Payvand
Growing acceptance of male circumcision, in Africa especially, is having a dramatic and positive effect on the fight against HIV/AIDS.

AIDS has killed 30 million people around the world since it was first reported in 1981, but according to a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, for men and adolescent boys, the one-time procedure of circumcision can mean a lifetime of reduced risk of getting HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS.

The good news is that “in some areas, it’s becoming a social norm to be circumcised, particularly among adolescents,” said Kelly Curran, director of HIV and infectious diseases at the Hopkins affiliate Jhpiego. In sub-Saharan Africa, the region of the world most devastated by AIDS, Kenya and Tanzania are making the most progress in reducing HIV infections, she added. Jhpiego implements HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The fight to stop new HIV infections accelerated in 2007, when the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization began to scale up voluntary medical male circumcisions to reduce transmission of the virus. According to Curran, the groups that year also endorsed three surgical methods for performing the procedure following successful trials in South Africa, Uganda and Kenya. Since then, 1 million men around the world have been circumcised. Three-fourths of the procedures were funded by PEPFAR, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said November 8 while stressing that the U.S. goal is to see a global AIDS-free generation. Clinton has noted that about 34 million people still live with the disease.

“Virtually every other strategy we have to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS depends on people doing things that are not easy,” Curran said. She cited behavioral changes such as remembering to use a condom, reducing the number of sexual partners and learning the HIV status of partners. (Jhpiego offers circumcision to men and adolescents as part of a package of services that includes teaching the correct use of condoms, testing and treating sexually transmitted diseases, promoting safe sexual practices and offering antiretroviral therapy for people who are HIV-positive.)

Circumcision is a safe and simple procedure done by well-trained and -equipped medical providers that takes 20-30 minutes, she said. There is compelling evidence that circumcision reduces the risk of sexual transmission of HIV by 60 percent, according to UNAIDS. Circumcision also has been shown to reduce urinary tract infections.

Three men wear T-shirts reading “Tohara ya Mwanaume,” or “Male Circumcision” in a Tanzanian language.

Male circumcision benefits women because it reduces the transmission of other sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes and the virus that causes cervical cancer, according to Curran.

Curran said taking HIV prevention services close to where people live has been a successful strategy. In Tanzania, for instance, Jhpiego works with a nonprofit group that uses mobile health centers so men don’t have to walk long distances to be circumcised. Jhpiego also uses radio programs and short text messages to communicate information about HIV/AIDS prevention methods to targeted groups.

In order to help other countries reach the success levels that Kenya and Tanzania are experiencing, UNAIDS and PEPFAR announced December 5 a five-year plan to expand male circumcision services for HIV prevention in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The plan was developed by the two groups along with the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank, in consultation with the national ministries of health of those countries.

If 80 percent of men in the 14 countries are circumcised, 3.4 million new infections could be averted and $16.5 billion in HIV/AIDS treatment costs could be saved, Curran said. Reaching 80 percent would entail performing 20 million circumcisions on men ages 15-49 by 2015, according to UNAIDS.

The 14 targeted countries are Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The joint plan to scale up voluntary medical male circumcision is on the UNAIDS website. More information about PEPFAR and Jhpiego is on their websites.

ABCNEWS
Los Angeles residents may soon vote on whether condom use should be mandatory for those who work in the City of Angel’s prolific porn industry.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an organization that spearheaded the proposal, collected more than 70,000 signatures, which were certified by the city clerk Tuesday. The number of signatures is far more than the 41,000 needed to have the measure considered for city voting.

Under current law, porn stars must test negative for HIV and other STDs within 30 days of filming. Many argue that even the current law should be modified because HIV often does not show up in tests until months after a person contracts the virus.

“There are thousands of STDs in this industry,” Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, told Reuters. “It’s the ick factor. They don’t want to deal with this because it’s sex, and because it’s porn.”

Many in the adult entertainment industry argue that mandatory condom use would destroy the fantasy associated with pornography.

While L.A. residents would vote on the issue during the presidential primary in June, the Los Angeles Times reported that the proposal still faced legal challenges.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich filed court documents earlier this month that said the state, not the city, had the only legal authority to impose condom use on porn sets.

But Ellen Widess, head of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, said the proposal is a legal possibility.

In a news release on the AIDS Healthcare Foundation website, Widess said: “We remain convinced that the City of Los Angeles is not pre-empted by Cal/OSHA from asserting its authority to protect the health of employees and others, including volunteers, who may be exposed to health hazards in L.A.’s adult film industry. We believe that cities and counties can regulate under their police power unless specifically restricted by something else, and our blood-borne pathogen standard does not provide that restriction.”

Haaretz
Mental health experts, educators and members of Israel’s gay community are protesting the use in the mental health curriculum in a number of academic institutions of a textbook they say presents anti-homosexual positions. The most recent edition of “Prakim nivharim b’psichiatria” (“Select Chapters in Psychiatry”) was published in 2010 and is part of the curriculum in universities, colleges and teachers’ colleged. An Internet petition circulated by the book’s detractors demands its removal from the curriculum of clinical programs unless and until its position on homosexuality is revised. A day after the petition was posted it had more than 500 signatures.

One of the book’s chapters states that homosexuality is a personal choice and claims that the theory of Charles Socarides, according to which homosexuality is an emotional disorder that can be cured through therapy, is “the most accepted approach today.” The chapter was written by Prof. Shmuel Tiano, former director of the Geha Psychiatric Hospital in Petah Tikva.
Published 00:30 26.12.11
Latest update 00:30 26.12.11

Israeli textbook slammed for calling homosexuality a disorder
Online petition demanding book’s removal unless its position on homosexuality is revised receives over 500 signatures within day of being posted.
By Ilan Lior Tags: Israel education

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Mental health experts, educators and members of Israel’s gay community are protesting the use in the mental health curriculum in a number of academic institutions of a textbook they say presents anti-homosexual positions. The most recent edition of “Prakim nivharim b’psichiatria” (“Select Chapters in Psychiatry”) was published in 2010 and is part of the curriculum in universities, colleges and teachers’ colleged. An Internet petition circulated by the book’s detractors demands its removal from the curriculum of clinical programs unless and until its position on homosexuality is revised. A day after the petition was posted it had more than 500 signatures.

One of the book’s chapters states that homosexuality is a personal choice and claims that the theory of Charles Socarides, according to which homosexuality is an emotional disorder that can be cured through therapy, is “the most accepted approach today.” The chapter was written by Prof. Shmuel Tiano, former director of the Geha Psychiatric Hospital in Petah Tikva.
Gay pride – Olivier Fitoussi – July 28, 2011

Participants of the gay pride parade in Jerusalem, July 28, 2011
Photo by: Olivier Fitoussi

Tiano describes homosexuality as a “symptom,” and that psychotherapy can bring about the integration of “this borderline personality” and “the disappearance of the symptom.” It also described homosexuality and transgender identity among children as a “disorder” that should be treated to enable children to develop “normal sexual development.”

In conversation with Haaretz, Tiano said the chapter is a historical survey and does not represent current thinking on the issues.

Eight years ago Gidi Rubinstein, a psychotherapist who teaches at the Netanya Academic College and whose clinical practice specializes in gay and bisexual clients, published an article in the column in the gay and lesbian monthly “Hazman Havarod” criticizing the book. Tiano contacted him to discuss his concerns. Rubinstein said he expected his objections would be addressed in the 2010 edition but they were not.

Rubinstein was particularly critical of the platform he said the book gives to the views of Socarides. Tiano said the characterizations of homosexuality as a “disorder” or “symptom” in the chapter are simply descriptions of obsolete views. “I explicitly wrote in the chapter that it is not a disorder.”

“In its current edition, the chapter on homosexuality not only constitutes a declaration of homophobia, but it educates future therapists and educators to be homophobic,” Rubinstein said. The fact that the book is published by a university press, Dyonon, and that it was compiled by four leading figures in the psychiatry field gives the book added importance. Avi Chamo, the CEO of Dyonon said he was proud of the book, which is in its fifth edition and is a bestseller. He said the book was designed to survey a range of views and promote academic discourse.

“There is a word or two that needs to be proofread,” Tiano acknowledged. “In advance of the next edition of the book, I commit to carry out additional proofreading and to change the two or three words that have to be changed in the chapter.”

‘Unfortunate’

Chen Langer of the Israeli National LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Task Force, known as the Aguda, said: “It is unfortunate that a book is taught in Israeli universities that still defines, whether intentionally, unintentionally or out of negligence, any sexual orientation as a medical diagnosis in and of itself that requires ‘diagnosis’ or, God help us, any kind of ‘treatment.’ Langer said the Aguda wants the Council for Higher Education to order the book’s immediate removal from university and college reading lists and libraries.

Chamo said in a response that the book’s title, “Select Chapters in Psychiatry,” indicates its contents – a “review of myriad theories in theoretical and clinical psychiatry. In my humble opinion, professionals in the fields of education, mental health, social work and academia (as the petition’s signers claim to be) should be familiar with all the existing theories” in order to promote professional discussion and enable clients to make educated decisions about their treatment.” Chamo said Dyonon would refer any professional errors to the authors and make corrections as needed.

The Council for Higher Education said in a response that under the provisions of the laws governing academic freedom the individual academic institutions, not the council, decide on which texts they teach.

RTE
The 60-year-old actor, who currently lives near San Francisco with wife Susan Schneider, revealed that he enjoys travelling around with his pet.

“I’ve done the ranch thing, now I’m doing the water thing where I go kayaking and paddle boarding and take to the woods for hours on my bike,” he told the Irish Independent. “It’s my thinking time and very therapeutic.

“I also have a gay rescue pug called Leonard, who I take for walks because I am very secure in my sexuality. He has a boyfriend and they are planning to adopt a Siamese kitten together. We’re very modern.”

He also revealed that he has no plans to star in any reality television series, saying: “I’ve never been asked to appear on I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here! so I guess I mustn’t be on the professional skids just yet. Besides, I would never appear on it. I don’t do well with snakes and I can’t dance.

“I am such a bad dancer, in fact, that I could only ever appear on a telethon, raising money for damaged people: ‘The phone lines are open. Pledge us money and we will make him stop.’”

Hindustantimes
Former US president Richard Nixon had a gay affair with his best friend, a Mafia-connected Florida wheeler-dealer named Charles ‘Bebe’ Rebozo, according to a new biography by Don Fulsom.

Fulsom, a veteran Washington reporter who covered the Nixon years, also insists that the 37th U.

S. President had a serious drink problem, beat his wife and by the time he was inaugurated in 1969 had links going back two decades to the Mafia, including with New Orleans godfather Carlos Marcello, then America’s most powerful mobster.

Bebe Rebozo was a short, swarthy, good-looking Cuban-American businessman with a history of failed relationships with women and close alliances with Miami’s Mafia chiefs, the Daily Mail reported.ulsom has used recently revealed documents and eyewitness interviews including with FBI agents to shed new light on long-standing doubts among White House insiders that Nixon may have been a more than just good pal with Rebozo.

He asserts that Nixon’s relationship with Pat, his wife of 53 years, was little more than a pretence. A heavy drinker whom his own staff dubbed ‘Our Drunk’, Nixon used to call his First Lady a ‘f***ing bitch’ and hit her before, during and after his presidency.

The couple had separate bedrooms at the White House and in Key Biscayne, the exclusive resort near Miami where Nixon holidayed. Mrs Nixon did not even used to sleep in the same building, however Rebozo, was in the house next door.

Fulsom also claims that one of Nixon’s former military aides had a covert job ‘to teach the President how to kiss his wife’ so that they would look like a convincing couple.

Fulsom has quoted a former Time magazine reporter who, at a Washington dinner, bent down to pick up a fork and saw the two holding hands under the table.

It was, the reporter judged, amply intimate to suggest ‘repressed homosexuality’.

Another journalist revealed how, loosened up by drink, Nixon once put his arm around Rebozo ‘the way you’d cuddle your senior prom date. Something was fishy there’.

Rebozo even became an ‘uncle figure’ to the Nixons’ two daughters, Tricia and Julie. The dapper Cuban-American selected Nixon’s clothes and even selected the films he watched at the White House.

On Nixon’s solo visits to Key Biscayne, they swam and sunbathed, indulging in their shared passions for discussing Broadway musicals and barbecuing steaks.

When Nixon became President, Rebozo was given his own office and bedroom at the White House, and a security clearance that permitted him to go in and out without being logged by the secret service.

Using a false name, says Fulsom, Rebozo even got into Nixon’s hotel suite during a trip to Europe.

The President’s closest colleagues criticized the way Rebozo monopolised Nixon’s time.

The book, Nixon’s Darkest Secrets: The Inside Story Of America’s Most Troubled President will be out on January 31, 2012.

Ontopmag
Michele Bachmann has criticized Ron Paul and Mitt Romney on gay marriage in a final pitch to social conservatives in early caucus state Iowa, The New York Times reported.

During a Council Bluffs appearance, Bachmann attempted to use her record opposing marriage equality and abortion to distance herself from her GOP presidential rivals.

“Mitt Romney has defended gay marriage and even signed marriage licenses for same-sex couples and Ron Paul doesn’t believe the government should protect the institution of marriage,” Bachmann said. “I have a record of defending life, marriage and the family and I’ll protect them as president of the United States.”

(Related: Ron Paul: Government should ‘butt out’ of gay marriage.)

Bachmann, who trails her rivals in the state after winning the Iowa straw poll in August, and Rick Santorum have previously leveled the charge at Romney that he helped advance gay marriage.

Santorum said during a GOP debate earlier this month that then-Governor Romney was faced with a choice after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that barring gay men and lesbians from marrying was unconstitutional.

“So Governor Romney was faced with a choice: Go along with the court or go along with the constitution and the statute. He chose the court and ordered people to issue gay marriage licenses. And went beyond that. He personally, as governor, issued gay marriage licenses.”

In rebutting the charge, Romney described Santorum’s retelling as a “novel understanding” of events.

“The Supreme Court of Massachusetts determined that under our constitution same-sex marriage was required,” Romney said. “And the idea that that somehow that was up to me to make a choice as to whether we had it or not was a little unusual.”

USAtoday
The leader of Jamaica’s sole gay rights group said Tuesday that some ruling-party candidates have aggressively played to anti-gay constituents by resorting to homophobic rhetoric in the final days of the campaign for this week’s national elections.
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Dane Lewis, executive director of the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, said Jamaica Labor Party candidates have “unfortunately descended into pulling the sexuality card” in advance of Thursday’s tight vote.

“It’s been disappointing that they’ve chosen this road yet again because it seems to historically be their stance during campaigning,” said Lewis, adding that his group is not endorsing any political party.

Politicians have routinely railed against homosexuals in Jamaica, where a colonial-era sodomy law bans sex between men and many people in the highly Christian nation perceive homosexuality as a sin.

But during a debate last week with Prime Minister Andrew Holness, opposition chief Portia Simpson Miller called for a review of the law. She argued that professional competence, not sexual orientation, will determine who is selected for a Cabinet post if her People’s National Party wins.

Since then, some top Labor candidates have made homophobic comments at political rallies, among them Cabinet minister Daryl Vaz, who said “God created Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve,” prompting applause and anti-gay slurs from his West Portland constituents.

Labor’s candidate for West Central St. James, Energy Minister Clive Mullings, asserted that easing up on laws against homosexuality would bring God’s wrath down on Jamaica, while West Kingston candidate, Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie, used an epithet at a rally while an anti-gay dancehall song played.

In a Sunday editorial, the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper called the recent developments “not only sad, but dangerous.”

“Some might add cynical and vulgar.”

On Tuesday, the opposition People’s National Party stressed that Simpson Miller’s comments were being distorted by Labor partisans. They said the party is committed to a review of the anti-sodomy law, not its repeal.

It is not yet clear if either side’s recent comments will hurt their chances in Thursday’s election for the island’s 63 seats in Parliament. Recent polls have shown the two main parties in a statistical dead heat.

Despite the easygoing image propagated by the island’s tourist boards, Jamaica is by far the most hostile island toward homosexuals in the already conservative Caribbean, gays and their advocates contend.

Many Jamaicans insist hostility toward gays is blown out of proportion by gay activists. Some say Jamaica tolerates homosexuality as long as it is not openly displayed.

Nationalpost
People magazine said on Tuesday that a cover apparently featuring Twilight actor Taylor Lautner coming out as a gay man was “100 percent fake.”

“The cover in question is 100 percent fake. This began as a ridiculous Twitter joke that went viral,” said People magazine spokeswoman Julie Farin.

The fake People cover, dated January 7, 2012, was circulated on the Internet over the holidays. It featured a picture of Lautner, 19, with text saying “Tired of rumors, the Twilight star opens up about his decision to finally come out.”

Social media sites circulated the fake cover, with celebrities like Def Jam’s co-founder Russell Simmons tweeting their congratulations to the Twilight actor before realizing the hoax.

“Disappointed that people would joke about someone coming out about their sexuality. Let Taylor Lautner be whoever he wants to be,” Simmons said in a later tweet Monday.

A representative for Lautner, who previously dated country singer Taylor Swift, did not respond to requests for comment.

The authors of the hoax were not immediately known.