The New Face of HIV Is Gay & Young

In a small community hall in London’s Soho, a group of young gay men gather. They are 16 to 25 years old. They come from all walks of life but they have two key things in common: They are vulnerable and they are living with HIV. Some of these young men are sex workers, homeless, and drug users. Many have been victims of sexual harassment. Others have traded sex for basic necessities to survive.

“Being homeless has made me have sex with people that can provide me with a place to sleep and this means I have little choice about the kind of sex I have,” said 16-year-old Russell.  He is, in many ways, the new face of the HIV epidemic—not just in Britain, but also across the world.  Read More

Taiwan university 'breaks gender frame' with 'Men's Skirt Month'

National Taiwan University is calling for male students to wear skirts every day in the month of December to 'break the traditional gender frame.' The Gender Workshop Society said it was launching 'Men's Skirt Month' to 'eliminate something that society had gender-kidnapped.' Read More

Harvard University Is Offering A Workshop On Anal Sex

Tonight Harvard University will offer a course on anal sex for the very first time as part of its annual Sex Week program.

At Harvard, Sex Week consists of “a week of programming that is interdisciplinary, thought-provoking, scholastic, innovative and applicable to student experiences in order to promote a holistic understanding of sex and sexuality.”

The classes are hosted by a student-run group at the school, Sexual Health Education & Advocacy or SHEATH. Read more

Students at Japan High School Switch Uniforms With Opposite Sex

A high school in Japan’s Yamanashi prefecture has come up with a unique way for its students to see their world from a different perspective. Fuji Hokuryo High School this week held what it calls a “Sexchange Day,” in which nearly 300 of its students traded uniforms with the opposite sex and attended classes.

“This is a project for students to observe things differently” without being bound by their gender, Hirofumi Miyashita, the school’s vice principal, told Japan Real Time. Read More

Israel gay teens are eight times more likely to attempt suicide

Israel's gay teens are attempting suicide at an alarming rate, but the group Israel Gay Youth has said they are being ignored.  They say LGBTI teens attempt suicide at a rate of 20%, compared with 2.5% for teens overall. Read More

South Africa: Gay rights in the classroom

Several South African women have been murdered for being lesbian, in most African countries you're a criminal if you're gay, and in Sudan and Mauritania you can be put to death for homosexuality. Meanwhile the University of Western Cape graduated its first students from the continent's first course on sexual orientation and the role of educators in dealing with sexual orientation issues in the classroom.  Read More

School teacher Who Referred To Student As “Fag Number One” Quickly Fired

A photography teacher at a school in Helsingborg, Sweden has learned the hard way why you shouldn’t hurl antigay slurs at students. “When I found out what the photographer said, I felt that this required immediate action,” the principal told media. “He did not respect our values and offended a student. As an adult, you must think about what you say to students.” Read More 

Teen's Suicide Highlights Struggle of LGBT Colombians

Two photos — one haunting, the other simply poignant — published separately last weekend by two Spanish-language news groups tell the story of Colombian society's urgent need to reconcile its religiously conservative culture with acceptance and respect for its LGBT men, women, and children.

The first photo is of a handsome young Colombian who committed suicide recently, after his teachers and school administrators allegedly harassed him because he was gay. The second shows his mother, Alba Reyes, with solemn eyes narrowed to a point of focus that only mothers of lost children know. Read More

Inclusive sex education is vital – and British schools aren’t delivering it

Why isn’t there a mandatory requirement to teach children about sexual health and diversity, including LGBT, in the same way as other curriculum subjects?

One in three gay men diagnosed with HIV in 2012 were in their teens or early 20s, yet more than three-quarters of gay and bisexual young people receive no information at school about same-sex relationships or gay safer sex. These failings border on child neglect, and have prompted a coalition of LGBTI, sexual health and HIV campaigners to petition British leaders for change. Read More 

Brazil schoolboys wear skirts to support trans classmate

A group of boys at São Cristóvão do Colégio Pedro II high school in Rio de Janeiro wore skirts to class after a transgender student was fined for breaking the school's dress code. Seventeen-year-old Maria Munez, born Mario Munez, recently came out as transgender by wearing a skirt to school but was fined for not wearing trousers. Read More

This Is Pakistan’s First Anti-Homophobia Children’s Book, And It Is Beautiful

Earlier this year, Toronto-based Pakistani blogger and artist Eiynah ‘Nicemangos’ wrote a blog post titled “My Chacha Is Gay”. 

The post was shared over 10,000 times in two days and hundreds of readers suggested that Eiynah start a crowdfunding campaign to publish it as a book. She met her crowdfunding goal quickly, and “My Chacha Is Gay” has since been released in print.

“My Chacha Is Gay” is about a little boy named Ahmed, his gay uncle, their family, and Pakistani and Muslim society as a whole. Read more

Kazakhstan: Media are ‘brainwashing’ children with gay ‘propaganda’

Mayor Akim Tasmagambetov of Kazakhstan's capital city has accused the international media of “promoting” homosexuality, and “brainwashing” children. “It has not just become a political norm in a range of developed countries, but the perception of the society has been distorted to such an extent that the US state of California approved a compulsory course on historical accomplishments of representatives of sexual minorities. I think you see for yourself how the topic is promoted in the international media.” Read More