Health and Wellness

WASHINGTON — When Koset Surakomol decided to have a sex change operation, the company she worked for told her co-workers that the man they’d labored alongside for a dozen years should be addressed as a woman going forward.

Earlier this year, outbreaks of bacterial meningitis cropped up among gay and bisexual men in New York and Los Angeles. Fear gripped gay communities in cities across the country as many men wondered, according to the New York Times, “whether this is AIDS, circa 1981, all over again.” There was ample reason to worry: bacterial meningitis – the swelling of the lining around the brain and the spinal cord – is a lethal disease. The symptoms come on fast but appear very ordinary; in fact, they so closely resemble the flu that many victims don’t bother to see a doctor. This can have deadly consequences…

Doctors now have convincing evidence that they put HIV into remission, hopefully for good, in a Mississippi baby born with the AIDS virus – a medical first that is prompting a new look at how hard and fast such cases should be treated.

WASHINGTON — Two leading LGBT advocacy groups on Friday called on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to “investigate and change any discriminatory guidelines” that deny federally subsidized breast cancer screenings for transgender women.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new California law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown late Wednesday aims to ensure that the state’s LGBT seniors get respectful and competent elder care by integrating LGBT cultural competency instruction into training received by residential care facility administrators.

DENVER — LGBT activists are cheering the announcement that another health insurance plan will offer services for transgender Colorado residents.

LGBT seniors suffer health disparities and economic insecurities that are compounded over the course of a lifetime with devastating effects, according to a new report by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

WASHINGTON — The White House Office of Public Engagement and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday will host a joint briefing on the Affordable Healthcare Act and its impact on LGBT Americans.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Supreme Court has rejected a prosecutor’s effort to reinstate the conviction of an HIV-positive man accused of passing the virus to another man, ruling Wednesday that the statute under which he was convicted was ambiguous.

RICHMOND Va. — The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center will open a behavioral health medication management clinic next week, the first in the region established exclusive to the LGBT community.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday said it had achieved “significant strides over the past year” and announced its objectives for the coming year, for improving the health and well-being of LGBT individuals, families, and communities.

WASHINGTON — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), issued an official policy guidance Monday making it clear that same-sex partners and others must be given equal visitation rights at long-term care facilities, regardless of their marital status.

NEW YORK — New York City officials have issued a warning given ahead of the upcoming gay pride weekend, advising visitors to consult their physicians about receiving a meningitis vaccination.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A couple filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state of South Carolina for what they say was an unnecessary sexual assignment surgery performed on a toddler they later adopted.

RALEIGH, N.C. — A bill restricting teenagers’ access to medical and mental health care initially scheduled to be voted on in the North Carolina House of Representatives on Wednesday was taken off the calendar and sent back to the Judiciary Committee.

FOSTER CITY, Calif. — Gilead Sciences Inc. said Monday that the Food and Drug Administration rejected two marketing applications for HIV treatments, citing quality control problems at the company’s manufacturing facilities.

WASHINGTON — The latest bad news in the hunt for an AIDS vaccine: The government halted a large U.S. study on Thursday, saying the experimental shots aren’t preventing HIV infection.

LOS ANGELES — A 33-year-old West Hollywood man who felt sickened by bacterial meningitis earlier this week has been declared brain dead amid warnings to sexually active gay men about the deadly strain of illness, officials said.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Officials warned sexually active gay men on Friday to beware of a potentially deadly health threat after a case of bacterial meningitis was detected in Los Angeles County.

WASHINGTON — Same-sex cohabitors report worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status who are in heterosexual marriages, according to a new study, which may provide fuel for proponents of same-sex marriage.