New Hospital Visitation Regulations for LGBT Families Are in Effect

Last Tuesday, federal regulations regarding patients’ hospital visitation rights will go into effect.  These new regulations require all hospitals participating in Medicaid and Medicare programs – virtually every hospital in the country – to permit patients to designate visitors of their choosing and prohibit discrimination in visitation based on a number of factors, including sexual orientation and gender identity.

Moved by the tragic story of an LGBT family – Janice Langbehn, Lisa Pond and their children – who were kept apart as Lisa lay dying in a Miami hospital, President Obama issued a presidential memorandum in April 2010 directing the Department of Health and Human Services to develop regulations protecting hospital visitation rights.

HRC has prepared a Hospital Visitation Guide with plenty of information GLBT people will want to know.

“LGBT people experience discrimination in many aspects of their lives, but it is perhaps at its worst during times of crisis,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese.  “We thank President Obama and HHS Secretary Sebelius for recognizing the hardships LGBT people face and taking this important step toward ensuring that no one will be turned away from a partner’s hospital bedside again.”

In addition to working with the Obama administration on the hospital visitation issue, HRC administers the Healthcare Equality Index, an annual survey of healthcare policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients and their families.  For more information about the HEI, as well as resources for hospitals and LGBT patients, go to www.hrc.org/hei.

Adam Levine for testicular awareness

You've probably already seen this by now but if you haven't, It's Marroon 5's Adam Levine starring in an advertisement to raise awareness for testicular cancer. I don't know about you but it certainly makes me more aware of my testicles.

Obama orders rule on hospital-visitation rights

The White House on Thursday issued a presidential memorandum ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to draw up rules to allow patients to decide who can visit them in the hospital. President Barack Obama was aiming at situations that make it difficult, if not impossible, for same-sex partners of patients to be at their bedsides over the objection of family members. The rules would affect any hospital receiving Medicaid or Medicare funding, which includes the vast majority of hospitals in the U.S.

National LGBT Health Awareness Week

This week is National LGBT Health Awareness Week. Observe the occasion by helping Lambda Legal collect the stories of gay people who have been affected by health care discrimination.

Share Your Story today and help ask policy-makers and health care providers to ensure that LGBT people and people living with HIV receive care free from discrimination.

In Lambda Legal's recent health care fairness survey, most of the 5,000 respondents reported experiencing discrimination in health care settings—including more than half of all lesbian, gay and bisexual respondents, 70 percent of transgender respondents and 63 percent of respondents living with HIV.

Save $10 on your next visit to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains

MileHighGayGuy.com advertiser Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains offers a number of confidential and affordable services for gay men including HIV testing and prostate and testicular cancer screenings.

MilehighGayGuy Advertiser Shout Out: Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains provides services for gay men including STD Testing and Treatment, HIV Testing and Education, Prostate and Testicular Cancer Screenings, and Education and Referrals.

Health Care Discrimination Stories Needed for LGBT Health Awareness Week: March 28- April 3

Help Lambda Legal (and the rest of the gay community) observe LGBT Health Awareness Week - sponsored by the National LGBT Health Coalition - by sharing your story of health care discrimination.

In Lambda Legal's recent health care survey, more than half of respondents reported experiencing discrimination in health care.

Our real stories that can influence policy-makers and health care providers.

National panel to look at LGBT health issues, research gaps

A panel created by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine, which advises the nation on science, engineering and medical matters, will address LGBT health issues and gaps in research.

$10M for HIV-positive teen dropped from insurance

South Carolina's high court has ruled that Fortis Insurance must pay $10 million in damages to Jerome Mitchell for wrongly cutting off his health coverage after the then-17-year-old college student found out he was HIV-positive.

The decision affirmed a lower court's finding that Fortis had been wrong to base its decision to rescind Mitchell's policy on a note in his records that implied incorrectly that his diagnosis may have occurred before he got the insurance.

Need help paying for HIV medication?

The Colorado AIDS Drug Assistance Program provides HIV/AIDS medications at no cost to Colorado residents who qualify.

Funded through the federal Ryan White CARE Act and the state of Colorado, ADAP is administered by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

To enroll, call 303-692-2716 or visit www.stdhivco.com and click on the ADAP link.

Being transgendered is not a disease

Tonight at the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) annual meeting in San Francisco, GID Reform Now, a coalition of transgender and allied leaders, will lead a protest calling attention to grave concerns about the direction of the APA Work Group on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders, the group responsible for recommending changes to the DSM.

“In 1973 the APA wisely voted to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The result was a very real decrease in bias and prejudice faced by lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in our society. Today, America’s psychiatric professionals are considering changing the way diversity of gender identity and expression are classified in this important document. This work has far-reaching implications not only for the health and well-being of transgender people, but for the civil rights of the transgender community and of all people," said HRC President Joe Solmonese.

HRC releases Healthcare Equality Index

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, the nation's largest association of LGBT healthcare professionals, today released the third annual Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), a national report that sets benchmarks and highlights best practices in healthcare facility policies for LGBT Americans. The release coincides with the annual observance of National Hospital Week.

“While many facilities are leading the way in fairness for LGBT patients and their families, on the whole, the healthcare industry is failing to adequately address the needs of our community,” said Human Rights Campaign Foundation President Joe Solmonese. “But tools like the HEI can turn this trend around. By helping to remove barriers and create truly welcoming healthcare environments, we can build a stronger, healthier community.”

Check out some key findings of the HEI after the jump.


Visitation Policies. The HEI survey has identified model visitation policies that are explicitly inclusive of the LGBT community. These model policies will set the standard for credit on these questions in the future.

Advance Healthcare Directives. All HEI-participating facilities have compliance policies requiring the honoring of legally-valid advance healthcare directives. Unfortunately, LGBT individuals come forward with tragic stories of hospitals failing to recognize these directives, reflecting a disconnect between the existence of written policies and the actual implementation of these policies on the part of all personnel. Future HEI surveys will focus on staff training related to advance healthcare directives as a means to eliminating this disconnect.

Cultural Competency Training. Seventy-two percent of participating facilities provide cultural competency training addressing sexual orientation and healthcare issues relevant to lesbian, gay and bisexual community. Seventy-one percent of participating facilities provide cultural competency training addressing gender identity and healthcare issues relevant to transgender community.

Employment Non-Discrimination Policies. Ninety-eight percent of the participating facilities bar employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, while only 63 percent of those policies include “gender identity or expression” or “gender identity.”



Free and confidential HIV testing at Colorado AIDS Project

Colorado AIDS Project encourages all individuals to know their HIV status and offers free and confidential testing for youth and adults.

Testing is available Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. by appointment. Walk-ins can come every Thursday from 3-7 p.m. Testing is located at Colorado AIDS Project's offices at 2490 W. 26th Ave., Building A, Suite 300 in Denver and is available to anyone 13 years and older.

To ensure availability for testing, make an appointment with Athena Lansing at 303 837-0166 ext. 464 or email her at athenal@coloradoaidsproject.org.

Confidential testing is done with the OraQuick ADVANCE Rapid HIV Test and results are ready after 20 minutes.

CAP recognizes that testing may be difficult and scary so they strive to create the most comfortable and supportive environment possible. CAP pledges its support to those who learn they are HIV-positive and will serve as a bridge between testing positive and connecting with more comprehensive CAP client services.

Contact your Senator today to support GLBT health funding

Recently, 46 Representatives supported the addition of a GLBT question to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).

Now Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) is leading the charge in the Senate to rally support for appropriating the $2 million necessary to add this question. The Senator has begun circulating a sign-on "Dear Colleague" letter in the Senate to show support for adding $2 million in increased funding to the budget for the National Center for Health Statistics, which will pay all costs associated with adding a question about sexual orientation and gender identity to NHIS.

This survey helps set the federal government's priorities in funding health programs, so gathering data on LGBT demographics is vital for demonstrating the importance of LGBT health concerns and pushing for increased funding for services for the LGBT community.

Contact your Senator today to ask them to sign onto the Whitehouse Letter in the Senate.

To contact your Senator, call the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121, tell them your state, and ask to speak to your Senator.

When you are connected to your Senator's office, ask for the staff member who works on Health and Human Services appropriations. Tell them that you are a constituent who supports appropriating an additional $2 million for the National Health Interview Survey and that you would like them to sign on.

Whatever happened with gay men and meth?

So what happened with gay men and meth? A couple of years ago everyone was in a panic. Eighth Avenue was crowded with bus stop posters decrying the scourge that was crystal methamphetamine, it seemed like everyone knew someone who had just lost their job or soul to Tina, brunch pals were dropping like flies. Health officials and community activists made the direst possible predictions about the perfect storm of meth and HIV, not to mention flesh-eating, drug-resistant bacterial infections. Yikes!

Read the rest of the article after the jump.


Well, the truth is that meth, like crack cocaine, is still around and still wreaking havoc in the lives of gay men and others; it's just gone underground. The public panic has waned, as it always does - a point this newspaper's Duncan Osborne has taken pains to point out - and all the hoopla has subsided into the daily grind of users using and former users struggling to stay clean.

The effort to silence the seductive siren's call of crystal meth has proven in many cases to be a tremendously difficult battle that still takes enormous effort even years after a user has admitted he has a problem and taken substantial steps to address it.

Just ask anyone in the still crowded rooms of the 12-step group Crystal Meth Anonymous (http://www.nycma.org), which has more than 30 meetings a week in Manhattan. Those guys know the different cycles of relapse, because they hear about it every day.

There are people like Davis (all the names in this article have been changed) in early recovery but still struggling to go for even a week without binging. "It's like I'm trying to climb up the slope of a mountain and just can't get traction. I keep sliding back. If I have money, I'll buy drugs. If I feel down, I'll go online to try to hook up with someone who's using. I just can't get over the hump."

Achieving abstinence can be particularly difficult with meth because the way it operates on the brain may actually interfere with a person's ability to withstand triggers to use. Cocaine is known to flush the brain with more than 500 percent the normal level of the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine, whereas meth can stimulate the release of more than 1,500 percent. But when the party's finally over, a user is running only on fumes to support his emotional stability as the brain slowly attempts to recover.

For many people, getting sober requires an all-out effort, not infrequently an inpatient detox program with specific experience in treating meth addicts like the ones at Manhattan's Addiction Institute (http://www.addictioninstituteny.org), at the Pride Institute (http://www.pride-institute.com), a long-time presence in Minnesota that now operates in New Jersey as well. But go-away rehab programs are costly and often not covered by stingy managed care companies. Luckily, there are other options, like the LGBT Community Center's new outpatient recovery program (http://gaycenter.org/health/recovery) that operates on a sliding scale based on people's ability to pay and accepts Medicaid.

But all too often, even when someone has been able to cobble together a few months of clean time, and has a whole host of new perspectives on what made them vulnerable to getting hooked on meth, and has even re-crafted their world from a shady network of users into a supportive sober community, relapse is more often the norm than an exception.

"I was six months off meth," said Charlie, "I was going to CMA meetings every day. But I was lonely I hadn't learned how to have sex and be intimate with another guy without meth. Slowly I started back sniffing around online, then jerking off thinking about crystal sex. An old fuck buddy from like more than a year ago texted me one day I called in sick to work and was back in the saddle with meth."

For Charlie, his relapse was luckily just a slip and within a couple days, he was back at CMA and slowly counting each clean day again. But for some guys, getting back to sobriety can take months. "I was so ashamed of myself," said Gordon who relapsed last year after being two-and-a-half years off meth. "I was supposed to be a pillar of sobriety, advising people who just got clean. I was supposed to have it figured out. When I broke up with my boyfriend, I got so depressed, and then when I relapsed, I just couldn't face telling people it had happened. And so it kept happening. It was really a nightmare."

While Gordon has stopped again, the sense of fragility - that the specter of meth addition might raise its head at any time - plagues him daily. "It's never over with crystal," he said. "As long as it's out there somewhere, I need to be constantly vigilant."

While the intensity of the drug and its effect on the brain explains some of the frequency of relapse, it's likely that there are other contributory factors. Internalized homophobia may find expression in the power of the drug to silence all the self-lacerating chatter that goes on in the minds of gay men as they attempt to find love and connection in a world still freaked out by HIV and where standards for physical beauty and success can often seem unattainably high.

Crystal's sneaky specialty is that it puts gay men in a precious mental zone where they can be with themselves, with their own bodies and with other men and their bodies, without the often covert self-sabotaging thoughts that tell them they are too fat, too stupid, too something to be loved. The problem, of course, is the awful price that meth exacts for the few hours of unalloyed pleasure.

If relapse is regularly a part of the recovery process with meth, the challenge is learning how to quit through slips - not let them deter you but rather teach you, helping you to get back up on the horse. Relapse is dangerous, certainly, but the hope is that the skills that someone learns in getting clean once can be applied when they are needed again - skills like reaching out to others, making sure there are plenty of resources to help and not the bare minimum, and uncovering the shadowy influence of internalized homophobia.

Gay men are nothing if not resilient. In the ongoing battle against addiction to crystal meth, meeting the challenge of relapse means being fully who we are and not allowing a drug to turn us into mere shells of ourselves.

Christopher Murray, LCSW, is the author of this article and a therapist in private practice in Chelsea who can be reached at ChristopherMurray.org.