Charlie Sheen comes out as HIV-positive
Actor Charlie Sheen told NBC News he has HIV, saying he came out because of extortion attempts threatening to out him. The revelation has been a test of public knowledge of HIV, with many people struggling to understand a new reality in which treated HIV is controllable and not easily transmissible.
HRC Corporate Equality Index recognizes Twitter, Uber
The US Human Rights Campaign’s yearly Corporate Equality Index recognized tech firms Twitter, Uber and Airbnb with perfect scores. For the first time, the index also looked at international equality, lauding companies in Mexico for improvement. Meanwhile, the Japan Times reports that Japan’s private sector is now leading the public sector in recognition of gay rights.
The origins of gay suicide
At Stanford, a historian says he has traced the origins of the cultural trope of gay suicide back to Germany in the late 19th century. Samuel Huneke says the idea that suicide is intrinsic to the gay life started with German writers such as Klaus Mann, son of Thomas Mann, in an era of both gay emancipation and new oppression.
The gay man who sold his kidney to flee Iran
Buzzfeed reporter J Lester Feder continues his coverage of gay refugees from the Middle East with the story of Danial, an Iranian man who sold his kidney to escape from Iran to Turkey. Getting to his final destination, Canada, however, would be even harder.
Chinese gay men face HIV epidemic
China has reported over 100,000 new HIV cases this year, a quarter of which are gay men. In the past decade, China has increased measures to combat HIV, but transmission is still growing rapidly among concentrated gay populations in a few major cities.
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