Media Trail

Pre-HIV pill being tested

ABC News reports doctors are testing a controversial pill that could temporarily boost immunity against HIV before a person is even exposed to the virus.

If the pill works safely, doctors must then address whether such a drug could worsen the AIDS epidemic.

The pre-exposure pill seems promising, since HIV drugs taken within days after exposure to the virus have been shown to reduce the risk of infection by 80 percent. But health officials debate whether people at high risk for the virus would be more likely to not use condoms and instead rely on the drug regimen.

Doctors in the trial say they are aware of the possibility the drug may be misused.

Louisiana may reopen gay adoption ruling

365gay.com reports the state of Louisiana has asked a federal judge to reconsider a ruling that both names of a gay couple must appear on the birth certificate of their adopted son.

Oren Adar and Mickey Smith adopted their Louisiana-born son in 2006 in a New York court.

When Smith attempted to get a new birth certificate for their child so he could add his son to his health insurance, the Louisiana State Registrar told him that Louisiana does not recognize adoption by unmarried parents.

Lambda Legal filed suit on behalf of Adar and Smith in October 2007.

In December, U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey in New Orleans ordered the state Office of Vital Records to put the names of both fathers on the amended birth certificate.

Now the Louisiana attorney general’s office has asked Zainey to reconsider the ruling or order a full trial, arguing that Adar and Smith have no legal right to sue because they could get a birth certificate with either Adar’s or Smith’s name on it.

Maine group to fight gay-marriage bill

Seacoast Online reports a Republican group is trying to defeat a gay-marriage bill recently introduced in Maine’s legislature, which would repeal the state’s Defense of Marriage Act.

Dean Scontras of the Maine Republican Project said his group’s members were concerned about the timing of the bill.

“This will simply absorb valuable legislative cycles that should be dedicated toward repairing the economic situation of so many Mainers,” Scontras said.

— Larry Nichols

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