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The only HIV vaccine in a late-stage trial has failed, researchers announced Wednesday, dealing a significant blow to the effort to control the global HIV epidemic and adding to a decadeslong roster of failed attempts. “I don’t think that people should give up on the field of the HIV vaccine,” Fauci said. Fauci said that a critical limitation of the Mosaico vaccine was that it elicited what are known as non-neutralizing — as opposed to neutralizing — antibodies against HIV. As with the Thai trial, the hope is to channel research findings into future HIV vaccine development. To prove a vaccine works, researchers must recruit participants who remain at substantial risk of HIV over time.

☆ Britain vows new law to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ people
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON — Britain will seek to ban conversion therapy targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, cracking down on so-called treatments that claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Culture minister Michelle Donelan said on Tuesday the government would publish draft legislation soon, setting out proposals to ban conversion practices in England and Wales. “The Bill will protect everyone, including those targeted on the basis of their sexuality, or being transgender,” Donelan said in a statement. A 2017 national LGBTQ survey people found that 5% of respondents had been offered conversion therapy and 2% had undergone it, with over half of it done by religious groups. Many advocates have long called for a ban on conversion therapy, but others have argued that any ban should not outlaw conversations with clinicians or therapists helping people with gender issues.

☆ U.K. government to veto Scotland’s gender self-recognition law
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The Scottish government is likely to challenge the decision at the U.K. Supreme Court. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called the decision by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government “a full-frontal attack” on the Scottish parliament, which approved the bill last month. “The Scottish Government will defend the legislation and stand up for Scotland’s Parliament,” she said on Twitter. This is the first time a U.K. government has blocked a Scottish law since the Scottish government and parliament were established a quarter century ago. The move will provide fodder for nationalists who want Scotland to break away from the U.K. and become an independent country.

☆ Britain vows new law to ban conversion therapy for LGBT people
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Sachin Ravikumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Britain will seek to ban conversion therapy targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, cracking down on so-called treatments that claim to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. Culture minister Michelle Donelan said on Tuesday the government would publish draft legislation soon, setting out proposals to ban conversion practices in England and Wales. "The Bill will protect everyone, including those targeted on the basis of their sexuality, or being transgender," Donelan said in a statement. A 2017 national LGBT survey people found that 5% of respondents had been offered conversion therapy and 2% had undergone it, with over half of it done by religious groups. Many campaigners have long called for a ban on conversion therapy, but others have argued that any ban should not outlaw conversations with clinicians or therapists helping people with gender issues.

☆ Meta's oversight board calls for more inclusive adult nudity policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 17 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms' (META.O) oversight board on Tuesday overturned the company's decision to remove two Instagram posts depicting transgender and non-binary people with bare chests, saying that Meta needed to change its policy to make it more inclusive. The cases referred by the board included two posts in 2021 and 2022 made under an Instagram account, which is maintained by a U.S.-based couple. Meta's policy prohibits images containing female nipples other than in specified circumstances such as breastfeeding and gender confirmation surgery. "The restrictions and exceptions to the rules on female nipples are extensive and confusing, particularly as they apply to transgender and non-binary people," the board said. The oversight board, which includes academics, rights experts and lawyers, was created by the company to rule on a small slice of thorny content moderation appeals, but it can also advise on site policies.

☆ Scottish Law on Gender Recognition Blocked by U.K. Government
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Max Colchester | David Luhnow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack said the law ‘would have a significant impact’ on equalities rules in other parts of the U.K. The U.K. government on Monday blocked a law voted by Scotland’s parliament on gender recognition, the first time that the London-based government has stopped a Scottish law from passing, in a move that will deepen divisions between Scottish nationalists and the U.K. The controversial Scottish law, passed in November, makes it easier for transgender people to get official government recognition of their acquired gender by removing any need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and lowering the age from 18 to 16.

Summary UK uses power to block Scottish bill for the first timeSturgeon: decision is an attack on devolved powersUnclear how issue may impact support for independenceLONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The British government will block a bill passed by the Scottish parliament that makes it easier for people to change their legal gender, its Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said on Monday, the first time it has invoked the power to veto a Scottish law. The move sparked a fresh argument with the devolved Scottish government, which has also been thwarted in its attempts to hold a new independence referendum. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, in charge of the devolved nationalist government, said she would defend the legislation and "stand up for Scotland's parliament." "This is a full-frontal attack on our democratically elected Scottish Parliament and its ability to make its own decisions on devolved matters," Sturgeon, who leads the Scottish National Party's (SNP), said on Twitter. But it is unclear whether the move by Britain to overrule Scotland's gender bill will fuel appetite for independence, as the SNP's own leadership is divided on the issue.

☆ Video shows George Santos calling himself Anthony Devolder at a 2019 event, raising questions about his name
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. George Santos introduced himself as Anthony Devolder in a recently surfaced video from 2019. Videos and social media posts reveal Santos previously used the names George Devolder and Anthony Devolder. The New York congressman has admitted to lying about his college and work history and has previously listed his full name as George Anthony Devolder Santos. Other resurfaced clips and social media posts reveal that Santos had gone by the names Anthony Devolder and George Devolder until as recently as 2020. CNN also uncovered social media posts from 2020 in which Santos goes by the name George Devolder.

☆ UK's Sunak preparing to block Scottish gender reform bill -The Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves after his visit to Port of Cromarty Firth at Invergordon, Scotland January 13, 2023. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne/PoolJan 13 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is poised to block Scottish laws that make it easier for people to change their gender, The Times reported on Friday. British Prime Minister's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Scotland has always been clear the bill does not impact the Equality Act, a Scottish Government spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters. The British National government had further said that it would examine the bill and could look at blocking it if necessary.

☆ Mpox has faded in the U.S. Who deserves the credit?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Today, reports of new cases are down to a trickle in the U.S. Health officials are shutting down emergency mobilizations. “It’s really impressive how that peak has come down to very, very low levels.”So who deserves the credit? Mpox cases began emerging in Europe and the U.S. in May, mostly among men who have sex with men. In early August, U.S. health officials decided to stretch the limited supply by giving people just one-fifth the usual dose. “The monkeypox virus essentially loses steam after a couple of rounds in humans,” Morse said.

The rule will make medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions, more accessible in states where abortion remains legal, but its impact in states that have banned abortion will be limited. Most significantly, the FDA's new regulation will not help patients get abortion pills in states that have banned abortion, said Amanda Allen of the Lawyering Project, a legal group that defends abortion rights. Nonetheless, Allen said, the rule could make it easier to travel out of state for a medication abortion. Currently, a patient seeking a medication abortion in another state must both obtain the prescription and the pill in that state. Some conservative policy groups and lawmakers have proposed laws that would make it a crime to help someone travel to another state for abortion or mail them abortion pills.

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

☆ Insider spent 18 months investigating 175 murders of transgender people. Here's what we found.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Insider Investigations Team | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Colorado Springs was a center for anti-trans vitriol long before the deadly Club Q attack. Leia-jhene Seals mourns the Club Q dead at a November 20 vigil at All Souls Unitarian Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Those who stoke anti-trans bias are "essentially creating a boogeyman and then unleashing forces on that boogeyman," one expert on extremism told Insider. Many media reports said the Club Q attacker's motives were unknown. "The shooting was a tragedy, but it strengthened their enemy," Erin, a local transgender woman, told Insider.

☆ U.S. appeals court upholds Florida high school's transgender bathroom ban
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dec 30 (Reuters) - A sharply divided federal appeals court on Friday upheld a Florida high school's policy forbidding transgender students from using bathrooms that accord with their chosen identities. Lawyers for the school board did not immediately respond to requests for comment. All seven judges in the Atlanta-based appeals court majority were appointed by Republican presidents, including six by Donald Trump, while the four dissenting judges were Democratic appointees. Two other federal appeals courts have ruled that transgender students can use bathrooms that accord with their identities. In June 2021, that court let stand one of the earlier appeals court rulings, in a case from Virginia.

☆ Should AI be used to classify humans? An AI researcher at USC says it's reductive and ethically dubious
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Kate Crawford, author of "Atlas of AI" discussed the ethics of categorizing humans using AI. In an email interview with Insider, Kate Crawford, AI researcher at USC Annenberg and author of "Atlas of AI," expanded on the risks of relying on AI to help classify humans. Where did the idea of using AI to classify humans come from and why are companies interested in using this technology? Is there any safe or ethical way in which AI technology can be used to classify humans? Why is the AI industry so adamant about using data and data collection methods that have been proven to exacerbate inequality?

☆ UK's Sunak: Concerns about Scotland's gender reforms should be examined
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - British Prime Minster Rishi Sunak said it was "completely reasonable" for his government to examine transgender reforms passed in Scotland on Thursday given concerns raised by campaigners about the impact on women's safety. "Lots of people have got concerns about this new bill in Scotland, about the impact it will have on women and children's safety," he told reporters on Friday. The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) bill, which was backed by the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) and other parties in the country's devolved parliament except for the Conservatives, passed by 86 votes to 39. Supporters of the bill, however, said the reforms benefit transgender people and pose no threat to women's rights. "Any attempt by the UK government to undermine the democratic will of the Scottish parliament will be vigorously contested by the Scottish government."

☆ Why detransitioners are crucial to the science of gender care
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +43 min

A Canadian health provider said it couldn’t participate, citing recent threats to hospitals offering youth gender care. But as Reuters found, hard evidence on long-term outcomes for the rising numbers of people who received gender treatment as minors is very weak. Dr Marianne van der Loos, the Dutch study’s lead author, is a physician at Amsterdam University Medical Center’s Center for Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, a pioneer in gender care for adolescents. For those who also received medical treatment, detransitioning typically includes halting the hormone therapy they otherwise would receive for years. One is Max Robinson, who was 16 when she sought gender care at Kaiser in 2012.

☆ Kentucky senator says transgender son has died by suicide
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky state senator said Tuesday that her transgender son, a trans rights advocate on whom “a lack of acceptance took a toll,” has died by suicide. Democratic Sen. Karen Berg said her son Henry Berg-Brousseau “long struggled with mental illness, not because he was trans but born from his difficulty finding acceptance.” She said he died on Friday. The Louisville lawmaker said her son had just received a big promotion working for the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for LGBTQ rights. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

☆ Anti-LGBTQ hate thrives online, spurs fears of more violence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

On Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, researchers and LGBTQ advocates have tracked an increase in hate speech and threats of violence directed at LGBTQ people, groups and events, with much of it directed at transgender people. “A lot of that is happening online, and online threats are turning into threats of real violence offline.”Hospitals in Boston, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., and other cities have received bomb threats and other harassing messages after misleading claims spread online about transgender care programs. There’s no simple explanation for the increase in hate speech documented by researchers recent years. Online hate speech has been linked to offline violence in the past, and many of the perpetrators of recent mass shootings were later found to be immersed in online worlds of bigotry and conspiracy theories. Despite rules prohibiting hate speech or violent threats, platforms such as Facebook and YouTube have struggled to identify and remove such content.

☆ Club Q survivors blame 'hateful rhetoric' for Colorado Springs shooting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Two survivors of the Nov. 19 attack on a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, told members of Congress on Wednesday that they believe the shooting was the result of escalating anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The committee heard from Michael Anderson and James Slaugh, two survivors of the shooting at Club Q, which left five people dead and 17 others injured after a gunman entered the club and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle. Hate speech turns into hate action, and actions based on hate almost took my life from me at 25 years old. “The hateful rhetoric we’ve heard from elected leaders is the direct cause of the horrific shooting at Club Q,” he said. They are basic human rights.”The suspect accused of the Club Q shooting has since been charged with 305 criminal counts, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and bias-motivated crimes.

☆ Elon Musk was booed in Tesla's backyard. It shows how the Twitter mess has eroded his support among some of his biggest fans.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Jake Swearingen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Business InsiderIn 2015, Elon Musk got applause for Tesla. After Colbert called Musk "the real Tony Stark," and Musk got a round of applause for the Tesla, Colbert asked Musk whether he was "sincerely trying to save the world." It's dangerous to extrapolate the overall public sentiment towards Musk from a single comedy crowd at one event in San Francisco. As Musk becomes less of a hometown hero, that could in turn alienate some of Tesla's biggest and most dedicated customers. And it's less clear by the day what, exactly, Elon Musk is.

☆ Elon Musk booed off stage at a Dave Chappelle show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Elon Musk joined Dave Chappelle on stage Sunday in San Francisco, home of Twitter’s headquarters where the world’s richest person recently laid off ] many of its employees. The crowd at the Chase Center loudly booed Musk, who had spent much of the weekend wading into the culture wars, making transphobic statements and seemingly echoing QAnon tropes. Video of the incident at Sunday’s Chappelle show captured by people in attendance shows the controversial Twitter owner taking the stage and yelling Chappelle’s famous Rick James impression: “I’m rich, b***h.” Afterward, Musk got loudly booed for several minutes. That’s the sound of pending civil unrest.”After more jeers, Chappelle ended his show with a reprimand and a prayer. Musk continued his culture war campaign on Monday, once again warning about the thread of what he calls “the woke mind virus.”

But they fear a harsh new anti-gay law passed by Russian lawmakers will leave them little choice. As the Kremlin prepared to finalize the expansion of the 2013 discriminatory anti-gay law, members of the LGBTQ community in Russia told CNN they feared the uncertain future ahead. Activists say a new legislative package that beefs up an existing anti-gay law is a threat to LGBTQ people in Russia. And it’s just reducing the space within which a non-heterosexual existence can comfortably take place in Russia,” Healey told CNN. Yulia Alyoshina, Russia's first transgender politician, said the new law was discriminatory and would make life tougher for Russia's LGBTQ community.

☆ Why extremism experts say it's worth discussing the Colorado shooting suspect's pronouns
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

Attorneys for the alleged gunman in the deadly shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado said in court filings the suspect is nonbinary and uses “they” and “them” pronouns. In court appearances this week, Aldrich’s lawyers and District Attorney Michael Allen used he/him pronouns for Aldrich, but Aldrich’s attorneys referred to their client as “Mx. It’s unclear whether the public defenders were accidentally using he/him pronouns for Aldrich, and their office has not returned a request for comment. A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said, regarding the suspect’s pronouns, “The defendant will be identified as the defendant throughout proceedings,” but declined to comment further on both legal teams using he/him pronouns for Aldrich in court. Holt said the response from Carlson is another part of why he believes it’s worth questioning the suspect’s claim.

☆ Gay marriage bill wins enough votes for U.S. House passage
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Moira Warburton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The House vote was ongoing, with a majority already voting in favor. It is narrowly written to act as a limited backstop for the 2015 Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, known as Obergefell v. Hodges. The Supreme Court in 1967 declared prohibitions on interracial marriage unconstitutional. But the legislation would not bar states from blocking same-sex or interracial marriages if the Supreme Court allowed them to do so. Republican supporters hailed its affirmation of protections for religious groups who disagree with gay marriage.

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