Fridae

Two percent of gay men in Hong Kong now HIV positive
Men who had sex with men (MSM) overtook heterosexuals as the major group of new HIV infections for the first time since the early 1990s, according to Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection.

For more info on AIDS Concern's MSM free, anonymous, gay-friendly outreach testing service, visit www.aidsconcern.org.hk.

The pattern is said to be the same as that in mid-1980s to early 1990s when homosexuals used to be the dominant group of patients. In 2005, heterosexual transmission accounted for one-third of all HIV cases.

Latest government figures - based on AIDS Concern's voluntary counseling and testing of 500 MSM in 2005 - found that HIV prevalence among MSM in Hong Kong is two per cent, about 20 times that of the Hong Kong general population.

Although some have attributed the increase to more MSMs getting tested and disclosing their sexuality (while getting tested), the centre earlier revealed that it had recorded Hong Kong's first cluster of HIV infections among the local gay community - 20 men with HIV with similar gene sequencing.

Chung Lau, prevention programme manager at AIDS Concern, told Fridae that "the appearance of the cluster among MSM infected case suggests that the sexual network is becoming widespread" and that the Internet is playing an "important part in creating this network."

He added that some infected cases had also reported their use of recreational drugs and according to their data, only 60 per cent of MSM consistently use condoms for anal sex.

"Consistently using condoms for anal sex is obviously the norm that the whole gay community has to stick to."

The Centre for Health Protection has set up a taskforce with Aids concern groups to combat the rising number of HIV cases among the local community.

Figures show that while nearly half of the heterosexual male patients contracted the virus outside Hong Kong, most homosexual male patients got the disease locally.

Dr Wong Ka-hing, the centre's Aids consultant, told a local newspaper, "The most important thing is to promote the use of condoms and send them the message that HIV prevalence among the group is the highest among all sectors."

AIDS Concern will intensify their intervention campaigns targeting younger MSM, and on Internet. For the first time, the group has also mobilised community members, gay groups, gay media, and gay business establishments, to work with the Department of Health in planning and running a promotional campaign to be launched in end July.

Hong Kong reported 89 new HIV infections in the first quarter of the year, up from 65 in the previous quarter and just two short of the record 91 cases in the third quarter of last year. The new cases took the total number of infections to 2,914. Of these, 799 have AIDS.

For more info on AIDS Concern's MSM free, anonymous, gay-friendly outreach testing service, visit www.aidsconcern.org.hk.

Related site:
Centre for Health Protection publications - Communicable Diseases Watch Volume 3, Number 4 - A cluster of HIV infection in Hong Kong

Slovenia passes limited domestic-partnership bill

The Balkan republic of Slovenia has legalised same-sex unions - allowing same-sex couples to register their partnerships which will accord them the same rights as married heterosexual couples under Slovenian law.

The new laws, which came into effect on July 23, however limits the attendance of "wedding" ceremonies, which can be held only in a state office, to the two partners and an official. Friends, relatives or any third person are barred from attending the ceremonies. The couples are also required to give 30 days advance notice and documentation verifying sanity, health, and unmarried status.

Slovenia's gay and lesbian organisations, although welcoming the move as a concrete step, criticised the law as "insufficient," noting that it limits those attending the ceremonies to two partners and a local community registration official.

Laws against gay sex were repealed in 1977 and the country appointed a commission in 1998 to study same-sex unions, which led to limited recognition of homosexual unions in 2004, the same year the nation joined the European Union.

Eariler this month, the Czech Republic became the first country in the former Eastern bloc to allow same-sex marriages after passing a law in March which went into effect July 1. According to the Prague Post, the law took 11 years to come to fruition.

Gay rights group completes 65-mile protest
Advocates of parental rights for gays and lesbians finished a 65-mile relay march last Friday to protest the homophobic rhetoric of James Dobson and Focus on the Family.

Photos from soulforce.org: Top pic: openly gay actor Chad Allen (in stripes) and Judy Shepherd (on his right). Above: Soulforce marchers holding placards outside Focus on the Family headquarters.

More than 100 people walked about 4-mile sections of the route from Denver to the Focus headquarters in Colorado Springs, in an event organised by Soulforce, a faith-based group which advocates freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression.

Hundreds took the final steps of the five-day march titled, "The 1000 Watt March, Vigil, and Concert: Shedding the Powerful Light of Truth on the Anti-Gay Dishonesty of Focus on the Family."

Soulforce executive director Jeff Lutes said Dobson's statements have brought rejection and ridicule on gay and lesbian parents, and his group wants Dobson to stop. "That misinformation has real tragic results. It makes living for families like ours much more difficult. We are rejected sometimes by loved ones, we are shunned by churches, and we are discriminated against in every state in this country," Lutes said at a rally before the start of the march.

Leading the marchers were including openly gay actor Chad Allen and Judy Shepherd, who came to activism after her gay son, Matthew Shepard, was brutally killed in 1998 in a hate crime. She has since formed the Matthew Shepard Foundation which supports educational projects, and become a public spokesperson for ending hate-based violence in America, speaking to dozens of schools, churches and community groups every year.

In separate tents 100 yards apart, leaders of Focus on the Family and of Soulforce gave opposing messages on homosexuality Saturday, but they didn't speak to each other.

"We are against the message Dr. Dobson sends out to millions of people nation-wide," said Richard Lindsay, spokesman for Soulforce. He's scaring people into thinking gays and lesbians are sick and sinful and that we're a threat to the American family and unfit to be parents.

"This is not simply that we're gay and they're conservative Christians and we disagree with each other," Lindsay said. "They're making really inflammatory statements about the gay community."

Mike Haley, director of gender issues at Focus on the Family, said his group offered last year to hold a public dialogue with Soulforce, which they declined because they wanted a private meeting with Dobson.

"They want a monologue, they don't want a true dialogue," said Haley, who lived as a gay man for 12 years before he "walked away from homosexuality."

The Soulforce march is one of several events related to gay rights playing out across the state. Colorado Springs is the scene of competing advertising campaigns that debate whether gay people were born that way. Focus is sponsoring a campaign arguing that homosexuality is preventable and treatable.

Related site:
The 1000 Watt March, Vigil, and Concert