Free Republic

There has been an increase in the number of new HIV cases in Ireland recently, with the number of new cases back to pre-COVID levels. HIV Ireland says that the country now has the second highest transmission rate per capita in Europe. A new report by the organization, which was developed with clinicians, researchers, advocates and people with lived experience from across Ireland and the UK, said that Ireland is unlikely to achieve its objective of ending new HIV transmission by 2030. […] Professor Yvonne Gilleece, a consultant in HIV medicine, has said that Ireland needs to increase testing rates...

Mediterranean voyage changes course twice after Turkey, then Egypt refuse accessThe Scarlet Lady cruise ship has changed its itinerary for the second time this week, after first Turkey and now Egypt denied it entry to their ports. The ship, owned by Virgin Voyages and chartered by 2SLGBTQ+ travel company Atlantis Events, is carrying 1,900 passengers, including legendary Broadway performer Patti LuPone. The passengers found out on Thursday the cruise would not be heading to Alexandria, Egypt, as a replacement for previously planned stops to Kuşadası and Istanbul in Turkey. Earlier this week, Turkish authorities canacelled the planned port calls, saying...

Some of the UK’s top judges are hearing arguments over whether a Trinidad and Tobago court had the legal right to overturn a 2018 ruling to remove colonial-era homophobic laws that criminalise anal sex between consenting men. The country’s “buggery law”, often referred to as its “sodomy” law, was created in 1925 and was written into Trinidad and Tobago’s 1986 Sexual Offences Act. In 2017 a Trinidadian LGBTQ+ rights activist, Jason Jones, challenged the law, and in 2018 a high court ruled that it infringed upon his constitutional right to privacy and equality. Last year a court of appeal quashed...

Some CD4 T cells infected with HIV can take on the characteristics of CD8 cells, according to a study published in Science. The researchers found that this transformed population of induced CD8 cells can still harbor latent HIV and contributes to the viral reservoir, which has implications for functional cure strategies. Antiretroviral therapy can keep HIV suppressed indefinitely, but the virus inserts its genetic blueprints into host cells and establishes a long-lasting viral reservoir that is impervious to the drugs and usually invisible to the immune system, making a true cure nearly impossible.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-- A painting depicting a couple making love while covered in Quranic verses was removed from a Swedish museum this week after hundreds of complaints, some threatening, from Muslims who found it offensive, officials said Thursday. The painting, "Scene d'Amour," by Louzla Darabi, was removed Monday from an exhibit about AIDS at the World Culture Museum in Goteborg in southern Sweden. More than 400,000 of Sweden's 9 million residents are Muslim, and the museum received some 700 complaints about the painting, including some that were threatening. Museum director Jette Sandahl said the painting was removed because it was detracting...

<p>The CIA then failed to comply with the DNI DIG’s oversight investigation, refusing to provide necessary information for investigators to understand why analytical standards at the CIA were violated. The CIA also illegally spied on the computer and phones belonging to DIG personnel, along with their investigations and contact with whistleblowers, Erdman alleges.</p>

Almost 5,000 people in California are newly diagnosed each year with HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. The greatest burden of these new infections occurs in men who have sex with men and Black and Latinx people. Since 2012, four HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medications have been introduced that, taken by people who do not have HIV, reduce the risk of getting HIV from sex by 99% and from a drug injection by at least 74%, according to the National Institutes of Health. To make the PrEP drugs more widely accessible, the state of California enacted two laws...

Iranian authorities have hanged another 30 prisoners at Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad on drug-related charges, says the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The campaign cites “local knowledgeable sources” saying 12 prisoners were executed on Wednesday June 29 and another 18 were hanged on the following Sunday. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran say the executions once again were carried out in secret and en masse, with no prior notification of families and attorneys and no official announcement from the judiciary. The report indicates that on June 29, the judiciary announced the execution of one convicted murderer...

California's blustery San Francisco Bay is home to the Golden Gate Bridge, commercial ports, public marinas and ferry boats. But more recently, a new sight is attracting locals' attention: Eastern North Pacific gray whales.The whales have brought wonder, as residents and researchers now get to closely observe how they feed, breed and socially engage. They've also brought growing unease: why are so many of them undernourished and dying?In 2025, a record number of 21 dead gray whales were found in the broader San Francisco Bay. So far this year, seven have died due to a combination of dwindling prey availability,...

When it comes to the queer bar in the wild, so many threats exist, and it's only gotten worse in the past few years. Higher upfront costs combined with lower foot traffic have caused a nationwide problem for the service and food industries, which is exacerbated in queer spaces, which deal with smaller demographics than the average bar or restaurant. And of course, there’s the fact that many people, especially younger people, just don’t go out or have a third space anymore.

AFTER DONALD TRUMP was sworn in as president on January 20, 2025, he issued a flurry of executive orders that eventually saw online information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scrubbed from the Internet. Thousands of pages and datasets disappeared. Resources like “RSV Vaccine Guidance for Pregnant People,” “Preventing HIV with PEP,” and more, vanished. Suddenly, Americans could no longer turn to the nation’s premier public health organization for reliable information.

A three-member panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed the U.S. military to reinstate its enlistment ban for HIV-positive people, ruling on Wednesday that the ban was based on “rational concerns.” The Department of Defense (DOD) has a “rational basis” to exclude people with HIV from enlisting in the armed forces, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer wrote in his opinion, even those with undetectable viral loads whose treatment renders them unable to transmit the virus. The ruling reverses a Virginia district court’s 2024 injunction blocking the DOD’s enlistment ban, which had been in effect since the Pentagon instituted...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Sunday that he would be “introducing federal legislation to make the Pride Flag a congressionally authorized symbol.” In a post on X, Schumer criticized President Donald Trump for attacking “not just the LGBTQ community,” but everyone who cares “about pride and equality” in New York City (NYC). Schumer added that he was “proud to stand with” people such as New York State Rep. Tony Simone (D) and New York State Sen. Erik Bottcher (D) to make his announcement. “The Stonewall Inn is sacred ground,” Schumer wrote. “Last week, Donald Trump attacked not...

New York City officials plan to reraise a pride flag at the federal monument at Stonewall in Manhattan, setting up a potential fight with the White House at the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement nearly 60 years ago. Federal officials quietly took the flag down after the Trump administration in January issued guidance drastically limiting the types of flags that could be displayed at sites managed by the National Park Service. But Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said in an interview Tuesday that he and other New York City-area politicians would reraise the flag at the federal monument...

A popular honeymoon destination is the site of the Pacific’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic, with officials pointing to rising meth use as a key driver. In Fiji, HIV/AIDS cases are projected to double this year to more than 3,000, according to UNAIDS and Fiji’s Ministry of Health. Officials say drug use is fueling the surge across the Pacific island nation. In December, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a rapid assessment detecting unsafe injecting practices.

Rejects President’s & House Republicans’ Extreme Cuts & Program Eliminations Washington DC… “After a tumultuous year of proposed program cuts and eliminations, Congress has agreed to reject them and instead has maintained funding for domestic HIV prevention and treatment programs on a bipartisan basis. Now, the Trump administration must focus its attention on properly implementing these programs in order to get the nation back on track to end HIV in the U.S.,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. In the final FY2026 spending bill released today by the Appropriations Committees, Congress rejected the House Republicans’ spending...

"...the New York City Health Department warns that “progress toward ending the HIV epidemic in New York City has slowed at a time when federal funding for HIV testing, treatment and prevention is under significant threat.” ... "...,the health department reports that 1,791 people were newly diagnosed in 2024. This marks a 5.4% increase from 2023. In total, the surveillance data show that 136,034 people report living with HIV. Of those, 68,600 have AIDS. (New York City’s population is nearly 8.5 million.)"

Gov. Greg Abbott originally called for the removal of rainbow crosswalks and other symbols of pride from public roads across Texas on Oct. 8, saying they pose safety concerns and misuse taxpayer dollars. In a statement, Abbott said any city that does not comply within 30 days could risk the “withholding or denial of state and federal road funding and suspension of agreements with TxDOT.” Almost a month later, the City of Dallas has submitted a request for an exception from compliance with the standards outlined in the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) October letter. "The City of Dallas installs...

bout two years ago, an HIV outbreak was first identified in Penobscot County, Maine, home of Bangor. In recent weeks, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed another case, bringing the total of new HIV diagnoses in the cluster to 30. Of note, 29 of those people were coinfected with hepatitis C virus; 29 reported injection drug use within a year of their HIV diagnoses; 27 have been unhoused within a year of diagnoses; 20 were linked to care within 30 days of diagnoses; and 16 of the 27 people currently living in Maine were virally suppressed at...

The United States will need more than 1,500 additional experienced HIV health care providers to meet goals for HIV testing and treatment, according to an analysis presented at IDWeek 2025. The study identified substantial geographic and racial/ethnic disparities, with especially pressing shortages in the South. As HIV treatment has improved, fewer people living with the virus are developing advanced immune suppression and opportunistic illnesses. Modern antiretroviral therapy is highly effective and generally convenient and well tolerated, so some routine HIV care can now be managed by primary care providers. But people aging with HIV have a host of coexisting health...