infections was in France, with 4,075. Germany, which has ten million more people than Britain, had 2,752 new cases. See Gay men ‘at risk’ as UK rates for new HIV infections soar to …
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