Health committee: Allow gay men to give blood

Health Ministry set to overturn ruling that branded all homosexual males as potential HIV carriers

By The Times of Israel Staff

A special Health Ministry committee is expected to recommend overturning a decades’ long policy barring gay men from donating blood, Channel 2 reported Tuesday.

Blood donations by homosexual men are currently not accepted in Israel due to health officials’ concerns the potential donors may be carriers of the HIV/AIDS virus.

The Channel 2 report comes a week after the Health Ministry committee announced it would accept blood donations from people of Ethiopian descent, who, like gay men, have for years been barred from giving blood based on fears they were carriers of the HIV/AIDS virus.

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LGBT Issues in Israeli Elections

LIVE BLOGGING: Legalization of same-sex marriage, conversion therapy, and other LGBT-related issues are some of the front-and-center topics in the coming Israeli elections. A Wider Bridge follows up closely on the LGBT issues and keeps you up-to-date with all the latest news coming from Israel and the variety of parties on the subject right up to election day — March 17 2015

Yesh Atid to announce openly gay candidate

49 days to go: Israeli ambassador to U.S. reprimanded for forbidden political campaigning on behalf of Netanyahu.

Latest political summary: The Labor Party finalized the composition of its list for the Knesset election at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds last night. Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid will announce the composition of its slate for the upcoming elections today.

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Health Ministry warns against LGBT conversion therapies

Ministry says there is no scientific evidence that treatment works; Orthodox gay group blasts recommendation

By Times of Israel staff

The Health Ministry issued a warning on Sunday against conversion therapy that purports to alter the sexual orientation of homosexuals, arguing that there is no scientific proof that the treatment is effective. In addition, the ministry charged practitioners of the controversial methods with misleading their patients.

The recommendation drew criticism from an offshoot Orthodox homosexual group, which maintained that the ministry misconstrued the Israeli Psychological Association position paper on which this decision was based, and argued that while the treatment had negative effects on some of its patients, others reported that it worked.

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A NAME FOR A TRANSGENDER JEW

Surat Knan for A Wider Bridge

Surat Knan, a female-to-male (ftm) transgender person, writes in his blog about the importance (and the process) of changing name as part of  the transitioning journey

The day had finally come. Sitting in a South London courtroom waiting to be called up to make a statutory declaration to have my name changed ‘officially.’

This, way before my legal status change from female to male. This all being optional, as my counsellor keeps saying gingerly.

I clenched my sweaty palms.

I wasn’t really nervous about the procedure itself which is no big deal, just a formality; but I was nervous because I knew the clerk would be reading out aloud my dreaded birth name in front of a sizeable audience.

It was just a handful of strangers, who probably couldn’t care less and were staring into nothing; a couple of unruly Poles reeking of alcohol, a detached-looking youngster.

I guess most of them were more concerned about their criminal cases than my very uninteresting personal declaration. But that made no difference to me.

Being trans feels sometimes like being on a massive stage with the audience scrutinising my every move under a gigantic looking glass.

For years, my nightmare fantasy was about waiting to board a plane with an announcement blurting out my FULL birth name ‘…please come to the check-in desk..!’

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