Chicago gay health center gets cash to remain open
The Chicago Tribune reports Chicago’s gay and lesbian health center has raised $650,000 in 50 days after a financial emergency had it on the brink of closing.
Howard Brown Health Center launched an appeal for donations Nov. 4, announcing it may have to close its doors after more than 35 years.
Officials say more than 1,400 donors responded, including corporations, clients, staff and board members. An anonymous donor offered $200,000 to be used to match other gifts. The names of each donor will be displayed in the North Side building’s lobby.
Biden says gay marriage ‘inevitable’
MSNBC.com reports Vice President Joe Biden predicted Dec. 24 the evolution in thinking that will permit gays to soon serve openly in the military eventually will bring about a national consensus for same-sex marriage.
Changes in attitudes by military leaders, those in the service and the public allowed the repeal by Congress of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, Biden noted in a nationally broadcast interview.
“I think the country’s evolving,” he said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “And I think you’re going to see, you know, the next effort is probably going to be to deal with so-called DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act].”
Biden said he agreed with Obama that his position on gay marriage is “evolving.”
Gay marriage is legal in only a handful of states, mostly in the Northeast and in Iowa.
Science honors two HIV advances
Yahoo News reports two major advances in HIV prevention made Science magazine’s top 10 achievements of 2010.
Included on Science’s list was a study that demonstrated a microbicide can effectively reduce HIV transmission in women. The majority of the study, conducted in South Africa, was funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Of the 889 women who took part in the trial, microbicides reduced HIV transmissions by 39 percent.
Also honored among the top 10 science achievements of the year was the Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Initiative (PrEP), which demonstrated daily use of the drug Truvada significantly lowered HIV transmission in men who have sex with men.
— Larry Nichols