HEALTH

5 THINGS TO KNOW

A first person’s account of the early days of the AIDS Epidemic.

August 15, 2017 compassq Comments Off on A first person’s account of the early days of the AIDS Epidemic.

In 1981, I began showing symptoms of what would become known as HIV/AIDS.  It started with painful swollen lymph nodes larger than golf balls in my armpits and groin.  Tests for mononucleosis and a biopsy for Hodgkin’s disease came back negative. Next came night sweats that soaked my sheets, exhaustion despite 12 hours of sleep, skin rashes, fungal and yeast infections in body creases, Harry Leukoplakia on my tongue, and reoccurring shingles.

HEALTH

The LGBT community needs a comprehensive health study.

August 15, 2017 compassq Comments Off on The LGBT community needs a comprehensive health study.

Any sufficiently large and well-defined community is likely to have health concerns that disproportionately affect it, and LGBTQ people are no exception. Some problems have had an unmistakable impact on the gender and sexual-minority population, HIV/AIDS being an especially obvious example. But we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the ways that being an LGBTQ person can influence one’s overall health, or of health disparities within the LGTBQ community itself.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Transgender rights find support from some religious conservatives.

August 14, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Transgender rights find support from some religious conservatives.

Transgender rights activists emphasize that they belong to a minority that’s defined by a gender identity that is different from that typically associated with their assigned sex at birth. This transgender identity presupposes that ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ are innate psychological states that are intrinsic in the human subject, conceptualized as things akin to hair color or skin pigmentation.

HEALTH

Starve the gay away!

August 13, 2017 compassq Comments Off on 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

August 12, 2017 compassq Comments Off on 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.