Homophobia, Income Inequality Hinder HIV Services

The Global Forum on MSM & HIV's latest report shows once again that economic inequality and homophobia inhibits access to condoms, lubricants and other HIV-related preventions and treatments. And, not surprisingly, so too does homophobia, particularly in African nations.

From the report, "Access to HIV Prevention and Treatment for Men Who Have Sex with Men:"

Cultural norms that favor heterosexual relationships foment homophobic attitudes in social and political settings. These cultural norms permeate health care systems as well.

Participants provided multiple examples
of health care providers who proselytized against homosexuality rather than provide education regarding
HIV prevention or focus on diagnosing and treating participants for the symptoms they presented.

Examples included health care providers citing biblical excerpts, chastising men for their sexuality, and bringing in other staff to “look at the MSM.” As a result, some described avoiding treatment for infections because “the way I am treated makes me feel worse when I leave than when I came in.”

Click on the image above to expand a breakdown of factors that both prevent and encourage safer sex and HIV treatment and click HERE to download a PDF of the report, via ThinkProgress.

Bryan Fischer Claims Michelangelo Signorile Supports Anti-Gay Death Penalty: VIDEO

Hateful radio host Bryan Fischer is trying to justify his support for Uganda's hideously anti-gay law by claiming, falsely, that progressive and out radio host Michelangelo Signorile endorses a death penalty for gay people. Yes, that's right: gay radio host, says Fischer, thinks gays should be killed.

Fischer bases his claim on a remark Signorile made to a Romney supporter during a heated pre-election debate. Signorile said suicide would be "much easier than waiting for the slow, painful death that Mitt Romney will bring you." He apologized for the remark the next day, yet Fischer still twists the facts into a completely illogical argument that does nothing but prove the lengths to which some people will go to rationalize their own hate.

Watch video of Fischer's comments, via Right Wing Watch, AFTER THE JUMP.

Fortress Of Attitude Release 'PS: Gay Car' VIDEO

What do you do if you get a letter describing your car and your parking job as "gay"? And what if the anonymous sender says, no, he has nothing against gay people, but your parking spot just totally gay, and then even puts a post script reading "gay car"?

Well, if you're the band Fortress of Attitude, you turn said missive into a clever song called "PS: Gay Car" and release a tongue-in-cheek video. Watch it AFTER THE JUMP.

Nate Silver Talks Shop At Google HQ: VIDEO

Nate Silver, the world's most beloved statistician, stopped by Google's California headquarters to discuss his new book, The Signal and the Noise is The Soul of a New Machine for the 21st Century, how to deal with internet trolls and why past prediction models no longer apply in today's world.

Watch the video AFTER THE JUMP.

President Obama Signs World AIDS Day Proclamation

President Obama today signed an official proclamation recognizing this year's World AIDS Day. "Creating an AIDS-free generation is a shared responsibility," the commander-in-chief said in his prepared remarks.

More from the remarks, which I've included AFTER THE JUMP:

Today, we reflect on the strides we have taken toward overcoming HIV/AIDS, honor those who have made our progress possible, and keep in our thoughts all those who have known the devastating consequences of this illness. The road toward an AIDS-free generation is long -- but as we mark this important observance, let us also remember that if we move forward every day with the same passion, persistence, and drive that has brought us this far, we can reach our goal. We can beat this disease. On World AIDS Day, in memory of those no longer with us and in solidarity with all who carry on the fight, let us pledge to make that vision a reality.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States do hereby proclaim December 1, 2012, as World AIDS Day. I urge the Governors of the States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, officials of the other territories subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and the American people to join me in appropriate activities to remember those who have lost their lives to AIDS and to provide support and comfort to those living with this disease.

Read the remarks in their entirety AFTER THE JUMP.

On World AIDS Day, more than 30 years after the first cases of this tragic illness were reported, we join the global community once more in standing with the millions of people who live with HIV/AIDS worldwide. We also recommit to preventing the spread of this disease, fighting the stigma associated with infection, and ending this pandemic once and for all. 

In 2010, my Administration released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, our Nation's first comprehensive plan to fight the domestic epidemic. The Strategy aims to reduce new infections, increase access to care, reduce health disparities, and achieve a more coordinated national response to HIV/AIDS here in the United States. To meet these goals, we are advancing HIV/AIDS education; connecting stakeholders throughout the public, private, and non-profit sectors; and investing in promising research that can improve clinical outcomes and reduce the risk of transmission. Moving forward, we must continue to focus on populations with the highest HIV disparities -- including gay men, and African American and Latino communities -- and scale up effective, evidence-based interventions to prevent and treat HIV. We are also implementing the Affordable Care Act, which has expanded access to HIV testing and will ensure that all Americans, including those living with HIV/AIDS, have access to health insurance beginning in 2014. 

These actions are bringing us closer to an AIDS-free generation at home and abroad -- a goal that, while ambitious, is within sight. Through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), we are on track to meet the HIV prevention and treatment targets I set last year. We are working with partners at home and abroad to reduce new infections in adults, help people with HIV/AIDS live longer, prevent mother-to-child transmission, and support the global effort to eliminate new infections in children by 2015. And thanks to bipartisan action to lift the entry ban on persons living with HIV, we were proud to welcome leaders from around the world to the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C. 

Creating an AIDS-free generation is a shared responsibility. It requires commitment from partner countries, coupled with support from donors, civil society, people living with HIV, faith-based organizations, the private sector, foundations, and multilateral institutions. We stand at a tipping point in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and working together, we can realize our historic opportunity to bring that fight to an end.

Today, we reflect on the strides we have taken toward overcoming HIV/AIDS, honor those who have made our progress possible, and keep in our thoughts all those who have known the devastating consequences of this illness. The road toward an AIDS-free generation is long -- but as we mark this important observance, let us also remember that if we move forward every day with the same passion, persistence, and drive that has brought us this far, we can reach our goal. We can beat this disease. On World AIDS Day, in memory of those no longer with us and in solidarity with all who carry on the fight, let us pledge to make that vision a reality. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States do hereby proclaim December 1, 2012, as World AIDS Day. I urge the Governors of the States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, officials of the other territories subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and the American people to join me in appropriate activities to remember those who have lost their lives to AIDS and to provide support and comfort to those living with this disease. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of two thousand twelve, and of the Independence United States of America the two hundred and  my hand this our Lord of the thirty-seventh.

Join Cleve Jones and ONE's Fight Against HIV/AIDS

In anticipating of World AIDS Day this weekend, activist Cleve Jones called on a few of his friends, including Colin Farrell, Kellan Lutz and Zoe Saldana Lark Voorhies, to participate in a new video series for the group ONE's campaign fight against HIV/AIDS: "It Starts With Me."

"Things only change when a new generation of people decides that something that was tolerable and acceptable is no longer for them and they say, 'It's got to be changed,'" Jones says in the video.

Watch Jones and company explain the disastrous, preventable gap in HIV/AIDS treatments around the world and how you can help end the nasty retrovirus once and for all AFTER THE JUMP.