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Concerned that the name "monkeypox" may stigmatize and humiliate its unfortunate victims, the World Health Organization (WHO) is determined to choose a different name for the disease. WHO Director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus argued that "the current name conveys a demeaning insinuation of improper conduct between man and monkey. Victims of this painful and annoying ailment deserve better." The Doctor suggested that "in my opinion, a more fitting name would be 'homopox.' Ninety-eight percent of the sufferers are men who have sex with other men. I think the disease ought to be named after the victims. This would be a...

The Presbyterian Church in America has voted to change a rule in its governing document that would disqualify all gay men from serving in its ministry. The resolution to change the rule, “Overture 23,” was passed 1,400-400 at the denomination’s 48th annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri, last week. “Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America must be above reproach in their walk and Christlike in their character. Those who profess an identity (such as, but not limited to, ‘gay Christian,’ ‘same-sex attracted Christian,’ ‘homosexual Christian,’ or like terms) that undermines or contradicts their identity as new creations in Christ,...

New York City resident Sabri Ben-Achour, 39, began to feel ill on March 12 and experienced roughly 36 hours of intense symptoms: fever, aches, fatigue, cough and headache. But by March 14, Ben-Achour felt back to normal, except for one thing: Both his sense of smell and taste were gone. "I couldn't smell anything," he said. "I could literally not smell s---." He ordered from an Indian restaurant: "I asked them to make it extra salty and extra spicy, and it tasted like water." By March 16, he was fairly certain he had contracted and recuperated from COVID-19, the disease...

Sexual orientation has a correlation with skin cancer prevalence, new research finds. Gay and bisexual men have higher rates of skin cancer over the course of their lifetimes compared to heterosexual men, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Dermatology. Bisexual women — but not lesbian women — were found to have lower odds of contracting skin cancer compared to heterosexual women.

AS cases of meningitis, a rare and potentially fatal disease, popped up in cities nationwide over the past several years, public health officials noticed a trend: many of those infected were gay men. There’s no known medical reason why meningitis, which is transmitted through saliva, would spread more among gay and bisexual men. Yet New York, Chicago and now Southern California have experienced outbreaks disproportionately affecting that population. “It is perplexing,” said Dr. Rachel Civen, a medical epidemiologist at L.A. County’s Department of Public Health. Of the 13 cases of meningitis this year in L.A. County — excluding Long Beach,...

Advisers for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet next week to decide whether gay men should be allowed to donate blood, the agency’s biggest step yet toward changing the 30-year-old prohibition. If the FDA accepts the recommendation from its advisory board, it would roll back a policy that has faced mounting criticism from LGBT advocates and some members of Congress for more than four years. “We’ve got the ball rolling. I feel like this is a tide-turning vote,” said Ryan James Yezak, an LGBT activist who founded the National Gay Blood Drive and will speak at next week’s...

Recent research indicates there is growing concern about the dramatic rise in the number of syphilis victims among the gay men community in the United States. It has been reported that syphilis is spreading rapidly among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

New research has again shown the grave danger of homosexual sex acts to the human body. The grave health risks associated with such dangerous sexual behaviours is one of the prime reasons why society as a whole should oppose homosexual acts, doctors have told LifeSiteNews.com under condition of anonymity. A study which appears in the February issue of the International Journal of STD & AIDS, has found that "HIV-positive men who have sex with men are up to 90 times more likely than the general population to develop anal cancer." The study was based on data from 244 patients at...

The Supreme Court refused to intervene Tuesday in a legal fight over same-sex marriage, declining an appeal from a gay California couple who were denied a license to wed. The justices declined without comment to take the case of Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer of Mission Viejo, Calif. The men had sought a marriage license in Southern California's Orange County in 2004 and, after they were turned down, filed a federal lawsuit that challenged federal and state laws against same-sex marriage. A U.S. District judge said the federal Defense of Marriage Act was constitutional but declined to rule on the...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican will allow gay men into the priesthood if they can show they have been celibate for at least three years, leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on Friday. But it said the Vatican will ban men who "publicly manifest their homosexuality" or show an "overwhelming attraction" to homosexual culture "even if it is only intellectually." The Vatican views on gay priests are contained in a secret 16-page document which is expected to be released next month. The document, an "instruction" by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, covers one of the most sensitive...

To the dismay of gay-rights activists, the Food and Drug Administration (search) is about to implement new rules recommending that any man who has engaged in homosexual sex in the previous five years be barred from serving as an anonymous sperm donor...

The syphilis rate in the United States rose in 2002 for the second consecutive year, following a decade-long decline that led to an all-time low in 2000, according to new data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The overall increase occurred despite continued declines in syphilis among African Americans and women. The increase is due to large increases in reported syphilis cases among men, particularly "gay and bisexual men" according to a report from the Centers for the Disease Control (CDC). The data, published in the November 21 issue of CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly...

The cult of the condom is failing us in America where the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports the incidents of HIV/AIDS is increasing among the group that knows the most about condoms --- gay men. Yet, policy makers continue to insist that condoms are the answer to AIDs in Africa. We report today on the new CDC numbers and statements by policy makers on World AIDs Day in support of condoms.Spread the word. Yours sincerely,Austin RusePresident Action item:  You may access a copy of the CDC report by going tohttp://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1402/2002SurveillanceReport.pdf ___________________________________________________________________________ CULTURE & COSMOS December 2, 2003...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) --A former city health commissioner who allegedly lied to an ex-boyfriend about his HIV status is the first person charged under a state law against intentionally exposing another person to the virus, prosecutors said.</p> <p>Ronald Gene Hill, 46, was arrested in Grass Valley, 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, following his indictment by a grand jury last week, said Mark MacNamara, spokesman for the San Francisco district attorney's office.</p>

Jan. 16, 2003, 6:45PM Supreme Court urged to kill Texas' sodomy law Associated Perss A gay rights group today filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court urging the high court to overturn Texas' sodomy law in the case of two men charged with having sex inside a home in 1998. Lambda Legal, which represents the two men, and several other organizations have asked the Supreme Court to declare the state's anti-sodomy law unconstitutional. "Some of the most diverse and respected voices in this country are lining up to tell the Supreme Court that these laws are contrary to American...