Senate Votes to REPEAL "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

By Charles Peer and Boyce Hinman

American Servicemembers received a long awaited holiday present this Saturday, when the Senate joined the House in passing legislation that would repeal the 17 year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that has barred them from living their lives openly in the military, and for far too many has cost them their careers, often under humiliating circumstances.

This week, President Obama will sign that law, fulfilling a promise that he has made to Veterans and active duty servicemembers to end the policy. When he does so, there will be so many too thank, from senators and congresspeople to military officials and veterans.

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Drag Queen Bingo Needs Your Vote!

We have received so many applications asking to be the beneficiary of DQB that we are going to put the choosing process to the people!

On Outwordmagazine.com’s home page you will find a very quick poll that allows you to vote for your favorite charity. The two winners will become the beneficiaries for January 2011. The poll will close on January 3, 2011.

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Transgender People Have Been Left Behind

Commentary by Boyce Hinman

For a long time now, I’ve had the impression that lobbyists for the LGBTI community (which includes me, of course) have not been giving a fair share of our time to lobbying for legislation that benefits the transgender community.

Recently I put that assumption to the test. I created a report listing all the LGBTI friendly bills enacted in California since 1998. The results confirmed my suspicion. Of the 62 LGBTI friendly bills enacted since 1998, more than 95 percent of them benefit lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, but barely more than 53 percent of them benefit transgender people.

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Man Infected With HIV Said to Be Cured with Stem Cell Transplant

By Laudi Jaterka

Doctors who carried out a stem cell transplant on an HIV-infected man with leukaemia in 2007 say they now believe the man to have been cured of HIV infection as a result of the treatment, which introduced stem cells which happened to be resistant to HIV infection.

The man received bone marrow from a donor who had natural resistance to HIV infection; this was due to a genetic profile which led to the CCR5 co-receptor being absent from his cells. The most common variety of HIV uses CCR5 as its ‘docking station’, attaching to it in order to enter and infect CD4 cells, and people with this mutation are almost completely protected against infection.

Read more: Man Infected With HIV Said to Be Cured