APA: Insufficient evidence that sexual orientation change efforts work

Source

August 5, 2009

TORONTO—The American Psychological Association adopted a resolution Wednesday stating that mental health professionals should avoid telling clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments.

The “Resolution on Appropriate Affirmative Responses to Sexual Orientation Distress and Change Efforts” also advises that parents, guardians, young people and their families avoid sexual orientation treatments that portray homosexuality as a mental illness or developmental disorder and instead seek psychotherapy, social support and educational services “that provide accurate information on sexual orientation and sexuality, increase family and school support and reduce rejection of sexual minority youth.”

ST: HIV up among gays and bisexuals

Source

5 June 2009

By Judith Tan

THE number of homosexuals and bisexuals here who tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) last year climbed to a new high.

The increase comes as overall figures rose 7.8 per cent, with activist groups and counsellors calling for more education across all genders and lifestyles.

Although the number of HIV cases from heterosexual transmission – which makes up the bulk at 54 per cent – has fallen from 255 in 2007 to 248 last year, the spread among homosexuals and bisexuals has spiked, rising by 16 per cent and 127 per cent respectively between 2007 and last year.

TNP: CONTRACEPTION: S’PORE STYLE

Source

By Ng Wan Ching

May 31, 2009

By most accounts, Anna (not her real name) is an intelligent student. She scored mostly As and Bs throughout her school years.

But ask her whether there’s sperm in pre-ejaculate (which is produced when a man is aroused) and she’s stumped.

‘Er, no?’ she said.

She’s wrong and she isn’t the only one.

Amid all the buzz about sexual education programmes in schools and what is appropriate to be taught, a study has found ‘worrying’ gaps in the knowledge of even post-secondary students.

ST: Mothers, talk to your kids about the birds and the bees

By Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent

The Sunday Times

May 10, 2009

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover was every parent’s dream. A Boy Scout, he scored good grades at school, loved football and helped out at the local church.

Yet, after dinner on April 6, the Massachusetts boy wrapped an extension cord around his neck and killed himself. He was 11.

Ten days later, on April 16, Jaheem Herrera from Georgia hanged himself with a fabric belt, hours after returning home with glowing grades. He too was 11.

Both families say that relentless taunts by schoolmates who called them ‘gay’ drove the boys to their deaths. The schools have not denied their allegations.

STForum: What the school programme teaches students

Source

29 April 2009

I REFER to reactions to Aware’s Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) programme. The CSE was developed when data released in 2005 showed a sharp rise in sexually transmitted infections (STI) among teenage girls. Between 2000 and 2005, this figure grew 3.4 times. We were concerned because some STIs can cause sterility.

A study by the National University Hospital found that 117 girls under 20 years of age had abortions, and of these, nine had previous abortions. Nearly 30 per cent of women above age 20 had previous abortions.

Clearly, accurate information about safer sex and contraception is severely lacking for teens and adults. Aware’s CSE programme set out to help close the information gap.

SMH: Virginity pledge no guarantee

Source

December 30, 2008

TEENAGERS in the United States who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control, a study published yesterday says.

UPI: Saliva HIV test gives results in minutes

Source: UPI

Published: May 7, 2008 at 3:41 PM

MONTREAL, May 7 (UPI) — A saliva test could help speed up detection of human immmunodeficiency virus, or HIV, Canadian researchers say.

The McGill University Health Center study, published in PLoS Medicine, demonstrated the efficacy of rapid saliva tests for all subtypes of HIV-1 and HIV-2 and produced results in as little as 20 minutes.

The saliva test, based on a method called immunochromatography, was used on 1,222 mothers in a labor ward in India using both saliva and blood samples. The results from both types of tests corresponded.

The labor ward saliva tests helped identify several HIV infected women who were about to give birth.

“In such cases, it is vital to determine the HIV status of the mother very quickly to prevent transmission to the child during delivery. Many Indian women do not receive prenatal care and therefore do not get tested for HIV during pregnancy,” study leader Dr. Pant Pai says in statement.

“Testing in the labor ward is the last chance to prevent HIV transmission to the newborn baby. Also Indian patients often refuse blood collection, while saliva collection poses no problem.”

Surrogate mothers fulfilling gay men’s parenthood dreams

Source

7 May 2008
AFP

Surrogate mothers fulfilling gay men’s parenthood dreams

NEW YORK (AFP) — An ever-growing number of gay couples are paying tens of thousands of dollars to have surrogate mothers carry their babies, turning America’s concept of traditional family on its head.

It took two women and two men for two-year-old twins Katherine and Connor to come to life.

Their fathers, Michael Eidelman and A.J. Vincent, who have lived together for years, invested love, time and all their savings to build their family in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood.

More Singapore teens contracting STIs

Source

28 December 2007
The New Paper

More S’pore teens contracting STIs

by Low Ching Ling Sun

In the heat of the moment, he let his guard down and had unprotected sex with a stranger he met through the Internet.

Only later did it occur to Ben (not his real name), 19, that his moment of passion could cost him dearly.

He started to worry about contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

So last Wednesday, he got himself tested at the Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections Control (DSC) Clinic at Kelantan Lane.

Don’t use your study to spread homophobia, say researchers

Source: International Journal of Epidemiology
Not precisely dated, but the year 2001 is mentioned

Letter to the Editor
Gay life expectancy revisited

Robert S Hogg, Steffanie A Strathdee, Kevin JP Craib, Michael V O’shaughnessy, Julio Montaner and Martin T Schechter

British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St Paul’s Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Canada.

Over the past few months we have learnt of a number of reports regarding a paper we published in the International Journal of Epidemiology on the gay and bisexual life expectancy in Vancouver in the late 1980s and early 1990s. From these reports it appears that our research is being used by select groups in US and Finland to suggest that gay and bisexual men live an unhealthy lifestyle that is destructive to themselves and to others. These homophobic groups appear more interested in restricting the human rights of gay and bisexuals rather than promoting their health and well being.