October 13, 2005

Reaching the Heartland

Geneticist Highlights Search for Origins of Sexual Orientation
The Philadelphia Enquirer recently profiled Dean Hamer who studies the origins of sexual orientation.  "Geneticist Dean Hamer says he never chose to be attracted to men. As we talked inside the renovated Washington, D.C., townhouse he shares with his partner and two dogs, the scientist popularly associated with so-called 'gay genes' told me he had known he was gay since he was about 5.  That's what partly motivated Hamer, 54, to switch from basic molecular genetics to studying sexual orientation in 1992. When he told his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute what he was doing, they were puzzled. 'It was pretty far out there,' he says. Others thought the answer was too obvious - that, of course, it was genetic. Hamer realized he might be able to use the tools of molecular genetics to isolate specific genes. He studied 40 pairs of gay brothers and found a particular marker on the X chromosome that was shared more often when both brothers were gay. When he published his result in 1993, it became known as the "gay gene," but he said this label oversimplified the science. Many straight people have the 'gay' version of the marker.

Vatican Backs Off Plan to Ban Gay Men from Seminaries
Following weeks of internal debate and public criticism, reports from Italy indicate that Pope Benedict XVI will stop short of issuing new rules to ban gay men from becoming priests.  Instead of an outright ban, which drew a strong reaction when revealed several weeks ago, news reports indicate the Vatican will allow gay men into the priesthood if they can show they've been celibate for at least three years.  Reuters reports, "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.  Reacting to earlier reports that the document would ban even celibate gays, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin told the British Catholic newspaper The Tablet last week, 'You don't write off a candidate for the priesthood simply because he is a gay man.'  Martin told the Tablet that seminaries did not in the past give men enough support to help them mature in their sexuality. 'We need to provide services of support for these priests and this will involve helping them along their personal journey and reassuring them.'  In his book 'The Changing Face of the Priesthood,' Father Donald Cozzens estimated that some 40 percent of U.S. priests are gay but only a tiny minority are practicing homosexuals."  Read more.

Read a story about a gay priest who died on September 11th while serving as a fire department chaplain.  

Amendment Fight Creating Division in Massachusetts Catholic Church
The Catholic Church is taking a leading role in the campaign to place an anti-gay amendment on the ballot in Massachusetts.  The amendment would roll back marriage equality for gay and lesbian families.  Almost 7,000 coupled have tied the knot in the last 18 months.  Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley is calling on Catholics to support the marriage ban amendment.   A letter was recently read at masses, endorsing the anti-gay amendment, which could end up on the ballot in 2008.  That didn't sit well with some parishioners.  The Patriot Ledger reports, "At St. Albert, where parishioners have clashed with Archbishop O'Malley about the closing of parishes across the archdiocese, the letter was read at daytime Masses, but not at the 6 p.m. service.  Lector Sharon Harrington, who makes the announcements at the end of Mass, made Archbishop O'Malley's message available but refused to read it aloud, saying she objected to its content and thought Mass an inappropriate venue to venture into politics. 'It's not what I thought Jesus would do, said Harrington, who lives in Scituate. 'It doesn't help the church welcome people or reach out to people.'"  Read more.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports, "A Catholic priest in (Westborough, MA) was temporarily pulled from the pulpit after refusing to support the state bishops' drive against gay marriage...The move came after Lange and his associate pastor, the Rev. Stephen Labaire, posted an item in the Sept. 11 church bulletin stating their opposition to a proposed Constitutional amendment that would ban on gay marriage. The bulletin item read: 'The priests of this parish do not feel that they can support this amendment. They do not see any value to it and they see it as an attack upon certain people in our parish, namely those who are gay.'"

More Division in Anglican Church Over Gay Issues
Gay.com reports, "After weeks of relative quiet, the Anglican Communion is facing one of the biggest crises in the ongoing debate over sexual diversity, with the Nigerian Church formally splitting with the Church of England.  The western African country will cut all ties with the centre of the Communion, deleting all references in its religious constitution and committing to bypassing Canterbury and the Archbishop Rowan Williams in all future plans.  This follows ongoing rows over sexuality, which was sparked when North American churches began blessing same-sex unions and a gay man was ordained as a bishop in New Hampshire, USA.  The traditionalists within the 70 million strong Communion, led by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, wanted the more liberal churches to be censured for their actions, but while Dr Williams criticised them, he also called for more respect from conservatives towards lesbian and gay people."  Read more.

Out Gay Soldiers Being Sent to Iraq and Afghanistan
The Washington Blade Reports, "Members of the Army Reserves and the National Guard who inform their commanders that they are gay are routinely converted into active duty status and sent to the Iraq war and other high priority military assignments, according to a spokesperson for an Army command charged with deploying troops.  The spokesperson, Kim Waldron, a civilian who works for the U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson, Ga., said the active duty deployment of Reservists and National Guard troops who say they are gay, or who are accused of being gay, takes place under a Forces Command or 'FORSCOM' regulation issued in 1999.  Waldron said the regulation is aimed at preventing Reservists and National Guard members from using their sexual orientation — or from pretending to be gay — to escape combat.  'The bottom line is some people are using sexual orientation to avoid deployment,' Waldron said. 'So in this case, with the Reserve and Guard forces, if a soldier 'tells,' they still have to go to war and the homosexual issue is postponed until they return to the U.S. and the unit is demobilized.'

"The existence of the 1999 FORSCOM regulation was revealed earlier this month by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (CSSMM), a think tank affiliated with the University of California at Santa Barbara. In a news release issued on Sept. 13, the group said its researchers discovered the document while assisting the ABC television program 'Nightline' with research on gays in the military.  Aaron Belkin, executive director of the CSSMM, said he was 'astonished' that a military spokesperson has confirmed that military commanders routinely deploy service members thought to be gay into active duty assignments.  'The Pentagon has consistently denied that, when mobilization requires bolstering troop strength, it sends gays to fight despite the existence of a gay ban,' Belkin said."  Read more.

"Until August, the home builder, with revenue of $10.5 billion, was among the 45 Fortune 500 companies that don't have written policies protecting gay employees."  Read more. (registration required)

Healthwatch

Pharmaceutical Companies Helping HIV-Positive People Displaced by Hurricane
Recovery efforts still have a long way to go for victims of Hurricane Katrina.  Among those impacted, thousands of HIV positive people have been scrambling to find alternate sources for receiving their life saving medication.  The Advocate reports, "About 8,000 HIV-positive people who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina now face the massive challenge of trying to manage their disease without their doctors, their clinics, and their support systems.  When Michael-Chase Creasy, 49, fled New Orleans, he brought his anti-HIV medicines--but not a lifetime supply. And when he saw television footage from the safety of a Houston hotel room of flood waters rising above his own 1820s Canal Street home, he knew he would not be returning soon and that he was in serious trouble. He needed to ensure that his prescriptions would not be interrupted: 'These medicines are what keep me healthy and ultimately alive. If I go too long without it, I can really atrophy or descend rapidly.'

"HIV-positive people typically take a regimen of medications that can include upward of 20 pills a day. When patients go off their medications, the virus can multiply, and they develop resistance to the drugs. Studies have repeatedly shown patients have a better chance of keeping their HIV under control by not missing doses.  Read more.

Pharmaceutical companies are helping address this problem.  For example, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) sent prescription medicines, vaccines, and consumer health care products to relief facilities in ten states caring for hurricane evacuees.  Donated prescription drug products, including medicines for HIV/AIDS, diabetes, heart disease, antibiotics, asthma, and vaccines, are valued at approximately $8.3 million. Additionally, international relief organizations, such as Project HOPE and AmeriCares, are distributing over $1.5 million of GSK’s antibiotics and other critical medicines to hospitals and shelters.

Black Gay Leaders Express Discontent with HIV Prevention Efforts
The Southern Voice reports, "Dismayed by the results of a recent study that show nearly half of gay black and bisexual men surveyed in five major cities are HIV-positive, gay black leaders recently issued an open letter and met with high-level officials from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. More than 70 gay black leaders from around the country participated in the meeting Aug. 29-31 in Atlanta, which was sponsored by the CDC. The federal health agency released the study in June.  Phill Wilson, chief executive officer of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles, attended the event and noted the enormity of the CDC statistics in an 'open letter' to gay black and bisexual men published after the figures were released.  Posted June 12 on the Black AIDS Institute's Web site, the letter portrayed the disease as 'genocide,' noting the CDC calculated 46 percent of black men who have sex with men were HIV-positive. The date was obtained from Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and San Francisco.

"'I was shocked there wasn't any reaction from anyone,' Wilson said, explaining why he posted the letter.  'Not from the black community, gay community or straight community. This data demanded front page coverage.'

"'It's critically important to understand the data,' he said. 'Many people are taking from this data that gay blacks are engaging in riskier behavior, but that's not the case. HIV prevention in the black community was delayed, which is why there's higher incidence.'"  Read more.

Being Left-handed Could Double Breast Cancer Risk
The Advocate reports, "Left-handed women are more than twice as likely as right-handers to suffer from breast cancer before reaching menopause, Dutch scientists said on Monday. More than a million women are diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide each year. Three quarters of cases occur after menopause, which usually begins around the age of 50. Some studies have shown that lesbians are at a higher risk of breast cancer than heterosexual women of the same age.  Researchers at the University Medical Center in Utrecht in the Netherlands speculate that there is a shared origin early in life for both left-handedness and developing breast cancer, possibly exposure to hormones in the womb. 'Left-handedness is associated with breast cancer, most specifically premenopausal breast cancer,' said Cuno Uiterwaal, an assistant professor of clinical epidemiology at the university, in an interview."   Read more.