“Patient Zero” theory debunked
Researchers from the Universities of Arizona and Cambridge have analyzed stored blood serum samples to debunk the theory that HIV was brought to North America by a promiscuous flight attendant. Instead, the study suggests the virus arrived in the US around 1970, a decade before it was identified.
Read more at the Washington Post.
American LGBT groups fracture over bathroom protections
At BuzzFeed, Dominic Holden exposes a rift in the American LGBT activist community over whether to compromise on bathrooms to make progress on rights legislation everywhere else. Some say LGBT campaigners should drop public space protections (ie public bathrooms) from rights bills so that conservatives will compromise on housing and employment. Others say that’s throwing trans people under the bus.
Indonesia considers banning extramarital sex
A conservative Islamic group is petitioning Indonesia’s high court to expand adultery laws to also ban all extramarital sex. If the petition, which will go before the court this winter, succeeds, it would effectively ban all gay sex, and criminalize many straight couples as well.
Read more at the Washington Post.
Gibraltar legalizes same-sex marriage
The parliament of the tiny Mediterranean British colony of Gibraltar has voted unanimously to legalize same-sex marriage. Gibraltar, an outcropping on the coast of Spain, has a population of only about 30,000 people.
Czech Republic allows gay adoption
Czech same sex couples are one more small step towards equality, thanks to a new court ruling allowing gays and lesbians in civil partnerships to individually adopt children. Czech same sex couples still cannot adopt children as a couple, however, or get legally married.
Read more from the Associated Press.
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