LGBT News

The Gates Foundation has donated nearly $6M to a promising HIV vaccine study underway at Florida Atlantic University. Via University Press: The vaccine, created by Scripps Research Institute professor Michael Farzan, has showed consistently effective results after being tested on lab animals. The grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will help fund his research for the next four …

Bill Donohue is going to have Catholic kittens! Via the Irish Queers: We are happy and relieved to announce that, after 25 years of struggle, we have won! The NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade has dropped its bigoted ban: an Irish LGBTQ contingent will finally march with its own banner in the parade next March 17th. From the beginning, our …

I’ve got my one purple shirt ready. Clip recap: “Bullying creates real despair and desperation. It can take a lot of years to shake it off. And some kids don’t make it that far. Layer on top of that someone trying to figure out their sexuality, and the fact that teachers and family might actually be part of the bullying, …

Russian police are investigating whether Apple’s so-called “gay emojis” violate the national ban on gay propaganda. Billboard reports: The “administrative case” under controversial laws that prohibit the propagation of homosexual (termed “non-traditional”) relationships to minors, carry fines of between $12,000 and $15,000 if an offender is convicted. The case, brought by police in Russia’s Kirov region 600 miles northeast of …

The International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission has changed their name. Michael Lavers reports at the Washington Blade: The organization — known by the acronym IGLHRC — will formally announce during its annual gala in Manhattan that it has changed its name to OutRight Action International. The group will also unveil its new logo, website and tagline that reads …

Vox reports: Robert Mugabe, the 91-year-old leader of Zimbabwe, deviated slightly from his prepared remarks, during his Monday evening address to the United Nations General Assembly, to do something that he does frequently: slur against homosexuality. “We are not gays,” he shouted. And it’s worse than it sounds. Mugabe made the comment in the course of a point about “double-standards,” …

Russian president Vladimir Putin sat down with 60 Minutes in advance of his address today before the United Nations General Assembly. According to Putin, Russia treats its LGBT citizens very well. Via CBS News: “The problem of sexual minorities in Russia had been deliberately exaggerated from the outside for political reasons, I believe, without any good basis,” he tells Charlie …

After withering reviews and widespread criticism of the lead character, Stonewall bombed at the box office this weekend, earning a meager $871 per screen in a small opening at 129 theaters. The Los Angeles Times reports: The low turnout for “Stonewall” does not come as a surprise to some. Backlash over the film, which dramatizes the 1969 gay-rights riots at …

Last night the Democratic National Committee held its annual LGBT gala at Manhattan’s Gotham Hall, where President Obama warmly embraced SCOTUS champion Jim Obergefell. Over 500 donors attended the event, paying from $1200 to the Federal Election Commission maximum of $33,400 per ticket. CNN reports on Obama’s remarks to the crowd: “One of their leading candidates argued that going to …

The world has known Mr. Smithers is gay for more than a quarter-century, but he’s finally going to formally come out this season. Executive producer Al Jean: “In Springfield now, most people know he’s gay, but obviously Burns doesn’t. We deal with that in two episodes. We actually do a lot with Smithers this year; he gets fed up with …

The Advocate reports: He rose to fame thanks to The Daily Show, came out in 2011 and now works as a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning, has a recurring role on The Good Wife and his own show on the Cooking Channel. But Mo Rocca’s newest claim to fame is that he is the first out man to deliver a …

Via the Associated Press: South Dakota on Friday agreed to pay $242,000 to attorneys for same-sex couples who challenged the state’s ban on gay marriages. Attorney Josh Newville said the deal was finalized Friday, bringing to a close the lawsuit filed in federal District Court in May 2014. “I’m glad we don’t have to fight over it anymore,” he said. …

Via press release: Today the Human Rights Campaign announced that Vice President Joe Biden will deliver the keynote address at the 19th annual HRC National Dinner on the evening of October 3, 2015, in Washington, DC. In addition, HRC announced that seven-time Emmy Award winner Allison Janney will present HRC’s National Vanguard Award to Academy Award nominated actress Ellen Page …

The Associated Press reports: The Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling that a Portland bar owner must pay about $400,000 in damages to patrons he told to stay away. The state investigated a bar formerly known as the P Club after the owner left a voice message for one of the Rose City T-Girls, a group of transgender customers …

Today the Human Rights Campaign sent a letter to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman [photo] in which they call for an investigation of price-gouging by pharma CEO Martin Shkreli.  HRC head Chad Griffin writes: Daraprim is a lifesaving treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection impacting patients with compromised immune systems including those who are pregnant or living with HIV. …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: A transgender woman live-tweeted what she described as a “denigrating” experience that caused her to miss a Monday evening flight out of Orlando International Airport because she was detained by federal security officials. Shadi Petosky, a writer and producer at a small Los Angeles entertainment company, tweeted that she was pulled out of line at the …

But he won’t say by how much. NBC News reports: The pharmaceutical company boss under fire for increasing the price of the drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent said Tuesday he will lower the cost of the life-saving medication. Martin Shkreli did not say what the new price would be, but expected a determination to be made over the …

Yesterday we learned that pharma CEO Martin Shkreli has raised the price of a vital AIDS drug by 5500%. Folks have gone digging into Shkreli’s past and there’s quite a story there. US Uncut reports that Shkreli was recently accused of hacking the email account of a rival pharma executive and threatening his family. They write: The report, taken by …

Raw Story reports: Appearing on Bloomberg TV, the CEO of a pharmaceutical company that recently hiked the price of a drug used for critically ill infants and AIDS patients by 5,500 percent, defended the price increase by promising better things to come for future patients. Martin Shkreli, 32, the founder and chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, recently purchased the rights …

At an event honoring his late mother, today Prince William condemned homophobia and anti-LGBT bullying. From the Daily Mail: During an hour-long training session William vowed that if he saw anyone bullying a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender‎ person he would step in and confront the abuser after comforting the victim. ‘I would try to confront, to tackle the person. …