covid-19 Archivi ~ The Gayly Mirror

Road To Eurovision 2021 – possibility to allow live audience during the event

1Apr

By RaffaNo Comments

Road To Eurovision 2021 – possibility to allow live audience during the event

Covid 19 Pandemic has forced EBU to re-arrange all normal plans for Eurovision, and till today the presence of live audience during the event was not guaranteed. After a long debate, EBU has responded to the announcement that, if circumstances allow, audiences will be permitted to attend the Eurovision Song Contest in May. Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, stated: “We welcome this decision by the Dutch government and the possibility that we can invite fans to join us as we bring the Eurovision Song Contest back in May. We will consider the options now available and announce more details in the coming weeks on how we can safely admit audiences to the Ahoy venue in Rotterdam should the situation allow. The health and safety of all those attending ...

DRAG RACE UK Star, Veronica Green, releases her debut single “STARS”

31Mar

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Entertainment

DRAG RACE UK Star, Veronica Green, releases her debut single “STARS”

A talented and gifted artist - we fell in love with during Season 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Rage UK - that finally releases her first single. STAR is the title of Veronica’s debut song, and no, it is not what you would expect from a typical drag queen: she’s serving you ballad realness, with a song rich of pumping beats, comedy and emotional lyrics strongly influenced by her love for musical theatre. She said: “it is the perfect introduction to my musical world. I think a lot of people will relate to this song, coming from small towns and villages and finding their place and acceptance in a big city. […] It's a big musical theatre-style pop song that provides the perfect introduction to my musical world." 'Stars' is written and produced by Ian Masterson (alongside Hayley Sanderson) who has ...

World AIDS Day – HIV treatments, vaccine and Covid-19 Pandemic.

1Dec

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, News

World AIDS Day – HIV treatments, vaccine and Covid-19 Pandemic.

Covid-19 Pandemic has put all HIV patients in serious risks and slowed down all testings and treatments. According to UNAIDS: The lockdowns and border closures imposed to stop COVID-19 are impacting both the production of antiretroviral medicines and their distribution, potentially leading to increases in their cost and to supply issues. Recent modelling has estimated that a six-month complete disruption in HIV treatment could lead to more than 500,000 additional deaths from AIDS-related illnesses. If services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV were similarly halted for six months, the estimated increases in new child HIV infections would be 162% in Malawi, 139% in Uganda, 106% in Zimbabwe and 83% in Mozambique. The global experience of tackling HIV can help info...

California to collect data to investigate how Covid-19 is spreading in the LGBT+ community.

31Jul

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health

California to collect data to investigate how Covid-19 is spreading in the LGBT+ community.

Governor Newsom called today’s announcement a move in the right direction. According to CBS Sacramento, California will be the first State in USA to track Covid-19 cases also on the basis of sexual orientation to understand how to help the LGBT+ community which - according to advocates - has been devastated by this pandemic. Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) worked with LGBT+ civil rights organisation Equality California to advocate for the collection of this data and introduced the Senate Bill 932 in May to require it. The bill passed the Senate on June 25 and is set to be heard in the Assembly Committee on Health in August. SB 392 would not only require the state to collect sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data for coronavirus, but also for all major communicable dis...

Not even Coronavirus is able to stop this wave of Homophobia and Antisemitism.

23May

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, News, Society

Not even Coronavirus is able to stop this wave of Homophobia and Antisemitism.

If it can’t be stopped yet, at least we hoped covid-19 would have slowed it down …but the sad reality tells us this is not the case (unfortunately). The pic you see above has been taken during a hate-parade held on 12th May in Huntington Beach (USA), where almost 200 people gathered together to express their feelings of anger and frustration for the “stay-at-home” order the State imposed to avoid more victims during this Coronavirus pandemic. Let me say that they also expressed their sad ignorance. Governor Gavin Newsom decided to close bars, restaurants and various businesses in the State, also imposing the temporary closure of all Orange County beaches to prevent the enormous spread of Coronavirus that is hitting USA these last couple of weeks. Numbers say that at least 95,087 people...

South Korea sees a peak of homophobia during a new cluster of Coronavirus cases

13May

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, News, Politics

South Korea sees a peak of homophobia during a new cluster of Coronavirus cases

South Korean LGBT+ community has been in the target of newspapers and media that accuses the community to be guilty for the spread of coronavirus in the country. As te Guardian reported in this article, almost 100 new cases of Covid-19 have been linked to bars and clubs in Itaewon, the city's underground gay district in South Korea. But the newspapers and media got too far now: they revealed personal information of a gay man in the city who tested positive to Coronavirus, putting his life in big danger. South Korea is a country where speaking about sexuality and sex remains a real taboo and where pornography is banned. Some politicians have tried to ease the tension and this increasing homophobia, but they have never publicly acknowledged the LGBT+ community. Last Saturday 9th May, ...

Arrested after planting a rainbow flag at NYC Coronavirus Field Hospital.

7Apr

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, News

Arrested after planting a rainbow flag at NYC Coronavirus Field Hospital.

The hospital is run by anti-LGBT preacher Franklin Graham. Last Tuesday the opening, but nothing mattered to public opinion, not even if this hospital is run by Graham’s anti-gay evangelist group Samaritan’s Purse, not even if all volunteers at the hospital must sign an anti-gay pledge agreeing that “gay people will go to hell” and that those healthcare givers will not cure any gay patient. https://twitter.com/revbillytalen/status/1247060933370757120 So Reverend Billy Talen tried to plant a rainbow LGBT+ flag in front of the hospital: “Today I tried to deliver a rainbow flag to the Samaritan’s Purse field hospital in Central Park. Franklin Graham and his Lord’s Army are here with their homophobic racist hustle. Help not hate,” he wrote in his post on twitter, after being arrest...

Covid-19 restrictions in Panama are getting worse especially for Trans people.

6Apr

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, News

Covid-19 restrictions in Panama are getting worse especially for Trans people.

Crazy rules and where to find them. On 1st April Panama implemented new rules for the self-isolations due to Covid-19 pandemic: men and women are allowed to go out of their houses for a max of 2 continuous hours per day on specific and alternate days. To be sure all citizens respect these restrictions, police are checking the gender on the ID cards, this is seriously effecting trans people (pre-surgery) around the country. In Panama, trans people can only change their gender on their ID Documents if they can prove they have had gender-confirmation surgery. According to Human Rights Watch, on the first day of these new gendered-social-distancing and isolation rules, Bárbara Delgado a trans woman who still hasn’t completed her surgeries for gender-confirmation, was stopped by police o...

USA to reduce abstinence period for LGBT+ community for blood donations

6Apr

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, News

USA to reduce abstinence period for LGBT+ community for blood donations

When in need, it’s all good. The US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has reduced the abstinence period for men having gay sex from twelve to three months announcing a significant loosening in blood donations rules all over the country. FDA statement said that it had “concluded that recent policies regarding certain donor eligibility criteria can be modified without compromising the safety of the bloody supply.” The reason behind this decision is the pandemic caused by Covid-19. Yes, of course! Because it is so need right now. LGBT+ activists have welcomed this new decision, and Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD president and chief executive, said: “LGBT+ Americans can hold their heads up today and know that our voices will always triumph over discrimination. This is a victory for all ...

Uganda: 20 people arrested because they were gay, but police say it was Covid-19 prevention.

2Apr

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, News

Uganda: 20 people arrested because they were gay, but police say it was Covid-19 prevention.

Uganda denies that 20 arrested people were targeted because they were gay. Fourteen gay men, two bisexual men and four transgender women were arrested on March 29th when police raided a refuge on the outskirts of the Ugandan capital Kampala. At least four of the 20 people arrested live with HIV and cannot have access to life-saving drugs, according to an activist. The police accused all 20 people of defying the rules of social distancing, but activists accuse the authorities of using the coronavirus pandemic excuse to target country's LGBT+ minorities. Patricia Kimera, a lawyer who is defending the group with the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum, said that those people living with HIV are denied access to antiretroviral drugs and that all 20 of them run the risk of contrac...