LIFESTYLES

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Transgender videos used to train AI software.

August 22, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Transgender videos used to train AI software.

About five or six years ago, one of Karl Ricanek’s students showed him a video on YouTube. It was a time lapse of a person undergoing hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, in order to transition genders. “At the time, we were working on facial recognition,” Ricanek, a professor of computer science at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, tells The Verge. He says he and his students were always trying to find ways to break the systems they worked on, and that this video seemed like a particularly tricky challenge. “We were like, ‘Wow there’s no way the current technology could recognize this person [after they transitioned].’”

HEALTH

Ottawa Hospital Foundation focuses on health care for gay men.

August 22, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Ottawa Hospital Foundation focuses on health care for gay men.

In Ottawa, one in five gay patients refuse to disclose their sexual orientation to their health care provider for fear of facing stigma, according to The Ottawa Hospital. This is one of the reasons why The Ottawa Hospital Foundation wants to create a comprehensive health care program that will help improve access to appropriate care for gay men.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Teen pregnancy significantly higher for gay and lesbian youth.

August 22, 2017 compassq Comments Off on 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.”

PRIDE

Government support keeps Montreal Pride marching along.

August 21, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Government support keeps Montreal Pride marching along.

One of the biggest travel and tourism event in French Speaking Quebec and Montreal and as the LGBT pride parade draws near, along with the final activities that will close 11 days of festivities that have once again rocked Montréal, the Government of Canada announced that four financial contributions totalling $463,300 have been granted to the Montréal Pride non-profit organization.

GayARP

Reaching out to LGBT seniors in Massachusetts.

August 21, 2017 compassq Comments Off on 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.”

PRIDE

Madison, Wisconsin Pride – standing with the transgender troops!

August 21, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Madison, Wisconsin Pride – standing with the transgender troops!

Near the front of Madison’s annual Outreach Pride Parade on Sunday, the Madison Area Transgender Association’s float flew flags of the five branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. A sign on the float, which read, “Standing with our trans troops,” represented a clear response to tweets last month by President Donald Trump that announced his decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military.

DESTINATIONS

A walk down Ottawa’s LGBT past.

August 21, 2017 compassq Comments Off on A walk down Ottawa’s LGBT past.

Glenn Crawford suggests meeting in the parking lot between Staples and the Book Bazaar at the Corner of Bank Street and Gladstone Avenue. It seems like a rather mundane place to start a historical walking tour. But Crawford, the research and project leader of the Village Legacy Project, assures that this newly paved lot is a storied space. Notorious, even. In this location there was once an upscale cinema called The Rialto, which opened in 1931. But it became increasingly seedy. By the 1950s and ’60s, it was known as the “Rat Hole” and was a gay cruising area. Later, the building that is now home to the Book Bazaar had a basement bar called Bottom’s Up.