Times: MUT satisfied with Church explanations on engagement of school staff

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141229/local/mut-satisfied-with-church-explanations-on-engagement-of-school-staff.549993
Monday, December 29, 2014, 16:04

The Malta Union of Teachers said today that it had had a fruitful meeting with Bishop Charles Scicluna, administrator of the Maltese archdiocese, about a draft document on the engagement of staff in Church schools, and as a result directives of industrial action in Church schools have been suspended.

Pink News: ganda’s anti-gay President might not like this Christmas present

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/12/24/ugandas-anti-gay-president-might-not-like-this-christmas-present/
24th December 2014, 12:35 PM by Nick Duffy [Reader comments]

President Museveni might not be thrilled with his gift

A dating site has sent the Ugandan president a book on homosexuality in animals for Christmas.

German dating site Gleichklang gifted Yoweri Museveni – who signed off on Uganda’s harsh anti-gay law earlier this year before a court struck it down – a copy of ‘Biological Exuberance – Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity’.

Pink News: US: Lesbian couple marry after 72 years together

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/09/08/us-lesbian-couple-marry-after-72-years-together/
8th September 2014, 12:04 PM by Joseph Patrick McCormick [Reader comments]

The couple married on Saturday after 72 years together (image: Pinterest Marissa Mae Kidd)

A lesbian couple in the US state of Iowa have married, after being together for 72 years.

Vivian Boyack, 91, and Alice Dubes ,90, met in Yale, and then moved to Davenport in 1947.

They exchanged vows in the First Christian Church in Davenport on Saturday, accompanied by family and friends, reports the QCTimes.

It Gets Better: There's just one story to be told: An interview with Maltese LGBT Activist Romina Tolu

http://www.itgetsbetter.org/blog/entry/theres-not-just-one-story-to-be-told-an-interview-with-maltese-lgbt-activis/

POSTED DEC 19, 2014 BY J.W. TINDALL

Romina (or Mina) Tolu is one of the founding members of WE ARE, an LGBTQQI youth and student organization in Malta, a small island country in the Mediterranean Sea. She is currently serving as the communications officer on the executive board of the INTERNATIONAL LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND QUEER YOUTH AND STUDENT ORGANIZATION (IGLYO), a European-based organization that aims to empower and enable the representation of LGBTQ youth and student issues around the world.

IGBP: Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

Romina Tolu: I’m 23 and I’ve been involved in LGBT activism since I was about 19, when I got involved at University. My sister’s girlfriend at the time and her friends were trying to start a group at University. It was going to be the first proper LGBT group at the University of Malta, which is the only university we have in Malta and it caters to over ten thousand students. They tried to rope me into it and at first I was quite shy and I was like, “No, no, no. I’ll support you but I’ll be distant”. But then my sister tried to convince me by buttering me up and saying, “You know we need your skills! Your face doesn’t need to be shown anywhere. We just need you to design a few posters, write a few blog posts and that’s it”. So I told her, “Ok in that case I’ll consider it”, and I went along to the first meeting. Then, once the group was officially set up and we had to do our statutes, we needed a certain amount of people on the board. That’s when I was roped into being communications officer for the organization because there was no one else to fill in that role. In the end my sister managed to convince me. So that’s how I got involved in LGBT activism. It was almost “sister coercion”, which is great actually. I am very grateful that it happened because it has brought me to where I am today.

All Out: Urgent Olympic vote - we won!

8.12.2014

We did it! The International Olympic Committee (IOC) just took the final step to protect all lesbian, bi and gay athletes and fans. Today they announced that they will be changing Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter to include 'sexual orientation.' And it happened because of you.

Independent UK: Doctor killed himself after mother asked him to seek 'gay cure'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/doctor-killed-himself-after-mother-asked-him-to-seek-gay-cure-9907249.html
FRIDAY 05 DECEMBER 2014 by Matt Watts

A Harley Street doctor killed himself by jumping from his luxury penthouse apartment after his mother asked him to seek “a cure” for being gay, an inquest heard.

Dr Nazim Mahmood, fell four storeys to his death from the balcony of his £700,000 flat in a mansion block in West Hampstead, London, in July.

An inquest at St Pancras Coroners’ Court heard Dr Mahmood had told his mother he was gay and was in a 13-year relationship with his fiancée, Matthew Ogston, just days before his death.

Times: Gender identity bill should be guided by ethical principles - Church

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141207/social/LGBTI-community-awards-ceremony.547199
Saturday, December 6, 2014, 12:39


The Archbishop's Curia

While the bill on gender identity is a step in the right direction, it is important that it is guided by ethical principles, the Church said in a position paper.

It said that while the bill promoted “an inclusive culture of recognition between human beings” and sought “to address the needs of a category of people who very often find it socially hard and painful in trying to deal with a fundamental dimension of their own self-identity... it is important to recognise the complexity of the problem and be guided by a set of ethical principles”.

Times: LGBTI community awards ceremony

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141207/social/LGBTI-community-awards-ceremony.547199
Sunday, December 7, 2014, 00:01

[Click on the image to enlarge.]

Mr and Mrs Licari (Parent Award), Darren Anthony Galea (Proposal Award), Winston J. Zahra (Radisson Hotels for Employer Award), Equal Opportunities Minister Helena Dalli (Politician Award), Neil Falzon (Humanitarian Award), Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (Politician Award), Ira Losco (Entertainer Award), Mina Tolu (Student Award), joint winner with her sister Louisa, Luke Dimech (Sports Person Award) and Mr and Mrs Sammut (Parent Award).

The inaugural National LGBTI Community Awards took place at The Xara Lodge.

Independent UK: World AIDS Day 2014: This is what HIV looks like

When Hunter Charlton was diagnosed with the virus aged 20, he was overcome with grief, believing he would be dead within 10 years. As he learnt more, the anguish turned to anger – at the ignorance that still causes fear and stigma for so many like him 

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/world-aids-day-2014-this-is-what-hiv-looks-like-9894256.html

Sunday 30 November 2014 by HUNTER CHARLTON



In a single moment, my life was irreversibly altered. The doctor’s reassurances washed over me in a haze: it was as if he was trying to communicate with me in a language I could not speak. There can be no single correct way to break this sort of news; in retrospect, I think his light-touch approach was misjudged.

Malta Today: 74% of Malta’s HIV cases are male

57% of the HIV cases recently registered in Malta were due to heterosexual contact, while 31% of them were due to homosexual contact.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/lifestyle/health/46947/74_of_maltas_hiv_cases_are_males#.VHy__9JbfaJ
30 November 2014, 7:45pm by a Staff Reporter



74% of the 300 new HIV cases that were registered in Malta in the last 10 years were male, statistics from the Health Department show. In 172 (57%) instances, the virus was transmitted through heterosexual contact, while in 92 (31%) instances the virus was transmitted through homosexual contact. 10 instances were due to drug instances while one was due to haemophilia.

47 of these infected people ended up suffering from AIDS.

“Everyone who is sexually active is in risk of HIV infection,” Gabi Calleja, President of the Malta Gay Rights Movement told Sunday newspaper Illum. “The stigma of HIV and AIDS is problematic because it can keep people back from seeking the help and care that they need.”

“We are exploring the possibility of setting up a support group for people suffering from HIV/AIDS as part of the services offered by the Rainbow Support Service, and we hope that the health services will collaborate with us in this initiative.”