GAY TRUTH

Same-sex “marriage” in the United States is not improving the health of gays and lesbians, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, an American think-tank. In their paper, Effects of Access to Legal Same-Sex Marriage on Marriage and Health: Evidence from BRFSS , the researchers say that the legalization of same-sex “marriage” has improved access to healthcare for gays and lesbians. Even with that improved healthcare access, though, those in same-sex “marriages” did not see any sort of bump up in their health, they concluded. Health indicators for lesbians in these legally-recognized “marriages” did not suggest they are any healthier than non-“married” lesbians. Gay men in these “marriages” also showed no improvement in their health. “Turning to health outcomes, we find no relationship between legal access to same-sex marriage and self-rated health, substance use, or preventive care take-up for men in same-sex households,” the authors wrote. The lack of a

Gardasil vaccine and box (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The BMA has called for the HPV immunisation programme to be widened to include gay men , in an effort to tackle ‘alarming’ rates of HPV-related disease. According to a report this week in   Pulse Magazine , Colm O’Mahony, chair of the BMA’s dermatology and venereology subcommittee and BMA public health committee co-chair Penelope Toff have written to health minister Anna Soubry supporting offering the Gardasil vaccine to gay men. The BMA letter said that although it would be difficult to identify young gay men for a vaccine programme, the HPV vaccine could be administered at genitourinary medicine clinics or community sexual health clinics, perhaps as an add-on vaccination for patients receiving a hepatitis B vaccination. The letter added that ‘the increasing incidence of HPV and development of anal lesions in gay men, particularly HIV positive gay men, is alarming...