5 THINGS TO KNOW

Teen pregnancy significantly higher for gay and lesbian youth.

Statistics show that women who identify as “lesbian” become pregnant at a much higher rate than “straight” women and “homosexual” men are impregnating women at a significantly greater percentage than heterosexual men. The pregnancy rates are verified by studies in several nations, all showing that homosexual pregnancy rates are two to seven times higher than heterosexual pregnancy rates. And pro-homosexual organizations acknowledge that “unintended pregnancy is huge in the LGBT youth world.”

GayARP

Reaching out to LGBT seniors in Massachusetts.

A lack of social and community groups in MetroWest often leaves LGBT senior citizens having to trek to Worcester, Cambridge or even Providence, Rhode Island, to socialize with members of their community. Or worse, they become isolated and feel unconnected to their peers. “Once you can no longer drive they become more isolated,” said Linda Marshall, director of the Holliston Council on Aging. “It’s really hard for them to get out of the MetroWest area.”

HEALTH

Finally, a national standard for gay & bisexual men health.

When it comes to the health of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, the absence of a national standard of care leaves a critical gap for a population already at risk for sexually transmitted diseases and related health disparities. A blue-ribbon panel of national public health professionals, co-chaired by a University of Mississippi Medical Center professor, is changing that scenario.

HEALTH

HRC conference in Orlando to focus on LGBT youth.

Working to support LGBTQ youth, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, in partnership with the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Counseling Association (ACA), will hold its nationally-acclaimed Time to THRIVE Conference February 16-18 at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek in Orlando. Toyota will again be a presenting sponsor. In its fifth year, this premier event of the HRC Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, will address the safety, inclusion and well-being of LGBTQ and questioning youth.

HEALTH

Only 3% of Vancouver men are gay or bi – Yet another survey.

Forget what you may have heard about “one-in-10” people being gay — a long-discredited figure that arose in sexologist Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s 1940s research. This week, a team of public health researchers at the University of British Columbia believe they’ve finally come up with the most accurate-to-date measure of actually how many men have sex with men, at least in Vancouver. Their answer: 27,000 men, or 2.9 per cent of the male population over 16.

ENTERTAINMENT

The $400,000 question about LGBT drinking.

The National Institutes of Health is spending over $400,000 studying whether gender norms of masculinity and femininity lead LGBTQ individuals to drink too much. Trying to find the “meanings of intoxication” of sexual and gender minorities is the central question of a study that was awarded in late July.

HEALTH

Fighting for same-sex spousal benefits in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County resident Judith Dominguez is suing her former employer, Cherry Creek Mortgage, for refusing to provide Dominguez and her wife with spousal health insurance coverage. The lawsuit was filed in federal court on Thursday and accuses Cherry Creek of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, as well as other equal protection laws.