Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 10th, 2012
TODAY’S AGENDA:
FDA Panel To Consider Truvada for HIV-Prevention: Washington, D.C. The Food and Drug Administration concluded on Tuesday that Truvada, a combination of two anti-retroviral drugs used for the treatment of HIV, appears to be safe and effective for preventing HIV infection when taken once daily. Today a panel of FDA advisers will consider the data and vote on whether Truvada should be approved as a prophylaxis for those at risk for HIV infection.
While some AIDS advocacy groups hail the drug as an important option in preventing HIV, others point out that the trials for Truvada’s effectiveness in prevention demonstrate a cut in infections ranging from 44% to 75%, with that effectiveness dependent on how diligent patients are about taking the pill every day. Some fear that those taking Truvada may become overly confident in the drug’s effectiveness and forego the use of condoms. Last year, one trial was suspended after women taking the drug were more likely to become infected than those taking a placebo, leading researchers to speculate that women may require a higher dose to prevent infection. Truvada’s price tag at $30 per day, or just under $11,000 per year presents a significant barrier, especially to those who are uninsured.
The FDA advisory panel will weigh that information (except for the drug’s price, which the FDA is legally barred from considering) in making its decision today. The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panels, but it usually does.
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Angers, France; Bergen, Norway; Brussels, Belgium; Chisinau, Moldova; Maspalomas, Gran Canaria; New Hope, PA; Northhampton, MA and Uppsala, Sweden.
AIDS Walks This Weekend: Ohunquit, ME and Stockton, CA.
Other Events This Weekend: Boston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Boston, MA; Beach Bear Weekend, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Big Horn Rodeo, Las Vegas, NV Paradise Festival, Oahu, HI.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
Book Burning in Berlin: 1933. After having raided the Institute for Sexual Research and looted its vast library and archives (see May 6), the German Student Association (Deutsche Studentenschaft) proclaimed a nationwide “Action against the Un-German Spirit”, which culminated in the “cleansing” (“Säuberung”) by fire on May 10, 1933 of an estimated 25,000 volumes of “un-German” books. Book burnings took place throughout Germany, and the bulk of the books burned in Berlin came from the ISR. About 40,000 people watched in the Opernplatz as propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels declared “No to decadence and moral corruption!” LGBT advocacy, which had developed as a strong scientific and social institution in Germany over the past several decades, was shut down virtually overnight.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
Max Lorenz: 1901. The Düsseldorf native’s powerful performances as a heroic tenor (heldentenor, in German) in Wagner’s operas is probably what saved his life in Nazi Germany — or at the very least, the life of his Jewish wife, whom he married in 1932 despite his homosexuality. The very next year, he established his dominance at the Bayreuth Festival, the annual Wagner festival began by Richard Wagner himself, just as the Nazis came to power. Later, when Lorenz was caught “in flagrante” with a young man at Bayreuth, Hitler forbad his future performances at the prestigious festival. Winifred Wagner, the festival’s director, answered that she would would close the festival because without Lorenz, “Bayreuth can’t be done.” Such was Hitler’s love for Wagner’s operas that he backed down and let Lorenz perform. In 1943, when the SS stormed Lorenz’s home while he was away to take his wife and mother-in-law off to the concentration camps, Hermann Göring personally intervened and placed the entire family under his personal protection.
Lorenz’s vareer lasted almost three decades. He was particularly renowned for his performances as Seigfried (in Seigfried and Götterdämmerung), Tristan (in Tristan und Isolde) and as Walther (in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) After the war, Lorenz became an Austrian citizen, but his reputation was sulled by the assumption that he had been a Nazi. He died in Salzburg in 1975.
Michele Van Gorp: 1977. Born in Warren, Michigan, Michele Van Gorp played women’s collegiate basketball at Purdue University for her freshman and sophomore years, then transferred to Duke University, where she led Duke to the school’s firs NCAA final. She was drafted into the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). Van Gorp was the only open lesbian in the WNBA from 2002 (when Sue Wicks retired) until 2005, when Sheryl Swoopes and Latasha Byears came out. Van Gorp retired from the WNBA in 2005 following injuries, and she is now coaching in France.
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Reed
May 11th, 2012
The Truvada item is very discouraging. Its side-effects can (and DO) include devastating osteoporosis.
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