Washington Blade - Friday, November 28, 2003

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) - Scott County High School administrators told an HIV and AIDS services group to remove brochures about safe sex at a student health fair, group members said. Cathy Cox, executive director of Lexington-based AIDS Volunteers, Inc., said group members were instructed not to display four brochures that contain information about safe sex or are written for gay teens. They were also told to remove any materials containing the gay pride flag or information about "alternative lifestyles," she said. Doug Southworth, the school's principal, said he instructed a teacher to tell the group members to remove one brochure that had graphic drawings of gay sex and some postcards featuring a photograph of a shirtless man standing by a horse statue. He said he was not aware of multiple brochures being removed. Southworth said he believes it is not appropriate to have in school any brochures or materials that would promote sex, safe sex or an alternative sexual lifestyle. "I don't want us to be seen as promoting sex in any fashion," he said.

HIV-positive man appeals Pa. Medicaid denial of transplant

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Attorneys for an HIV-positive man said the state's Medicaid program should cover his liver transplant because there is no evidence that otherwise healthy HIV-positive patients have a worse chance of surviving organ transplants than those who don't have the virus. Attorneys for Lambda Legal and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania are appealing a decision by the state's Medicaid program to not cover a transplant for William Jean Gough. Attorneys last week asked a judge to expedite a decision because Gough might not be healthy enough to undergo a transplant if he waits much longer, said Hayley Gorenberg, AIDS Project director at Lambda Legal. The judge is not likely to make a ruling until December. "There have been similar cases in other states where, by the time a decision to not cover a transplant has been overturned, the patient is too sick to go through the transplant or dies," Gorenberg said. The state Department of Public Welfare, which oversees the state's Medicaid program, will not comment on Gough's case until the judge makes a decision, said department spokesperson Stephanie Suran.

Vaccine trial for women aims to prevent genital herpes

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - More than 35 medical centers across the nation are participating in trials for a potential vaccine for genital herpes, according to a press release from the Center for Vaccine Development at St. Louis University, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, and the National Institutes of Health. The vaccine may help prevent the infection in women. The NIH is recruiting women between ages 18 and 30 for the "Herpevac Trial for Women." Approximately 7,500 women will be enrolled in the study, according to the NIH news release. "Potential volunteers need to know that the trial vaccine cannot cause herpes," said SLU's Dr. Robert B. Belshe, lead study investigator. Prospective participants should visit www.herpesvaccine.nih.gov for further information and a list of trial sites and www.herpeshelp.com for information about genital herpes.

Chinese college launches course to study gays

SHANGHAI - Fudan's medical college now offers an optional course on "homosexual health sociology" for its students, the Shanghai Daily News reported. Zhitong, a gay man, acknowledged his sexual orientation and lectured as part of the course, according to the newspaper. "I hate to be stared like a monster by people around and especially by those who seek novelty in me," Zhitong told the News, but fellow students applauded his forthrightness. Teacher Gao Yanming of Fudan's public health college said the course was launched to help combat the negative image of gays in China, according to media reports. Yanming helped introduce the course. One student, Zhang Jie, said Zhitong's lecture has taught him a lot, the News reported. "Through communication with you, I've got a clearer picture about gays," Jie said, according to the newspaper. "Homosexuals remain as the weak group in the society and they deserve more understanding and care. I'm very much willing to do some things for you."

House-Senate panel members agree to $2.4 billion for global AIDS fight

WASHINGTON (AP) - House-Senate bargainers have agreed to provide $2.4 billion this year to combat AIDS and other deadly diseases in Africa and other poor regions, congressional staff members said last week. The amount is $400 million more than President Bush proposed last February. The administration had defended Bush's request, attacked as inadequate by advocates of an aggressive global fight against AIDS, as all that could be effectively spent right now. "We see the Congress really defying the president on this by going higher, and that is a very positive trend," said David Bryden, spokesman for the Global AIDS Alliance, a Washington-based advocacy group. Congressional negotiators also agreed to provide $650 million for Bush's so-called Millennium Challenge Account, the president's plan to give foreign aid to countries trying to make democratic, economic and human rights reforms at home, said the congressional aides.

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