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Friday, 11 April 2008 |
A charity has urged black and Asian men in east London who have gay sex to be tested for HIV.
Positive East, which is based in Tower Hamlets, has launched a confidential text service to raise awareness about the issue.
The campaign targets all men including married men who have sex with men and those who do not classify themselves as gay or bisexual.
The charity said 31% of men engaging in gay sex have undiagnosed HIV infection.
The campaign, called It's better to know your HIV Status, is funded by Tower Hamlets and Newham Primary Care trusts.
The charity said a Health Protection Agency report released in November showed 20% of men who have sex with men, referred to as MSM, test late for HIV infection while 31% have undiagnosed infection.
Fazal Mahmood, Gay Men's Worker, from Positive East said there was a need for anonymity because of the stigma attached and "issues of sexuality are not always acknowledged or discussed".
The charity said it had also come across married men who do not describe themselves as either gay or bisexual, but have sex with men.
Mr Mahmood said: "We are seeing an increasing amount of married men who are engaging in gay sex.
"But they don't say that they are gay men as they have emotional ties with women, they go back home to their wives."
Men can text 'TestMe', 'TestTH' or 'TestNew' to 80010 MSM for more information on where to get tested. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 11 April 2008 )
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Monday, 11 February 2008 |
Naresh Puri reports on the Gay Asians who marry for convience.
Asian gays and lesbians in the UK have married people of the opposite sex in a bid to conform to traditional values and beliefs, it has been claimed.
Gay activists said these marriages happened because some members of their community felt homosexuals brought shame on their people.
They said in some cases gay and lesbian people had been beaten and abused.
The BBC has seen hundreds of people advertising on the internet for so-called marriages of convenience.
One of them is 19-year-old Rubina, from south-east England, who placed an advert on an Asian gay website.
She said: "I just want to make life easier, I want to get my family off my back, because they're pressurising me to get married.
"In my culture it's not acceptable to be gay. If I have a marriage of convenience it will give them the illusion that I'm straight and I can carry on with who I want." |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 11 February 2008 )
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Monday, 12 November 2007 |
In some countries in the Arab world homosexuals can face the death penalty. But in Lebanon an association battles openly for the rights of gays who may live freely but are still ostracised socially.
"Beirut is a bubble of freedom for homosexuals," said Georges Azzi, coordinator for the Helem (Dream) Association, the Arab world's first gay grouping.
"Homosexuals have much more freedom and are more visible than in any other Arab state," he told AFP.
"This is undoubtedly because Lebanese society is heterogeneous at all levels -- political, religious and cultural -- and used to differences," he said about the country's 18 religious communities.
Homosexuals are generally stigmatised and penalised across the Arab world, with penalties ranging from death to flagellation and imprisonment.
Either banned by law or religion, homosexuality may be punishable by the death penalty in Mauritania, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates.
But with its trendy gay-friendly bars and nightclubs, Beirut has become a favourite destination for wealthy Arab homosexuals fleeing restrictions at home. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 November 2007 )
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