HEALTH

Starve the gay away!

A Liverpool church which offered a “cure” for homosexuality through a “dangerous” three-day starvation programme was uncovered by an ECHO investigation. The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry, which has a branch on Breck Road, Anfield, was found offering gay people the chance to “cure” themselves of their homosexuality through a relentless prayer session involving three days without food or water.

HEALTH

Huge demand prompts gender reassignment surgery training

The surge in demand for transgender surgeries in the United States has triggered a New York City hospital to launch a program to train doctors to perform gender reassignment procedures. Mount Sinai’s Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery opened early last year in Manhattan and has since operated on roughly 350 patients. Dr Jess Ting, the center’s director of surgery, said the team operates on nearly four patients a week.  

5 THINGS TO KNOW

“The Gay Man’s Guide to Open and Monogamous Marriage.”

I had the opportunity to talk with psychotherapist and author, Michael Dale Kimmel, about his new book, “The Gay Man’s Guide to Open and Monogamous Marriage.” Having written a book of my own on modern marriage, I am particularly interested in how Kimmel not only provides a necessarily specific guide for male-male marriages, but also how this wisdom can be utilized by all couples, regardless of gender.

HEALTH

HIV vending machine testing in Brighton.

An innovative vending machine for HIV tests being piloted in Britain aims to help in the fight to end the epidemic by encouraging more people to find out whether they have contracted the virus as a first step to seek treatment, a doctor said. Installed at a gay sauna in the southern seaside city of Brighton, the first-of-its-kind machine distributes free fingerprick self-testing kits that can be collected anonymously and used at home, providing results within minutes.

GayARP

A march to honor the 35 years of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization.

Staff and supporters of Gay Men’s Health Crisis will march through the streets of Manhattan on Wednesday to commemorate more than 35 years since the organization’s inception. The group, which spearheaded the fight against HIV and AIDS when they say few would even pay attention, will walk to the New York City AIDS Memorial in Greenwich Village near the shuttered St. Vincent’s Hospital.

HEALTH

Boy to girl to boy to girl.

A WOMAN who became the youngest transgender patient in Britain at 15 then transitioned back to being a man three years later has told of her decision to change gender for the third time.