Welcome to Fabulous Friday, a review of the week's news for the LGBT Kos Community. We'll be highlighting some interesting news stories, as well as providing a list of some notable LGBT diaries here at Daily Kos. If you ever run across stories/blog posts/diaries that should be included here, please send a Kosmail to LGBT Kos.
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LGBT News - Youth/Education
Tampa Bay Rays to join antigay bullying movement 'It Gets Better'
ST. PETERSBURG — A nationwide social networking movement to help teens deal with antigay bullying has gained a new supporter — the Tampa Bay Rays.
Manager Joe Maddon and players Johnny Damon, Sam Fuld, B. J. Upton and Sean Rodriguez will record a public service message called "It Gets Better" before the Aug. 23 Rays-Tigers game at Tropicana Field.
Eight other Major League Baseball teams have recorded similar messages for the campaign since June, all designed to stem depression, isolation and suicide among gay and lesbian youths.
Another student sues Anoka-Hennepin over anti-LGBT bullying
A student filed suit against the Anoka-Hennepin School District on Monday alleging that the school district did not do enough to protect her from bullying. Filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the new suit alleges that a lesbian student was repeatedly harassed, both verbally and physically, and that the school undertook disciplinary action against the student instead of her tormentors. The suit follows a similar lawsuit against the district filed in July and brings the number of students suing the school to six.
A student at Jackson Middle School in Champlin, identified in the complaint only as E.R., endured bullying from the first day she transferred to the school as an 8th grader, according to the complaint. She was “subject to severe and pervasive harassment in gym class,” the complaint states. “When E.R. attempted to use the girls’ locker room for the first time, other female students openly mocked her, saying things like, ‘That’s a boy – there’s no boys allowed in here,’ and calling her a ‘he/she.’”
Instead of reprimanding the offending students, the complaint alleges, E.R. was told by school staff that she must change her gym clothes at a separate time as the others students.
LGBT News - Transgender
Mayor Starts Transgender Job Training Program
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has directed the city’s Department of Employment Services to begin a first-of-its-kind pilot program specifically directed toward members of the transgender community for job training and job placement.
Gray disclosed plans for the program at an Aug. 4 meeting he hosted with representatives of the transgender community. Officials with several city agencies also attended the meeting.
“The Department of Employment Services will run a pilot of their transitional employment program targeting members of the transgender community,” said Jeffrey Richardson, director of the Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs, who attended the meeting. “The program includes six weeks of training coupled with subsidized paid employment,” he said.
EXCLUSIVE: Dallas school board to consider protections for transgender students, employees
The Dallas school board is set to consider a series of policy changes designed to protect transgender students and employees against discrimination and harassment — and to protect LGBT students against potential bullying by teachers.
Among other things, the proposed changes could prevent another controversy like the one that arose last year — when a transgender girl was denied an opportunity to run for homecoming queen at North Dallas High School.
LGBT News - Health/HIV
FDA Approves Once-Daily HIV Pill Complera
Aug. 11, 2011 -- The FDA has approved Gilead's Complera, the second complete HIV treatment in a single, once-daily pill.
Complera is a combination of Truvada (which combines the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors Emtriva and Viread) and the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor Edurant.
Truvada has been around since 2004 and is a popular component of so-called "AIDS drug cocktails" or combination HIV therapy. Edurant, also known as rilpivirine, was approved last May.
US Scientists Expand Scope of HIV Vaccine Study
The world’s largest ongoing HIV vaccine study has been expanded to consider multiple ways a vaccine might boost immune response to the AIDS virus. The U.S. Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is testing the safety and efficacy of a dual vaccine candidate.
It’s called the HVTN 505 study and has been underway since June 2009. HVTN stands for the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
“The trial is being expanded both in terms of the number of participants, as well as what the trial is looking to answer,” said Mitchell Warren, head of AVAC, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, who’s following the study’s developments.
LGBT News - International
Lesbian Couples Plan Mass Wedding in Taiwan
An estimated 60 lesbian couples will marry in Taipei later this month in a ceremony inspired by the new marriage equality law in New York and designed to push the Taiwanese government to act on the issue.
Gay conversion therapy gaining European followers
Gay pride parades have taken place all across the globe this summer, celebrating sexual diversity and promoting acceptance of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (or LGBT) community. While such events are popular in European countries such as Germany, where cities like Cologne boast a large gay scene, homosexuality is still not accepted across the board here.
In fact, an increasing number of fundamentalist groups are trying to convert gays and lesbians into heterosexuals.
Conversion therapy, as it is called, has been causing controversy for years in the United States, where a so-called "ex-gay movement" continues to thrive. Now there is increasing concern among LGBT rights organizations that these groups are strengthening their foothold in Europe.
LGBT Kos News
In addition to Fabulous Friday, posted every Friday at 5:30pm (ET), we publish a diary every Wednesday at 8:00pm (ET), and an open thread every Sunday at 2:30pm (ET). If you are interested in hosting an open thread or writing a diary for the group, please send a message to the group.
Notable Diaries
LGBT-related diaries from the previous week (Friday, August 5th through Thursday, August 11th) that did not make the recommended diaries list and were not rescued.