Health and Wellness

MONTREAL, Quebec — Openly gay and bisexual men are happier than straight men, according to a new University of Montreal study published in the Jan. 29, 2013 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine magazine.

Regulators in Oregon and California have quietly directed some health insurance companies to stop denying coverage for transgender patients because of their gender identity.

ATLANTA — The number of new HIV infections for young gay and bisexual men has risen by 22 percent between 2008 and 2010, according to a new study released this week by the Centers For Disease Control (CDC).

ATLANTA — Today, September 27, is National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day — a day founded in 2008 to mark all that has been accomplished by the gay community in the fight against HIV/AIDS, to remember the quarter-million lovers and brothers that were lost, and to renew the community’s commitment to an AIDS-free future, according to the Greater than AIDS campaign.

ATLANTA, GA — The Centers for Disease Control has announced it is partnering with Emory University’s SexIsTheQuestion.org to launch the most ambitious and largest effort by a federal agency to conduct a survey of gay and bisexual men in the United States.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Truvada, the first drug approved to reduce the risk of HIV infection in uninfected individuals who are at high risk of HIV infection, or who may engage in sexual activity with HIV-infected partners.

The number of American hospitals striving to treat LGBT patients equally and respectfully is on the rise, according to a report released Tuesday by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation at a press conference with U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

“Coming out” may be good for your health, particularity when your parents support the decision, according to a new study published in the Journal of Homosexuality.

CHICAGO — The Chicago Department of Public Health unveiled a new LGBT health strategy to community leaders and advocates Friday as part of the city’s Healthy Chicago initiative.

LOS ANGELES — Sexual minority stress, along with aging-related stress, jeopardizes the mental health of midlife and older gay men, according to a new study published by the American Journal of Public Health. In the study, sexual minority stress included the men’s perceptions that they needed to conceal their sexual orientation, or that others were uncomfortable with or avoided them because of they are gay.

Janus was the Roman God of Thresholds, of transition, of beginnings and ending. He is often depicted with two faces, one for looking forward and one for looking back. January, the beginning month of the new year is named for Janus, and so, it’s natural that humans take this time to look back — and look forward — at the approach of the New Year…

George Clooney takes a stand for marriage equality with his latest role. A new study connects anti-gay marriage laws to cardiovascular disease. Republican voters increasingly favor marriage equality, but this week several presidential frontrunners had some particularly unpleasant things to say about LGBTs.

Gay men who live in U.S. states where same-sex marriage is legal make fewer doctor visits, have lower healthcare costs, and in general lead happier and healthier lives, according to a new study being published in the American Journal of Public Health.

The United Kingdom will become the latest country to lift the ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, relaxing a policy that officials said does not improve the safety of the blood supply.

In a report issued Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, new multi-year data disclosed that the annual rate of new HIV infections in the United States has remained relatively stable.

Several years ago, I told someone that I was HIV positive before I agreed to his invitation for a date. “Yeah, I know,” he casually replied, and then he looked a little embarrassed, as if he shouldn’t have said it. It was too late, of course; I knew exactly what he meant. He knew my HIV status because of the appearance of my face.

The Williams Institute has released a report summarizing academic studies and other documented evidence of employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and the negative impact such discrimination has on lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people.

In the New England Journal of Medicine this week is an excellent research study on HIV, entitled Preventing HIV-1 Infection with Antiretroviral Therapy.

A study that examined the effect a gay man’s penis size has on his sex life — backed by the National Institutes of Health — has come under scrutiny by a group claiming the agency is wasting tax dollars at a time when the country is trying to control its debt.

In a groundbreaking series of recent clinical trials, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that a pill containing either one or two anti-HIV drugs taken daily can reduce transmission of the HIV-virus by as much as three-quarters among heterosexual couples.