Report says that LGBT health issues need more research; Campaign underway to honor Harvey Milk with a stamp; Indian state bans new Gandhi biography over gay rumors.
- A new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) shows that the health needs of LGBT Americans are in dire need of research. They say in a press release, “Researchers need to proactively engage lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in health studies and collect data on these populations to identify and better understand health conditions that affect them…It was only when researchers made deliberate efforts to engage women and racial and ethnic minorities in studies that we discovered differences in how some diseases occur in and affect specific populations. Routine collection of information on race and ethnicity has expanded our understanding of conditions that are more prevalent among various groups or that affect them differently. We should strive for the same attention to and engagement of sexual and gender minorities in health research.”
- A national campaign is underway to honor the late LGBT activist and politician Harvey Milk with a stamp. The Gay and Lesbian Task Force, activist David Mixner, Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, California assembly speaker John Pérez, activist Cleve Jones, and the Reverend Troy Perry are spearheading the campaign. On his blog, Mixner said, “The assassinated Supervisor from San Francisco would have had a real sense of humor about this effort. He would get that twisted smile of his and say, “Hell, imagine all those straights having to lick my backside to send a piece of mail.” Despite the humor, this is a very serious effort that is likely to yield real results if everyone would write a letter. For more information, just write to harveymilkstampdir@cox.net and get aboard this important effort.”
- The western Indian state of Gujarat has banned the release of a new biography of Gandhi that some reviewers claim suggests that he was gay. The Associated Press reports “The furor was sparked by local media reports, based on early reviews out of the U.S. and U.K., some of which emphasized passages in the book suggesting Gandhi had an intimate relationship with a German man named Hermann Kallenbach.” The author of Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India, Joseph Lelyveld, claims that his book is being grossly misinterpreted.
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