Tag Archives: canada
[HEALTH/LGBTQ] Organs Donated by Gay Man Rejected, Called ‘High Risk’
Hi folks! It isn’t too often that we get personal on TMA, but please take a moment to visit RUNFORROCKY.COM – a charity set up in honour of our dear friend Rocky Campana, who left us far too soon. The charity continues Rocky’s work as an advocate for Gay/Straight alliances, acceptance, and equal rights. If you have enjoyed the music, entertainment, and photos on Lavish TMA, Eddy and I would very much appreciate if you would consider making a donation to such a fantastic cause. In related news, the article below explains the ridiculous situation which arose at the time of Rocky’s death… As in life, Rocky wanted to give back, this time in the form of organ donation. As an extremely healthy individual, Rocky seemed like a prime candidate to help save multiple lives with his organs. Unfortunately, once he was identified as a gay man, his organs were no longer seen as “desirable”. Near the bottom of this post, you will find a link to a petition demanding a change to Canada’s organ and blood donation policy. All healthy Canadians should be able to donate. ~Jordan
With your support and the help of the Windsor Pride Community Resource and Education Centre, the Run for Rocky – Charity Run will help raise awareness and funds to support programs and Gay Straight Alliances, throughout Windsor-Essex County, in our communities, schools, and in our homes.
Your donation will be processed via PayPal. If you don’t have a PayPal account, your gift will be charged to your credit card. Receipts for tax purposes will be sent by mail. Please provide your correct mailing information.
MAKE A MONETARY DONATION HERE
____________________________________________
Article:
Organs donated by gay man rejected, called ‘high risk’
A Windsor woman believes her late son’s organs were rejected for donation because he was gay.
Nancy Campana’s son Rocky was an organ donor, but none were used after his death.
“I was asked if he was a gay male and I said, ‘yes.’ And I was asked if he was a sexually active gay male or if he had a partner and I said, ‘yes,’” Campana said of a conversation she had with Trillium Gift of Life following Rocky’s death.
She said the tone of the conversation changed, and the family was later told they could not donate Rocky’s organs.
“When I got off the phone to relay that to both [Rocky's father] Rob and a lot of Rocky’s friends … many of them broke down,” she said. “The gay ones said, ‘Nancy, we can’t donate blood; they’re not going to take our organs.’”
Organ donation
According to the Trillium Gift of Life Network, there are approximately 1,500 people waiting for an organ transplant in Ontario right now.
So far this year, 129 people have have donated in this province, which is down from 132 during the same period last year.
Health Canada changed the rules for organ donation in late 2007. The changes mean sexually active gay men, injection drug users and other groups considered high risk will no longer be accepted as organ donors.
The rules are similar to the regulations for determining who can donate blood. Those rules exclude groups that are at high risk of transmitting infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C and B.
Under Health Canada policy:
- A gay man who had practised abstinence for five years prior to organ donation would be considered an acceptable donor.
- A heterosexual man who has had a single sexual encounter with a male within the past five years would not be considered an acceptable donor.
The Campanas are currently working with staff at the office of Windsor West NDP MP Brian Masse to table a petition that would asked the House of Commons to change the rules governing organ donation. They want it to be easier for a gay man’s organs to be donated.
A Masse spokesperson said the petition’s language has been vetted by the Petitions Branch in the House of Commons.
The Campanas and others will soon start gathering signatures.
Trillium CEO Ronnie Gavsie said that while a donor’s sexuality is not a deciding factor, it does make a difference.
“According to the Health Canada legislation, a man or woman who is gay would fall into the high-risk category. But that fact alone would not preclude them from being a donor,” she said. “That is just one of the many factors that go into being in the high-risk category.”
Other factors include whether a donor uses injection drugs, has had a recent tattoo or piercing, is an inmate of a correctional facility or has haemophilia and has received donated blood.
“And then, someone who is high risk, that information will be carried forward to the potential recipient,” said Gavsie.
The Campanas say the explanation given to them was that trace amounts of drugs were found in Rocky’s system.
But they say doctors at the hospital told them the results could be a false positive, because of the drugs used to try to save his life. Rocky Campana attempted suicide and was taken off life support shortly after in August of last year.
His family believes this is about sexual orientation, and now they’re taking on the system that categorizes gay donors as high risk.
“That was Rocky. Injustices were big to him, so I think that we are really determined to try to get the word out to everyone,” said Rob Campana.
Get your family and friends to sign the petition to change the government’s policy on blood and organ donation in Canada
DOWNLOAD THE PETITION HERE
____________________________________________
With your support and the help of the Windsor Pride Community Resource and Education Centre, the Run for Rocky – Charity Run will help raise awareness and funds to support programs and Gay Straight Alliances, throughout Windsor-Essex County, in our communities, schools, and in our homes.
Your donation will be processed via PayPal. If you don’t have a PayPal account, your gift will be charged to your credit card. Receipts for tax purposes will be sent by mail. Please provide your correct mailing information.
DONATE HERE
[OFFICIAL VIDEO] Artists Against Bullying – True Colors
Jacob Hoggard, Lights, Pierre Bouvier, Fefe Dobson, Kardinal Offishall, Alyssa Reid, and Walk Off The Earth teamed up to show their support for the anti-bullying movement and record Cyndi Lauper’s classic True Colors.
“Bullying is an issue that affects many of us. Whether mild or severe, it’s something that can negatively impact our lives, our relationships, schooling, mental health, etc. Bullying is something MuchMusic takes a hard stance against.
We encourage our audience to join us in standing up against bullying.” -MuchMusic
[HEALTH] Western Researchers to Release Results of HIV Vaccine Trial
A major announcement scheduled for Tuesday at Western University.
According to a news release, Western University and Sumagen Canada will unveil “preliminary results for the first-ever human applied clinical study of the world’s only preventative HIV vaccine.”
A news conference is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Western University.
AM980 will have a reporter on hand for the announcement.
The vaccine made international headlines when Western University’s Dr. Chil-Yong Kang announced in December 2011 his team had received permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin clinical trials in humans.
Those trials, involving 40 HIV-positive volunteers, began in March 2012.
Depending on the outcome the vaccine would advance to a second phase which measures “immune responses in humans, involving approximately 600 HIV-negative volunteers who are in the high-risk category for HIV infection.”
The third, and final phase, would measure “the efficacy of the vaccine, involving approximately 6,000 HIV-negative volunteers who are also in the high-risk category for HIV infection.”
Scientists at Western University, financially backed by the pharmaceutical venture company Sumagen, developed the vaccine, which is based on a genetically modified killed whole virus. The vaccine stimulated a strong immune response in early testing and appears to have no adverse effects, according to the researchers.
[OFFICIAL VIDEO] Karl Wolf – DJ Gonna Save Us (Dubstep Version)
Music video by Karl Wolf performing DJ Gonna Save Us. (C) 2012 Lone Wolf Entertainment Under exclusive license to Universal Music Canada
[MUSIC] Toronto’s “OMG Classic” Releases First Single “Champagne” (@omgclassic)
I meant to post this last week, but life has been way too busy lately. Now that I have a chance to sit down for a moment, I want to introduce you to Jeff – better known as OMG Classic. Dabbling in almost all of the major social media outlets, OMG Classic has created quite the “brand” for himself…. and now, OMG Classic has stepped into the music world! His first offering is laced with auto-tune (think Ke$ha / Britney), with flirty lyrics, and an infectious beat that makes CHAMPAGNE an instant guilty pleasure!
Download the track on iTunes HERE and add it to your Friday night party mix!
Here’s what Jeff had to say about the whole project:
When I turned 25 last year, I realized that there were still so many things left that I wanted to accomplish before I turned 30. The harsh reality was – at the rate things were going – most of these dreams would likely never come true. I wanted to learn a language, I wanted to become a wine expert, I want to write and record my own song! In this moment, the 20b430 (ww.20b430.com) project was born. A “bucket-list” of sorts, detailing 20 goals and life-experiences that I plan to accomplish before my 30th birthday.
April 21, 2012 marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of this project and I wanted to do something fun to celebrate. So, why not cross another item off my list by recording and releasing my own single?! “Champagne” is the result of my efforts. I spent months writing music (Initially I tried to take the serious route – bad idea!) when finally the inspiration came to me in the form of those little gold bubbles that everybody loves. It’s a fun and light-hearted song that captures the amazing feeling you get on Friday night when you’re out with your friends, drunk off Champagne, feeling amazing and as if you could do anything! It really goes hand-in-hand with the overall theme and message behind my 20b430 project.
I hope to inspire other people to break out of their comfort zones and daily routines to make their dreams a reality. Just because you’re not a singer doesn’t mean you can’t release a single! It’s so cliche, but you really can do whatever you set your mind to. As it stands now, there are still a lot of things I plan to accomplish over the course of the next four years; all of which, I believe, will make me a happier, more fulfilled, well-rounded person.
BLOG: http://www.20b430.com/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/#!/omgclassic
[LGBTQ] Transgendered People Outraged Over Canada’s Identification Rules for Air Travel
OTTAWA—The Canadian transgendered community fears being grounded by rules forbidding airlines from allowing someone to board if their hair and clothing do not match the gender identity listed on their passport or other identification.
“We cannot have regulations which judge people on how they appear to be gendered. It’s unacceptable,” said Christin Milloy, a trans-identified blogger whose Monday post about the identity requirements for air travel was one of those widely discussed by the transgendered community online this week.
At issue were a couple dozen words buried in the identity screening regulations that airlines must follow when it comes to deciding who can — and can’t — board their aircraft.
“An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if . . . the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents,” says the amendment to Transport Canada regulations, first published in August 2010 but apparently unnoticed until now.
No stories about transgendered people being banned from flights have emerged and one likely reason is the existence of a loophole that was missed in all the uproar.
“If, for medical reasons, a passenger’s facial features do not correspond to the photo on his or her identification, the air carrier may authorize the passenger to board a plane if he or she provides a medical certificate relating to this,” Transport Canada spokesman Patrick Charette wrote on Tuesday, noting the department was unaware of any transgendered or transsexual person with a medical document being refused on board since the rules changed.
Charette said the regulations are those of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) used in every country and were amended because they did not previously explicitly require airlines to match what passengers actually looked like with the identification they were using.
New Democrat MP Randal Garrison, the LGBT critic for his party, said the medical exemption solves the immediate problem but is not enough.
“If they’re going to interpret that to cover transgendered people I suppose that’s better than denying them the right to fly, but what’s the problem we’re fixing?” said Garrison, who has written to Transport Minister Denis Lebel for an explanation. “How does it make every person at the gate of an airplane a gender expert? It’s sledgehammer for a flea again.”
Liberal MP Justin Trudeau (Papineau), who drew attention to the issue on Twitter on Tuesday, said there is no need to look at the ‘M’ or ‘F’ on a passport or other government-issued card in the days of photo identification.
