Staph Infection Warnings Back in the News

ACCORDING TO A JAN. 14 STORY in the San Francisco Chronicle, concern arose over MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a drug-resistant staph bacteria that the online Journal Annals of Internal Medicine said it found in high rates in the city’s gay-heavy Castro district. The report discussed a new strain of MRSA that was resistant to three of six antibiotics used to treat the infection, which can be painful and disfiguring. While the report did not link MRSA infection to sexual activity, it said up to 40% of cases appeared on men’s genitals and buttocks. Helping to cut infection is relatively easy, since washing with soap and water reduces transmission. Conservative activists, including Matt Barber of Concerned Women of America, were quick to attack gays over the reports. But many gay bloggers and LGBT journalists have criticized the coverage, arguing that MRSA has been spread among groups as varied as school children and professional athletes for years. “What’s interesting is that 19,000 Americans died in 2005 from MSRA infections, mostly in hospitals, but it’s when someone suspects it’s spread through gay sex that the warnings go out,” wrote Metro Weekly journalist Sean Bugg on his website Jan. 15.

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR ARNOLD

Schwarzenegger warned that that 2008 budget was going to contain some painful cuts, but for many AIDS activists and providers, needy AIDS patients will take more than their share of the pain. The Governator released his budget on Jan. 10, and kept his word that he was closing a $14 billion shortfall. Under the California Department of Health, AIDS services are expected to take an $11 million hit, with $7 million coming from the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which helps low-income Californians obtain lifesaving AIDS medicines. AIDS Healthcare Foundation said in a press release that officials at the State Office of AIDS will reduce the availability of drugs for co-morbidities and opportunistic infections through ADAP, yet retain all antiretroviral treatments currently offered under the program. “California will ultimately pay more in health care costs in the long run if it adopts such ill-timed AIDS cuts, and we urge the Governor and Legislature to quickly restore this public health funding,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “The Governor should instead seek cost savings by reducing bureaucracy and eliminating the abundance of corporate and tax-avoidance loopholes in the state rather than try to balance the budget on the backs of California’s most vulnerable citizens.”

OPENLY GAY PARIS MAYOR

Bertrand Delanoe has been a hit with his constituents, but there’s one group that apparently does not approve of his tenure—Islamic terrorists. On Jan. 11 French daily newspaper Le Monde reported Portuguese aviation authorities have alerted French counterterrorism officials to an intercepted message threatening terrorist attacks against targets in Paris, including the Eiffel Tower. The communication by shortwave radio, intercepted Thursday, was “vague and confused,” and Portuguese officials quickly alerted French authorities, Le Monde reported. A few days later French prosecutors said they were investigating a cryptic e-mail delivered to an Islamic website urging attacks on Delanoe and the city’s tourist sites. The sender and the site were not identified. “I am calm,” Delanoe said on TV station iTele, which was later reported on a gay British website. “I have the information I need and I have complete confidence in the work of police headquarters vis-avis security problems in general, terrorism in particular and finally the protection of the mayor of Paris.” One of the most prominent out politicians in Europe, Delanoe is seeking re-election in March, and is considered a potential Socialist Party presidential candidate in 2012.

HEATH LEDGER 1979-2008

Heath Ledger, the Academy Award-nominated actor knownfor portraying the doomed gay sheep herder Ennis Del Mar in the 2005 feature film Brokeback Mountain, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment Jan. 22. The 28-year-oldAustralian actor was found naked and face down in his bedroom by his housekeeper. An initial autopsy was inconclusive, but authorities found two kinds of sleeping pills near his body, but no suicide note. His family called the death accidental. Ledger, who most recently appeared in the Bob Dylan-inspired feature I’m Not There from out director Todd Haynes, completed production on the next Batman feature, where he played the Joker. Ledger is survived by a daughter, Matilda, 2, from his relationship with Brokeback co-star, Michelle Williams.

ACLU COMES OUT IN SUPPORT OF LARRY CRAIG

Republican Sen. Larry Craig has an unlikely friend — the American Civil Liberties Union. Craig, who made the phrase “wide stance” a global phenomenon, is asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to let him withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct stemming from a bathroom sex sting at a Minneapolis airport. The ACLU filed a brief Jan. 15 citing a court ruling that found that people who have sex in closed stalls in public restrooms "have a reasonable expectation of privacy." That means the state cannot prove Craig was inviting an undercover officer to have sex in public, the ACLU wrote.

CAMEROON SENTENCES MEN TO HARD LABOR FOR HOMOSEXUALITY

Despite international protests denouncing their arrest and trial, three men convicted of homosexuality in the African nation of Cameroon were sentenced to six months’ hard labor, their lawyer said Jan. 16. Lazare Baeeg, EmmanuelBalep and Tony Dikongue were arrested last August and have already spent nearly six months in detention in the port city of Douala, lawyer Alice Nkom said. Convictions carry a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of up to $450. “None of these people were caught in a homosexual act,” Nkom argued, “so the court cannot condemn them for something they never did.”

PLANETOUT EXPLORES POSSIBLE SALE OF COMPANY

Times continue to be tough for one of the largest gay media conglomerates. PlanetOut Inc., the parent company of magazines Out and The Advocate, the website Gay.com and book publisher Alyson Publications, announced Jan. 14 it had retained Allen & Company, LLC to “assist the company in evaluating strategic alternatives, including a possible sale.” According to Reuters, The San Francisco-based, publicly traded PlanetOut has not reported a profit for nearly two years, and will no longer provide quarterly orannual earnings outlook,or hold quarterly earnings calls. In October 2007, PlanetOut said it was selling its RSVPVacations unit.

HUCKABEE SAYS BEASTIALITY, HOMOSEXUALITY GO TOGETHER

Oh no. Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said in aninterview Jan. 17 with the website Beliefnet.com that the U.S. Constitution should be amended, but the Bible “was not created to be amended and altered.” The former Arkansas governor was also asked if he wanted to bring the Constitution into conformity with the Bible. “I don’t think that’s a radical view to say we’re going to affirm marriage,” he said. “I think the radical view is to say that we’re going to change the definition of marriage so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three women, a man and a child, a man and animal.”

ANTI-MARRIAGE PROTESTORSRALLY IN IOWA

A rally brought hundreds of anti-gay marriage protesters to the Iowa Statehouse Jan. 16. The issue gained attention in Iowa last summer when a Polk County judge ruled Iowa’s marriage law is unconstitutional.The decision has been appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court. One statewide LGBT rights advocacy group called on supporters to stay focused on defeating any amendment attempt. “We feel confident that the will of the majority of Iowa voters will prevail and that the legislature will focus on the real work of the people this session,” One Iowan said in a statement.

TURKISH PERFORMER RUNSAFOUL OF ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT

One of Turkey’s most popular performers has had to hangup his wig. Huysuz Virjin, across-dressing personality who has been a staple of Turkish television for three decades, claims he’s been ordered to tone it down by government officials, the magazine The Economist reported Jan. 10. Virjin’s alter ego, Seyfi Dursunoglu, accuses the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party of making Turkey less secular and more religious. That includes muzzling drag queens. Recently Dursunoglu has been appearing in a suit, but for a special New Year’s Eve program was allowed to dress up. “As a performer, Iam no longer free,” Dursunoglu said.

KENTUCKY LGBT RIGHTS GROUP ENGAGE IN SPAT

Move over Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. In a dispute that in part appears to be personal, two leading statewide LGBT advocacy groups in Kentucky are no longer working together. Local Kentucky paper Herald-Leader reported Jan. 9 that the general advisory council of the Kentucky Equality Federation has approved a resolution not to be aligned with the Kentucky Fairness Alliance. The resolution in particular called out the Alliance’s executive director, Christina Gilgor. The resolution went on to say the Alliance is “becoming less of an effective force in lobbying and working for improvement of gay rights.” Gilgor has disputed the charges.

This page compiled by Christopher Lisotta from The Associated Press and other news reports.