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The federal government is on the brink of lifting restrictions put in place more than three decades ago when regulators, alarmed by the spread of the virus that causes AIDS, barred men who had sex with other men from donating blood. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will begin a two-day meeting on the issue Tuesday, amid growing calls from medical groups, gay rights activists and lawmakers to jettison the ban as outdated and discriminatory.

Gay men just got a step closer to being able to donate blood. Since 1983, men who have had sex with men anytime since 1977 were barred from donating blood, a policy put in place because of the HIV/AIDs epidemic, which especially ravaged the gay community in its early years. But on Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety voted 16-2 to tweak the ban, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, suggesting instead that men who have had sex with men could give blood, but with a caveat. They’d have to be abstinent for...

According to the Liberian Observer, a sex worker visited soldier Floson Louise at his army barracks in Liberia.“When she slept at the EBK (barracks), it was thereafter the soldiers contracted the disease, and could not survive despite “intensive treatment” at the various Ebola Treatment Units in Monrovia,” a source told the Observer.The sex worker was suffering from Ebola and passed the deadly disease to the soldier who unknowingly spread it to seven other soldiers. The Observer further reports that the army barracks are being decongested to ease the spread of the disease.

(Reuters) - Sex could keep the Ebola epidemic alive even after the World Health Organization (WHO) declares an area free of the disease, one of the discoverers of the deadly virus said on Tuesday. The WHO is hoping to announce later this week that Nigeria and Senegal are free of Ebola after 42 days with no infections -- the standard period for declaring an outbreak over, twice the maximum 21-day incubation period of the virus. However, it appears the disease can last much longer in semen. "In a convalescent male, the virus can persist in semen for at least 70...

Late last month, the journal Pediatrics, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, released a policy statement entitled Contraception for Adolescents. The statement is an update to the Academy’s 2007 statement on the same topic. The update “provides the pediatrician with a description and rationale for best practices in counseling and prescribing contraception for adolescents,” according to the journal article. The abstract says: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that pediatricians develop a working knowledge of contraception to help adolescents reduce risks of and negative health consequences related to unintended pregnancy. The American Academy of Pediatrics seems to have taken...

IUDs and hormonal implants cost more, usually hundreds of dollars, because inserting them involves a medical procedure typically done in doctors' offices. But they're less expensive in the long run than over-the-counter condoms or prescription birth control pills, said Dr. Mary Ott, an adolescent medicine specialist and associate pediatrics professor at Indiana University. She is the policy statement's lead author,Teens have to remember to use pills and condoms consistently. By contrast, IUDs typically work for three to 10 years after insertion, while implants typically last three years. The new guidance was published Monday in Pediatrics. It echoes 2012 recommendations from...

For too long we have been lied to about the sexual revolution. But now the mask is coming off, and the younger generations are recognizing that they have been sold a pack of lies. It’s sobering and frustrating to consider that each and every time social conservatives raised the cultural alarm throughout the last five decades, pointing out that each new manifestation of the Sexual Revolution would lead to devastating consequences, they were written off with derisive laughter. They were accused of “provoking a moral panic,” or being “stuck in the past” or “too prudish.” The “slippery-slope” arguments of...

Gay bathhouses that once remained in the shadows to stay in business are now seeking attention to keep their doors open. Some are doing aggressive online advertising and community outreach. Others tout their upscale amenities like plush towels and marble baths. A bathhouse in Ohio has even added hotel rooms and a nightclub. […] In the heyday of bathhouses in the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 gay bathhouses in cities across the U.S., but by 1990, the total had dropped to approximately 90, according to Damron, the publisher of an annual gay travel guide. In the last decade, bathhouses,...

WAUKESHA, Wis. —As parents get their children ready to go back to school, getting them vaccinated is probably on the list. A popular shot for young girls is the HPV vaccine, but a Waukesha mother said her daughter died hours after getting the shot.

Universities across the country are hosting a National Gay Blood Drive today to encourage the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to change its current policies which prevent gay men from donating blood.Activists have pushed for gay men to be able to donate blood for the past several years. In 2010, a government health committee heard testimonies and reviewed the policy, but ultimately recommended keeping the ban and researching alternative policies. Those at the blood drive today will be given the opportunity to sign a petition against the FDA’s policy which will be sent to the White House.

•Men who have sex with other men have been banned from donating blood by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration since 1977. •According to the CDC, gay and bisexual men accounted for 63 percent of new HIV infections in 2010. Universities across the country are hosting a National Gay Blood Drive today to encourage the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to change its current policies which prevent gay men from donating blood. According to the FDA’s website, men who have sex with other men (MSM) have an increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and other types of infections that can...

Prostate cancer could be a sexually transmitted disease caused by a common infection passed on during intercourse, scientists are claiming. Research by the University of California found a sex infection called trichomoniasis supported cancer growth when a team of scientists tested human prostate cells in a laboratory. Trichomoniasis is the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection and is understood to have infected an estimated 275 million people around the world. …

Although syphilis was nearly eliminated from the U.S. about a decade ago, the sexually transmitted disease has resurged in recent years, mainly due to a rise in cases among gay and bisexual men, according to a new report.

A pamphlet, intended for use in schools, has been called homosexual pornography and indoctrination by some concerned parents in the region of Reggio Emilia. Earlier this month, the national homosexual lobby group Arcigay distributed a leaflet at the Istituto Superiore Cattaneo-Dall'Aglio, a high school in Castelnuovo Monti, that included highly explicit language giving information on the best method for homosexuals to “have sex without risk.” The leaflet was aimed at “children up to 15 years” and includes instructions on oral and anal sex and the advice to “get a gay doctor, and be vaccinated against Hepatitis B.” It also details...

Last year, Magic Johnson found out that he had the virus that causes AIDS in his body... ...hounded by a new wave of rumors that he must be bisexual, fearing the rejection of NBA players and aware that a $2 million lawsuit from a onetime lover that accuses him of giving her HIV was sure to burst public, Johnson last week rescinded his decision to return to the Los Angeles Lakers.... Of all the turmoil that drove Johnson back out of basketball, it is the grievous lawsuit in Michigan filed by a woman called only Jane Doe that threatens most...

STD"s Skyrocketing! Who's to Blame? Homophobes Bloomberg has this absolutely amazing lede about the rise in STD's. I mean this is one of those that you just have to shake your head at. Not because their slant is atypical. It's just that normally they at least try to hide it...a little. Gonorrhea and syphilis are on the rise in the U.S., mostly in men who have sex with men, a trend the government said is linked to inadequate testing among people stymied by homophobia and limited access to health care. Wow. STD's are on the rise not due to homosexual...

"The aim is to be the best escort in the world." Josh Brandon's conviction is punctuated by a strong Welsh valleys accent. The twentysomething moved to London four years ago with dreams of modelling and celebrity. But soon after his arrival he began working as an escort. Now he has a price list which includes hourly rates and a discount for block booking. He issues loyalty cards so customers who pay for nine "appointments" get their tenth free. .... "When I won Male Sex Worker of the Year, I texted my dad," says Brandon. "He said: 'I'm proud of you...

A push by activists to ease the 30-year-old blanket ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men faces a key test this week as a federal panel hears results of the latest research. The findings will be released amid growing pressure from politicians and advocates, including college students, to change the policy. Critics say the ban is a hangover from the early, fear-filled days of AIDS, stigmatizing gay men and ignoring advances in treatment and detection in the decades since...

Some 131,000 people were newly infected with HIV in Europe and nearby countries in 2012, an 8 percent rise from a year earlier and a worrying reversal of a recent downward trend in AIDS cases in the West. Michel Kazatchkine, the United Nation's HIV/AIDS Special Envoy in Eastern Europe, told Reuters in an interview this month that HIV epidemics are becoming more concentrated in marginalized groups such as sex workers, drug users and gay men, and could defy global attempts to combat AIDS if no progress is made in turning them around.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here we are on hump day, middle of the week. For those of you newly rendered part-time workers via Obama's health care plan, it used to be hump day, but now you don't even have a hump day. You're just screwed, and some of you may enjoy it. Have you seen these new Obama ads, speaking of being screwed? Have you seen the new Obamacare ads? They're promoting promiscuity. They're promoting it. They're targeting Millennials. Greetings, folks, great to have you here on the Rush Limbaugh program. The telephone number, 800-282-2882, and the e-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com. Let...