Month: May 2023

Uganda’s President Signs Punitive Anti-Gay Bill Into Law

PFLAGLI

Uganda anti-gay

The president of Uganda signed a punitive anti-gay bill on Monday that includes the death penalty, enshrining into law an intensifying crackdown against L.G.B.T.Q. people in the conservative East African nation and dismissing widespread calls not to impose one of the world’s most restrictive anti-gay measures.Uganda anti-gay

The Uganda anti-gay law, which was introduced in Parliament in March, calls for life imprisonment for anyone who engages in gay sex. Anyone who tries to have same-sex relations could be liable for up to a decade in prison.

The Uganda anti-gay law also decrees the death penalty for anyone convicted of “aggravated homosexuality,” a term defined as acts of same-sex relations with children or disabled people, those carried out under threat or while someone is unconscious. The offense of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” carries a sentence of up to 14 years.

The legislation is a major blow to efforts by the United Nations, Western governments and civil society groups that had implored the president, Yoweri Museveni, not to sign it.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, has said the bill would “damage Uganda’s international reputation.”

But Mr. Museveni was unmoved, saying in a video released by the state broadcaster in April that the country had “rejected the pressure from the imperials,” a reference to Western nations.

On Monday, the speaker of Uganda’s Parliament, Anita Annet Among, first announced on Twitter that the president had signed the bill into law. “I thank my colleagues the Members of Parliament for withstanding all the pressure from bullies and doomsday conspiracy theorists in the interest of our country,” she said.

The law, activists said, tramples the rights of L.G.B.T.Q. people and leaves them vulnerable to discrimination and violence. Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, but the new law calls for far more stringent punishment and broadens the list of offenses.

5.29.2023 – NYTimes.com By Abdi Latif Dahir

Click here to read the entire article.

The post Uganda’s President Signs Punitive Anti-Gay Bill Into Law appeared first on Time For Families.


Source: Time for Families

F.D.A. Ends Ban on Blood Donations From Gay and Bisexual Men

PFLAGLI

gay blood

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday that it had formally ended the agency’s wide-ranging prohibition on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, a longstanding policy that had been denounced as discriminatory.

Instead, the F.D.A. is finalizing guidance that includes a questionnaire for all donors that is aimed at learning about their recent sexual activity. The more targeted questions will focus on whether someone has had new or multiple sex partners or anal sex in the last three months.

Potential donors who had recent sex under those screening criteria would be turned away.gay blood

The revised policy would also preclude blood donations from people taking oral PrEP to prevent H.I.V. infection, a restriction the agency said was designed to avoid false-negative results during blood screening.

In the revised policy the F.D.A. took its cues from Canada and the United Kingdom, which adopted similar approaches. The U.S. agency has been working on the change for months and said it also reviewed data from other nations and from a U.S. study examining this method.

Blood donations are sorely needed. They fell during and after the pandemic with the decrease in school- and office-based blood drives.

The old rules were far more restrictive in screening out gay or bisexual men. The update allows blood donation companies to use a more evidence-based way to reduce the risk of H.I.V. transmission while also maximizing donations.

“This shift toward individual donor assessments prioritizes the safety of America’s blood supply while treating all donors with the fairness and respect they deserve,” said Kate Fry, the chief executive of America’s Blood Centers, which represents independent blood centers that supply 60 percent of the nation’s donations.

by Christina Jewett, NYTimes.com

Click here to read the entire article.

The post F.D.A. Ends Ban on Blood Donations From Gay and Bisexual Men appeared first on Time For Families.


Source: Time for Families

Supreme Court ethics hearings face tough, but necessary, road to reform

PFLAGLI

Supreme Court Gifts

Supreme Court Ethics – The hearings, led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, began this week and are perhaps the only vehicle, at this stage, to leverage public pressure that could lead to an ethics code for the nation’s highest court.

We might as well say right now that the Senate Judiciary Committee is unlikely to get a federal law passed that would set clear Supreme Court ethics for the ethically challenged U.S. Supreme Court.Supreme Court Gifts

Passing a Senate ethics bill would require 60 votes, which would require at least nine GOP lawmakers — who like the majority-conservative court operating just as it is — crossing the aisle to vote with their Democratic counterparts.

And the Republicans control the House, so a bill would certainly be D.O.A. there.

Also, legal experts aren’t in agreement about whether or not Congress has the constitutional authority to impose ethics standards on the court, or order the court to do so itself.
 
CST Editorial Review Board, May 3, 2023
 
Click here to read the full Article.

The post Supreme Court ethics hearings face tough, but necessary, road to reform appeared first on Time For Families.


Source: Time for Families