FDA lifts gay blood ban, with abstinence period
A year after a recommendation from an expert panel, the US Food and Drug Administration has opened up blood donations to gay and bisexual men, as long as they have been abstinent for more than a year. The one-year abstinence period has become an international standard, although gay rights groups still say it is discriminatory and based on bad science.
Africa gay support may be doing more harm than good
Since the US government has come around on gay marriage, Western support for gay rights in Africa has soared. But is it doing more harm than good? The New York Times argues that US support has made African gay people more visible and easier to target, while granting them little protection.
Chinese man sues for same-sex marriage rights
A man in China’s Hunan province is suing the government for the right to marry his partner. His lawyer says he hopes the suit will be a test case for gay rights in China, where the gay community has become radically more visible in the past decade.
American Christians trending towards acceptance
According to research by Pew, American Christians are growing dramatically more accepting of same-sex relationships. Since 2007, acceptance among all groups has grown from 44 to 54 percent, and among Catholics is as high as 70 percent.
Romania, Slovenia reject same-sex unions
The Romanian parliament and Slovenian public have both rejected same-sex unions. Romania has now rejected same-sex unions twice since 2013. Slovenian conservatives won a two-thirds majority in a referendum to pre-empt parliament, which was considering a same-sex marriage bill. The two decisions widen the gap between Western Europe, where same-sex unions have made broad progress, and Eastern Europe, which continues to lag behind.
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