Monkeypox, a once rare virus, has spread worldwide in recent months. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) Single genital lesions on the anus and mouth have been identified as symptoms of monkeypox as researchers better understand the virus. On Monday (25 July), the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) updated its definition of monkeypox to say symptoms now include a lesion
Health
A pregnant same-sex couple. (Pexels/ Mikhail Nilov) Cis female same-sex couples will no longer face steep financial barriers to access NHS fertility treatment in a landmark shift. Until now, cis female same-sex couples in England have been forced to go through several rounds of expensive intrauterine insemination (IUI), costing some couples as much as £25,000,
Microscope image of the monkeypox virus. (Getty/ Gado/ Smith Collection) Confirmed monkeypox cases have surged to more than 2,000 in England, officials have said, but isolation guidance for close contacts is being scrapped. As of Monday (18 July), there are now 2,137 confirmed monkeypox cases in the UK, with 2,050 detected in England. On the
Tucker Carlson reacted to a report that claimed a nurse recovered from COVID thanks to a large dose of Viagra. (Screen capture via Fox News/Getty Images) Tucker Carlson has begun pushing Vigara as a remedy for coronavirus, because why not at this point. Carlson, known for trumpeting theatrically conservative conspiracy theories, has spent much of
Tatum de Roeck, a queer woman, was diagnosed with breast cancer at 35. (PinkNews) Cancer care desperately needs to be more inclusive, an LGBT+ survivor has said, because “your life is in someone’s hands… and what if those hands are homophobic?” Tatum de Roeck is a yoga teacher who was diagnosed with breast cancer at
Pride in Seoul, South Korea. (ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images) One of South Korea’s top courts dismissed a landmark lawsuit that sought to bolster LGBT+ rights by enshrining equal access to healthcare benefits. The Seoul Administrative Court on Friday (7 January) shrugged off the suit brought forward by So Seong-wook, 30, against the country’s National Health Insurance Service
A protester holds a trans pride flag and a placard that reads “Protect Trans Kids” placard during the trans rights demonstration. (Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty) An Arizona lawmaker is ringing in the new year by introducing two new bills targeting trans youth in the state. Republican senator Wendy Rogers proposed Senate Bill 1045 (SB
A new, injectable form of PrEP has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. (FDA) PrEP is the revolutionary drug which, when taken correctly, can prevent a person from acquiring HIV. Until now it has only been available in daily pill form. The new injectable medication, Apretude, is given first as two jabs a month
Marc Thompson. (Supplied) As one of Britain’s most prominent HIV activists, Marc Thompson is used to sharing his life story. Having lived with HIV since 1986, he’s been on the frontlines of social justice activism and education for the decades that have come since. As a result, he’s regularly called upon to speak for history
Diana, Princess of Wales (1961 – 1997) visiting patients suffering from AIDS at the Hospital Universidade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 25th April 1991. (Photo by Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images) A friend of the first person in the UK to die of AIDS has called the moment Princess Diana hugged a HIV-infected
US president Joe Biden. (Getty/ Anna Moneymaker) Joe Biden has promised tackle LGBT+ health inequality in his World AIDS Day message, proving once again that he’s a very different president to Donald Trump. Ahead of World AIDS Day (1 December), the president issued a proclamation in which he said his administration was “focused on addressing
Trans people are used to fighting for access to gender-affirming health care – but for some, fatphobia is yet another barrier. Running the gauntlet of NHS gender identity clinics for hormone replacement therapy and surgeries has become a trans rite of passage – one that’s especially fraught if you’re a person of colour or marginalised
Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness and Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene (Getty) Queer Eye‘s Jonathan Van Ness stepped in to school Marjorie Taylor Greene after she attempted to draw comparisons between anti-vaxxers and those living with HIV. The infamously dreadful Republican congresswoman took to Twitter on Thursday (14 October) after learning that NBA athletes who
The vaccine, developed by Johnson & Johnson, is just the latest HIV vaccine to fail at clinical trial stage. (Envato Elements) An experimental HIV vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson has failed at clinical trial stage in a devastating setback to HIV and AIDS research. A mid-stage study called Imbokodo found that the vaccine’s efficacy
Moderna is starting clinical trials for a potential HIV vaccine. (Envato Elements) A Moderna HIV vaccine candidate is about to enter human trials. Moderna is expected to launch a clinical trial for its experimental HIV vaccine as early as this week, according to the National Institute of Health’s trial registry. The potential vaccine uses the same
US President Joe Biden speaks about the May jobs report on June 4, 2021. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) US president Joe Biden has doubled down on his plea that Congress boost HIV funding by millions as he commemorated 40 years since the first known case of AIDS. On Saturday (5 June), the White House
Pennsylvania representative Brian Sims revealed that donated a kidney to a neighbour, and then he took the recipient and his husband out to dinner with his family. (Instagram/@briansimspa) Democrat Brian Sims donated a kidney to a neighbour, and then he took the recipient and his husband out to dinner. Sims, who is a Democrat in
The NHS will soon ask all donors about recent seuxal behaviours, meaning more LGBT+ people will be eligible to donate blood, plasma and platelet. (Envato Elements) The NHS will make the questions it asks of all blood donors gender-neutral from next month, allowing more gay and bisexual men to donate blood. The change, which will
The Vagina Museum team Florence Schechter, Zoe Williams and Sarah Creed (Photo by Angus Young) London’s Vagina Museum is set to reopen this month with an exhibition dedicated to the history of menstruation. The Vagina Museum, which started as a pop-up in 2017, opened as the world’s first museum dedicated to vaginas, vulvas and gynaecological
Elton John was joined by other British talent to promote the coronavirus vaccine. (Screen capture via YouTube/NHS) Elton John was among a band of British stars urging people to get the coronavirus vaccine as part of a new campaign by the NHS. The venerable singer, 74, was joined by the likes of iconic stand-up comedian
Boris Johnson at a COVID-19 media briefing in Downing Street. (Stefan Rousseau – WPA Pool/Getty Images) The UK government has cut funding to the UN agency fighting HIV and AIDS by more than 80 per cent in a “shameful” and “maddeningly short-sighted” move. UNAIDS said the UK government had informed the organisation that it will
A trans woman was refused the COVID-19 vaccine. (Stock photograph via Elements Envato) A trans woman in Oklahoma was denied the life-saving coronavirus vaccine because she had a “mismatched” identity document. The resident, who has not been named, was turned away by the Logan County Health Department because her name did not match what was
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). (Getty) The British government on Tuesday (16 March) effectively doubled crucial funding to its national rollout of pre-exposure prophylaxis, otherwise known as PrEP. Health ministers have injected a thumping financial boost to the routine commissioning of the daily drug, the most effective protection against HIV transmission. The public health grant, used to fund local authority health
The term “barebacking” became widespread in the LGBT+ community in the 1990s. (Pexels/ Ketut Subiyanto) Like riding a horse without a saddle, barebacking is when someone with a penis penetrates a sexual partner without using a condom. Many people who have any kind of penetrative sex report that going at it without a condom is
Authorities in China have warned that a video showing people waddling “like penguins” after purportedly undergoing an anal swab for COVID-19 is fake. (Envato Elements) Officials in China have tried to reassure the public that they won’t end up waddling “like penguins” if they receive an anal swab for COVID-19. A small number of people
It’s a Sin star Nathaniel J Hall has shared his experience contracting HIV as a teenager, drawing parallels with the character he plays in the seminal AIDS drama. Hall appears in episode three of It’s a Sin as Donald Bassett, who disappears one day after Ritchie spots the tell-tale Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions on his back. The
Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) diagnoses were at a record high in 2019, and almost all of those cases were gay and bisexual men. (Envato) Cases of the STI lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) have been soaring among gay and bisexual men in England, suggesting queer men are taking more sexual risks. LGV is a sexually transmitted infection that
Black LGBT+ lives land in the intersection of racism and homophobia. (Getty/Hollie Adams) The COVID-19 pandemic is placing huge strain on Black queer households as decades of discrimination compound economic insecurity, a worrying new study has found. The report released by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) identifies American communities that are bearing the brunt of
The BBC has been accused of co-opting the symbol of the HIV/AIDS ribbon, after an “insensitive” segment aired on World AIDS Day encouraged people to remember victims of COVID-19 by tying a red ribbon around a tree. The regional news show BBC North West added insult to injury with its broadcast on Tuesday (1 December),
People demonstrate against homophobia and transphobia in Germany in 2018. (Photo by Emmanuele Contini/NurPhoto via Getty Images) A leaked report suggests Germany’s health insurers will soon require trans people to demonstrate the “everyday experiences” of their gender for a year in order to receive reimbursement for gender affirmation surgeries. New guidelines by the MDS, the association