5 THINGS TO KNOW

A shelter for Britain’s LGBT homeless.

A fundraising campaign has been launched to open Britain’s first homeless shelter for LGBT people. The shelter, based in London, will comprise a former tour bus previously owned by the rock band Status Quo remodelled to temporarily house those most at risk from the dangers of rough-sleeping – many of whom also face compound problems resulting from hate crimes, domestic abuse, family rejection, and poor mental health.

HEALTH

Support for transgender youth begins in small town America.

Terri and Jaimie are moms who live in Grass Lake, Michigan. When you live in a town as small as Grass Lake, everybody knows your name. It’s what makes towns like Grass Lake the kind of place you’d want to raise a family. Grass Lake is also more diverse than anyone thought. Terri and Jaimie are both moms to young transgender kids. What makes Grass Lake exceptional is that its school board recently decided to allow transgender children to use the bathrooms matching their gender identity. What always strikes me about school board meetings like the one recently held in Grass Lake is the passion of the community – and how our goals are the same. We all want our children to grow up […]

HEALTH

LGBT community has a safe home in Ventura.

In a quiet Ventura business park, the Diversity Collective’s new Community Resource Center had its door wide open, ready for guests to drop in. Inside the lobby, Joseph Summers was quick to greet visitors to the recently opened facility run by the Diversity Collective Ventura County, a group dedicated to providing resources and support to the county’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Syphilis cases for gay and bisexual men spike in Scotland.

Scotland has had a shocking rise in the number of syphilis cases among gay and bisexual men. The rate of infection is now at 90% among men. New syphilis diagnoses rose 13% in 2016 with 356. This is the highest number Scotland has seen since 1952. The number doubled between 2014 and 2015, from 159 to 316.

GayARP

Studies show the health of LGBT seniors is worse than heterosexual counterparts.

Lesbian and bisexual older women are more likely than heterosexual older women to suffer chronic health conditions, experience sleep problems and drink excessively, a new University of Washington study finds. In general, lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) older adults were found to be in poorer health than heterosexuals, specifically in terms of higher rates of cardiovascular disease, weakened immune system and low back or neck pain. They also were at greater risk of some adverse health behaviors such as smoking and excessive drinking.

HEALTH

Bad parenting 101 – spyware to find out of your son is gay.

A French company offering “invisible PC spy software” has been criticised after it said its product could be used “to find out if your son is gay”. Listing a series of “clues”, the company, Fireworld, suggested that “hacking his Facebook account” and seeing if he had visited gay websites could confirm a parent’s suspicions. The company has since taken down the article. The post was highlighted by a French youth LGBT rights group.

HEALTH

LGBT communities smoke more than ever before.

Since 1964, when the U.S. Surgeon General first reported that the risks from smoking could not be ignored, tobacco use in the United States has plummeted. More than 40 percent of Americans smoked cigarettes in 1965. Over the last half-century, that smoking rate has fallen by half. And yet for some populations, the needle has barely moved. In fact, one of the U.S. demographics most burdened by tobacco’s wrath of illness and death are LGBT communities.