THEGAYUK

Tag: Politics

The latest news, interviews, and views from the world of LGBT politics in the UK and internationally.

  • Petition Started To Remove Poppers From Legal Highs Ban

    Petition Started To Remove Poppers From Legal Highs Ban

    A new petition has been created to urge the Government to drop Poppers from the Psychoactive Substances Bill.

    A petition, created by Carl Howard, is calling for Poppers (alkyl nitrates) to be dropped from the Government’s Psychoactive Substances Bill, which will see all current legal highs banned.

    The law would make selling poppers a criminal offence, with those found guilty of supplying potentially receiving a 7 year prison sentence.

    In his petition Howard says,

    “There is no evidence to suggest that in the vast majority of users poppers cause anything more than a short-lived head rush. Banning them will drive people to seek harmful alternatives. We call upon the government to exclude them from this Bill until hard medical evidence proves otherwise.”

    Speaking to THEGAYUK in August about the law, Liberal Democrat Lord, Brian Paddick said,

    “The way that the law is written, it is any substance that changes your mental state like making you feel happy.

    “So air fresheners for example… Potentially florists could be arrested because the scent given off by roses makes people feel romantic – makes them feel nice or whatever else.

    “By the strict definition of the law they are supplying a substance which when inhaled through sniffing changes your mental state. That’s how ridiculous this law is.”

  • Welsh Lib Dems Call For PrEP To Become Available On NHS

    Welsh Liberal Democrat AM Eluned Parrott has suggested that PrEP should be made available on the NHS for people most at risk of contracting HIV.

    Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is a drug, which if taken as per a healthcare professional’s advice is incredibly successful at halting new HIV infections. Welsh Liberal Democrat AM Eluned Parrott has called for the Welsh Government to take steps to ensure that the drugs are made available to people who are most at risk of contracting HIV.

    Recent results show that gay and bisexual men are still one of the highest at risk groups – with over 6500 in the UK unaware that they are HIV positive are at risk of spreading HIV even further.

     

    In 2014 the number of gay or bisexual men in the UK who were diagnosed rose by a further 110 new cases to 3360.

     

    Eluned Parrott AM, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales Central, said:

     

    “Over the last 20 years huge steps have been taken forward in helping people with an HIV infection to manage their condition. While this is a way from a cure yet, it still represents huge progress.

    “However prevention of HIV infection is now possible thanks to the development of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). A tablet a day can prevent people who are at risk of being exposed to the HIV virus from contracting HIV. This is a massive step forward, and yet three years after the Federal Drug Administration in the USA approved PrEP for use, it still isn’t available in Wales.

    “People who have partners with the HIV virus and other high risk groups should be offered this treatment as a matter of urgency, not only for their own health and wellbeing but also to help reduce the prevalence of HIV in the population as a whole. Perhaps one day, HIV could even be eliminated.

    “I call on the Welsh and UK governments to work together to ensure those who need it most are aware of this treatment and have access to it.”

  • Baroness Verma: “It’s great to hear us talk about ending AIDS but the job is far from over.”

    Lords And MPs met today to discuss ending AIDS by 2030 and having an AIDS free generation within 15 years.

    Parliament hosted a roundtable meeting today (World AIDS Day), bringing together a host of Lords MPs and speakers to talk about how to bring about an AIDS free generation by 2030. The talk was hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group On Global Health and HIV/AIDS charity StopAIDS.
    Speaking at the event were MPs Diane Abbott and Chris Freer along with Baroness Masham, Baroness Liz Barker, Baroness Verma and Lord Cashman.

    A packed room heard from three speakers, Alexa, Cristian and Chan Chan who talked about their personal journey with HIV.

    Diane Abbott saluted the bravery of LGBT activists in Uganda, singling out the tremendous work achieved by Icebreakers, a support community in Uganda, for their efforts in the country, where politicians are fiercely homophobic and where HIV/AIDS medication is hard for LGBTs to gain access to.

    Lord Cashman also put forward questions on how to curve the ever-growing numbers of gay and bisexual men who were being diagnosed with HIV in the UK.

    Recent statistics revealed that new infections in gay and bisexual men have risen again – and that record numbers of men who have sex with men are unaware of their statuses.

    Baroness Verma said that she was proud that the UK was “significantly funding the Global fund”, for HIV/AIDS awareness and health campaigns, and added that we will continue to “champion key populations”, but was keen to stress that there was a “long way to go”.
    Addressing the room she said, “It’s great to hear us talk about ending AIDS but the job is far from over.”

  • Nigel Farage HIV Patients “Struggling To Get The Drugs” Because Of Immigrants

    According to the UKIP Leader many HIV patients in the UK have written to him to say that they are struggling to get HIV drugs because of immigration.

    Speaking on LBC, UKIP Leader Nigel Farage was answering a question from Nick Ferrari about whether he and UKIP were politically toxic. Answering, Farage brought up the controversy he caused during a leaders’ debate earlier in the year, when he made “outrageous” claims about “health tourism” with immigrants with HIV – testing positive in the UK, obtaining medication on the NHS costing £25,000 per patient per year.

    During the debate he said, He didn’t believe in health tourism and “We need to put the National Health Service there for British people and families.”

    However Farage said, that since the debate and making those claims he has received letters from “lots of HIV sufferers in this country” who have said that their “local clinics are unrecognisable (with) the number of people that are here”.

    He went on to say that people were “struggling to get the drugs” they needed.

    However THEGAYUK reached out to the NHS media team to ask if they were aware of any problems of drug shortages in clinics.

    A spokesman for NHS England said,

    “We have not been made aware of any capacity or drug shortage issues in HIV clinics.”

  • Rules Surrounding Gay Men Blood DonationsTo Be Reviewed

    Great news from the gay men’s blood donation campaign.

    Public Health Minister Jane Ellison MP has just announced that the advisory body will now review who can safely donate in 2016.
    As it stands gay and bisexual men who have had penetrative sex in the last 12 months are unable to legally donate regardless of whether they are in a monogamous relationship, they use protection whilst having sex or they test negative for HIV.In 2011 the outright ban for gay and bisexual men to donate blood was removed and reduced to a one year ban. Meaning only gay or bisexual men who haven’t had sex within a year can donate blood. A practice many believe is discriminatory. In Northern Ireland the life time ban is still in force.Ethan Spibey from the Freedom To Donate campaign said,

    “The FreedomToDonate team have worked tireless with our brilliant supporters to raise the case for a review into who can safely donate blood. I’m extremely happy that this morning the Public Health Minister Jane Ellison MP in answer to a question on the FreedomToDonate campaign confirmed that this review will take place in 2016. Those that can safely donate blood should be able to donate and securing this review is a step towards that. It’s time for the FreedomToDonate.”

    Shaun Griffin, Executive Director External Affairs, Terrene Higgins Trust said:

    “We welcome today’s news. The 2011 review that the one year ban was based on is now out of date, and the rules need reviewing to fit the facts today.

    “The review announced today, as well as considering the latest available data, should also address the contradictions attached to the lifetime ban on former sex workers and past intravenous drug users, which were not addressed in 2011.

    “The safety of the blood supply must come first – but the one year ban, and the information the decision was based on is out of touch with the reality of conditions like hep C and HIV in 2015.”

     

  • ELTON JOHN To Northern Ireland Politicians “enter the 21st Century”

    Sir Elton John told Northern Ireland politicians to “enter the 21st Century” on Radio 4’s Today programme.

    Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the legendary singer said that politicians in Northern Ireland should “enter the 21st Century” saying that if it was left to public decision same-sex marriage would “sail in”.

    MPs voted recently on whether same-sex marriage should become law in Northern Ireland. As it stands Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where marriage between gay couples is not legal.

    Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director of Amnesty International, said:

    “Sir Elton John’s support for marriage equality in Northern Ireland is very welcome.

    “Sir Elton has a proud track record of standing up for gay rights around the world. It’s great that he’s speaking out for the rights of LGBTI people in Northern Ireland, which is now the only part of the UK or Ireland that ban same-sex marriage.

    “He’s 100% correct when he says that most people in Northern Ireland back same-sex marriage and that if there was a public vote it would ‘sail in’. Local politicians who continue to block equality must wake up and realise the damage they’re causing to gay people in Northern Ireland, as well as to our international reputation.”

  • UK Government Refuses To Ban “Gay Cure” Treatments

    The UK’s Conservative Government is refusing to get rid of treatments which aim to “cure” patients of their homosexuality, despite being “firmly opposed” to the controversial treatments.

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  • Naked Rugby Players – What More Do You Need From An Article

    Sometimes we love our job.

    As they say a picture says a thousand words and these minxy pictures are painting quite the essay – mainly about how perky rugby players’ bottoms are.

    The Ipswich Rugby Club are selling their naked calendar full of tasteful nudes in support of Prostate Cancer UK.

    One of the players, Tom Ives, Centre, remarked about getting naked for the calendar in the cold, he said,

    “Normally a nude photo shoot, outside, in cold weather wouldn’t be my cup of tea but given the fact that the proceeds are helping to partially fund our tour and sizeable portion is going to a great cause (Prostate Cancer UK), it more than made sense to brave the nippy breeze in order to come up with this beauty of a calendar.

    “As to the choice of charity; I spend Monday to Friday working for an NHS end of life team, in which I bear witness to the effects end stage cancer has on people and their loved ones, so I felt the cause was more than just given the pain and upset caused by such a horrific condition”.

     

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  • Man Successfully Sues “Homophobic” Service Provider Who “Outed” Him

    An Essex man has successfully sued a service provider who consistently “outed” him and used hounding “homophobic” gestures to taunt the victim.

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  • Gay Sex Can Now Get You 100 Lashes In Indonesia

    Sex between consenting same-sex men and women can now attract 100 lashes as punishment in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

    The law that was introduced in 2014 is only now being enforced and affects Muslim women and men, whether they are local or visiting the province. The province has become steadily stricter and is allowed to implement Sharia law under an agreement with the national government made in 2001.

    Provincial Sharia chief Syahrizal Abbas told the AFP news agency,

    “The law is to safeguard human dignity. It is to protect Aceh’s Muslims from committing immoral acts,”

    What does Sharia Law Mean?

    Islam’s legal system, derived from the Koran

    Informs every aspect of Muslims’ lives

    Islamic jurists issue formal guidance through fatwas, or religious edicts

    Sharia law includes provisions for capital and corporal punishment but modern scholars say getting to that stage can be difficult

    Marriage is treated as a contract in Islam

    From The BBC

    Sex between same-sex couples is not illegal in the rest of Indonesia except in South Sumatra. LGBT equality in Indonesia is generally poor with little or no protection in cases of discrimination or specific rights protecting the LGBT community.

  • WELSH LIB DEMS: Protect Vital Funding For LGBT Community

    WELSH LIB DEMS: Protect Vital Funding For LGBT Community

    Vital help for vulnerable LGBT+ people in Wales is at risk of being slashed and must be protected, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have said.

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