Some of you may remember my “Give Blood Because We Can’t” campaign back in Freshers’ week. The National Blood Service since initiated a policy review which I mentioned in my post-October Guild Council post, which began with a forum to which members of the NUS LGBT campaign were invited. The forum brought forth several proposals, including a five-year ban on gay/bisexual men, rather than a lifetime-ban imposed under the current policy. Although this was just as unacceptable, it indicates that they’re under enough pressure to make some kind of fair concession.

In light of this review, Give Blood Because We Can’t became an ongoing awareness campaign, as action campaigning is pointless while a decision is still being made. That being said, this review will conclude this summer; conveniently, after a general election has taken place. The LGBTQ community must make it abundantly clear that it will not tolerate any attempts to retain the current, outmoded and downright homophobic policy; regardless of how many right wing officials are elected to power.

Project Negative are holding a protest outside the Birmingham Blood Donation Center on Tuesday, 5th May, 5PM – 7PM. We’ll be going as a group and meeting at University Station between 4:15 and 4:30 to get there with plenty of time. If you’re able, please come along and show your support!

As some of you may be aware, there has been a great deal of media coverage on the Pope‘s recent attack against the equalities bill with a “missionary zeal”. Said coverage will attest to the fact that the Pope’s is mainly concerned with restricting religious organisations’ right to “act in accordance with their beliefs”. Specifically, to exclude women and homosexuals.

The Pope, when addressing Cardinals and Bishops of the UK, lauded the UK’s firm commitment to equality and opportunity for all, however described the equality of homosexuals as a “violation of natural law”_[src]. However, restricting the right of people to express themselves in accordance with their beliefs is debatable, when such “beliefs” are twisted to justify AND mandate persecution and discrimination of a particular group. This kind of archaic thinking does not belong in the 21st century.

So here we have a classic case of one groups’ rights infringing on those of another group; conflicting in such an aggressive and militant fashion, there can be no satisfactory resolution. However I’ve always believed that compromise can be found between two groups so vehemently opposed. It’s simple. Anyone who has seen the Spiderman films may recall the rather cheesy quote:

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

Rights are, in a sense, a form of power (better worded as empowerment) and I do believe that each right ensues an equal amount of responsibility – in the case of equal rights, one is responsible for respecting the right of others to equality. The “right” of more conservative religious groups to believe what they want to believe is nothing but an excuse for biggotry, and is a violation of their responsibilities as human beings.

This is hardly the first controversial move made by Benedict XVI in the name of “natural law”. Last year, he was heavily criticised for his claims that condoms would make the African AIDS crisis worse. He claimed that the distribution of condoms aggravated the problem rather than helped to combat the spread of these viruses. Of course when he elaborated further, he was clearly advocating celibacy as an alternative and – while there’s nothing inherently wrong with advocating celibacy – enforcing it through this kind of scare-mongering among third world countries is immoral and sickening.

It’s no secret that Catholic church teachings have historically condemned the very idea of artificial contraception, but the issue of HIV and AIDS have kinda made this a grey area in which more progressive Christian sects are thinking rationally. The Pope, however, has taken this to a whole new level with his highly fascist approach.

This is a direct threat to the work that myself, the LGBTQ and the Chaplaincy have been doing towards combatting the archaic religion vs. sexuality ideal, and the Pope claiming to speak in “the name of God” is an utter offence to students of faith at Birmingham (LGBTQ or otherwise). I urge LGBTQ students, activits within the LGBTQ Association and – more importantly – followers of all Christian denominations to join me in condemning the Pope’s outmoded statements, conservative stance and underhanded tactics.

Today is World AIDs Day, observed around the world to raise awareness of the Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) as well as the dangers posed by other sexually transmitted diseases.

Since 1987, AIDS has killed over 25 million people. As of 2007, over 33 million live people live with it worldwide, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in recorded history. For this reason, countless organisations take part in the observance of World AIDS Day to place the highest emphasis on sexual health to prevent the spread of the virus, and raise funds for research into treatments.

The Guild and LGBTQ Association will be marking the day with the Mermaid Fountain draped in a red sash, and suspiciously spewing forth dyed red water. There will also be the red double-decker bus on which Guild and LGBTQ volunteers will be handing out information, collecting for AIDs and sexual health charities.

• 12-2: Guild Car Park
• 2-4: Campus (library)
• 4-7: Halls of Residence

The LGBTQ have been kindly sponsored by Crusaid and the Terence Higgins Trust; two very prominent organisations in the field of sexual health and HIV. They’ve kindly provided posters

Also, the LGBTQ’s film night was moved from Sunday 29th to tonight at 6PM to coincide with World AIDs Day. We will be showing Philidelphia, a film that illustrates the controversy that many with AIDS have faced:

“When a man with AIDS is fired by a conservative law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.”

However, there are unique issues with regards to sexual health in the LGBTQ community, and a number of services aimed at dealing with this :

1. There is very little information available for women who sleep with women with regards to safe sex practices. Lesbian sex is often regarded as a low risk activity, yet according to Stonewall, less than half of gay and bisexual women have been screened for STIs, and women who sleep with women are at high risk of STIs such as Herpes. This perception of low risk activity combined with the more general problem of lesbian and bisexual women’s invisibility means that sexual health in this area is all too often overlooked. The NHS has an online guide on lesbian and bisexual women’s sexual health issues which can be found here There is also a guide by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation which can be found here
2. The Trans population faces particular problems when it comes to accessing sexual health services and trans specific sexual health information. Personal issues relating to body image often make sexual health clinics very intimidating and intrusive; for those who have received treatment, or gender recognition this may be combined with the issue of disclosure. Other issues include sex specific clinics not necessarily being equipped to deal with trans individuals. These issues clearly make access to testing difficult for many trans people, and whilst progress is being made in this area, it remains problematic. The Terrance Higgins Trust is currently in the process of delivering trans specific sexual health training to its staff, and Gendered Intelligence are in the process of producing a sexual health guide for trans people. The only booklet currently available which I’m aware of is aimed at queer trans men: queertransmen.org
3. Men who sleep with men have far more resources available to them than either of the above, in some respects this makes accessing services and information easier. The importance of accessing this information is nonetheless important and available resources include Healthy Gay Life (Birmingham based) and Young gay men (Terrance Higgins Trust) Note: see THT’s main website for more relevant links.Once again, there are specific issues relating to men who sleep with men, notably HIV has had a disproportionate impact on the community in the past and although at this point in time the rate of new infections amongst heterosexuals is higher than that in the gay/bi male community, the issue remains relevant, and this trend can only be maintained if individuals continue to take responsibility for their own sexual health. The idea that HIV is a “gay disease” still causes issues to this day, for example attitudes within the medical establishment have been heavily influenced by this, which in turn can impact on patients.

This blog can only go into so much depth on these issues, but the importance of sexual health and protecting yourself cannot be understated. If you are sexually active, regardless of your sexuality or gender identity, it is important to make sure you are keeping yourself safe and getting tested regularly.

If you find yourself in a situation where you may have been exposed to HIV it is vital to get yourself to A&E or a GUM clinic within 72 hours (preferably 24 hours) in order to receive PEP treatment. This is a month long course of treatment (not a morning after pill) which can give an 85% reduction in the risk of HIV taking hold in the body. More information on PEP and a self assessment for risk factors can be found here: PEP microsite