Washington Blade - May 11, 2006

ATLANTA - When the Centers for Disease Control first reported the presence of pneumocystis pneumonia in five Los Angeles gay men on June 5, 1981, there were concerns at the agency that they would underestimate the potential impact of the strange new disease. Almost 25 years later, as that new disease that came to be known as AIDS has killed more than 500,000 Americans, public health experts worry that the scope of the disease is still being misjudged. "Denial and complacency are still the greatest enemies to progress," James Curran, dean of Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, said in a CDC teleconference May 5. "It's sometimes difficult to reflect on 25 years, à to understand how something that began so slowly, and quietly, and silently, could now be the No. 4 cause of death around the world." He credits gay organizations-along with individual gay men and lesbians who banded together to take care of the ill-for declining rates of HIV diagnosis among gay men. But in the last several years, the rate of HIV among gay men, particularly black gay men, is on the rise.

Lesbian brains respond more like straight men's

WASHINGTON (AP) - The brains of lesbians respond to sexual hormones differently from heterosexual women, according to a new analysis. The lesbians' brains reacted somewhat like those of straight men, a team of Swedish researchers reports in the May 9 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It's a finding that adds weight to the idea that homosexuality has a physical underpinning and is not learned behavior. The researchers found that similarities between lesbians and straight men were not as strong as between gay men and straight women. "It shows sexual orientation may very well have a different basis between men and women," said Sandra Witelson, an expert on brain anatomy.

HIV-positive people abstaining from sex

WASHINGTON - A national survey by the Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, found that a fair number of HIV-positive people are choosing sexual abstinence, according to a news release the company issued May 2. "We really haven't had a good estimate of how many people who are HIV-positive have deliberately chosen to be sexually inactive," Laura Bogart, a Rand psychologist and lead author of the study, said. Eleven percent of gay or bisexual men, 18 percent of heterosexual men and 18 percent of women being treated for the AIDS virus who participated in the survey said they abstain from sex, according to Rand.

Regions square off in battle over AIDS funds

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Southerners living with HIV or AIDS are not being shortchanged in the distribution of federal funds, as many in the region claim, and in some cases even get more money than those in large cities hit hardest by the initial outbreak, a new analysis says. Southern AIDS advocates, however, strongly disagree with the findings of the Washington-D.C. based Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief Coalition, saying it's undermining efforts to secure more funds for the South, where about 45 percent of new cases occur. At issue is the 1990 Ryan White CARE Act, which provides about $2 billion annually and is the main source of federal AIDS/HIV funding.

Workshop looks at challenges facing gay Native Americans

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Elton Naswood opened a workshop on the stigma of being both gay and a Native American with a statement that resonated through the room. "I myself am a survivor of a hate crime," he said, before sharing his story of being attacked by four Latinos outside a gay bar in Phoenix in 1992. Naswood, a Navajo who grew up in Window Rock, Ariz., told his story May 5 to a standing-room only crowd gathered for the workshop on being Native American and gay. The workshop was one of dozens offered as part of the first national conference on HIV/AIDS for Natives in North America. The conference attracted nearly 1,000 participants and was held from May 2-6.

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