Prejudice kills lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals …. not just quickly and violently as sometimes happens in bullying incidents and hate crimes but also, as it turns out, slowly and steadily.

In what appears to be the first study to look at the consequences of anti-LGBT prejudice for mortality, researchers have found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual  individuals who lived in communities with high levels of anti-gay prejudice have a shorter life expectancy of 12 years on average compared with their peers in the least prejudiced communities.

“The results of this study suggest a broadening of the consequences of prejudice to include premature death,” noted the study’s lead author, Mark Hatzenbuehler, PhD, assistant professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Read more at Science Daily News.

Here’s an item that emphasizes the importance of beginning PFLAG chapters in different countries to ensure that families with LGBT children have a way to express their support.

A 90-year-old grandmother  became an Internet hit in China after her video calling for equal rights for her gay grandson went viral. During the video she holds up a sign which says in Chinese, ‘we urge the legalization of same-sex marriages.’ The video was part of a PFLAG China project (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), emphasizing the important role that families have in supporting equality for LGBT citizens. View the video.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has decided to sign an Anti-Homosexuality Bill that will carry life imprisonment sentences.  His decision comes a day after it became apparent that Museveni was going to stop homosexuals from being allowed bail, alongside those accused of rape.

Pepe Julian Onziema, a LGBTI rights activist in Uganda, told Gay Star News: “I am shocked and I am worried.” He added that “there’s been significant people leaving the country, people going underground.”

‘We need the world to keep helping us, we will continue calling for global action. LGBT people need shelter and secure travel. For them, it’s not safe to be in Uganda anymore.” 

Two items landed in my news feeds this week, reminding me of that old business slogan, “Build a better mousetrap …. and the people will come.”

The first was from the Huffington Post about Chobani yogurt, an official sponsor of Team USA at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. As it happens,  thousands of cups of Chobani yogurt are waiting to be shipped to Sochi to feed American athletes, but the Russians have been refusing to allow the shipment because of an ongoing dairy products spat with the United States.

Even so, that didn’t stop Chobani from taking a powerful stand last week against Russia’s anti-LGBT laws, joining AT&T in its equally powerful public opposition. 

Last week Chobani tweeted an image of rainbow-colored yogurt cups with the tagline “Naturally Powering Everyone.” And Chobani’s CEO, Hamdi Ulukaya,told the Associated Press on Feb. 5 that “We

Continue reading Build a better mousetrap…. Business First? Or Laws First? →

សម្រាប់ការបកប្រែជាភាសាខ្មែរនៃប្រកាសនេះសូមចុច: Cambodia LGBT Rights (Khmer)

LGBT activists in Cambodia, assisted by the United Nations and civil society organizations, are urging the government to pass legislation banning hate crimes and discrimination. What was billed as the first regional community dialogue dedicated to LGBT concerns was held in Phnom Penh January 20-21 and included more than 50 LGBT citizens discussing discriminations they have experienced. Read the story from the Phnom Penh Post.

“We are ordinary people too,” Nay Sitha, from  the Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK), said. “Ordinary people that need access to jobs, education and healthcare; why should we be discriminated against for how we dress or who we love?”

Unfortunately, the routes to such positive legislation to secure equality for LGBTs can sometimes be labyrinthine. In Seattle, for example, the press for such laws began in the 1970s with quick successes in the city council, where laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, public accommodations Continue reading Pressing for LGBT rights in Cambodia →

Nigeria’s government has launched what may be one of the most vicious campaigns against its LGBT citizens since Nazi Germany’s Holocaust. Mobs demand deaths by stoning; judges pride themselves for compassion by “mere” whippings and imprisonments.  As the New York Times reports, a new Nigerian law  does not just  ban same-sex marriage but “goes significantly further, prescribing 10 Continue reading Nigeria’s vicious LGBT “sanitizing” →