Category: Uncategorized

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Pennsylvania school denies admission to HIV-positive student

The Milton Hershey School was founded by the chocolate tycoon as a school that “nurtures and educates children in social and financial need to lead fulfilling and productive lives.”

But it seems that fulfillment won’t be coming for a 13-year-old honor student from Delaware County who is infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

“I feel no other teenager should go through this, being denied just because they have HIV,” the boy said in an exclusive interview with NBC Philadelphia’s Denise Nakano.

The private boarding school doesn’t deny that they rejected the boy’s admission because of concerns for the health and safety of fellow students.

The 13-year-old has lived with HIV all of his life but doesn’t feel it defines him.

He excels in school, is active in sports and is learning to speak two foreign languages. He was hoping to go to Hershey — a cost-free, private boarding school for children from low-income families — to advance his education.

I personally feel this is profoundly disappointing.  This is NOT how we treat the children of this country; this is NOT how we encourage the young people of this country to succeed.

I’m very saddened to hear that this is how the Milton Hershey School would handle an issue as sensitive and delicate as this.

Very sad.

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Michele Bachmann debates marriage equality with high school students

At an appearance in Waverly, IA, Michaele Bachmann set the stage for the following exchange with comments about “true tolerance” in the context of religious displays in school:

“I think we have really forgotten what true tolerance means,” Bachmann said. “True tolerance means allowing people to express themselves and their beliefs. There might be people in this room that have no faith at all. You’re welcome here. Everyone is welcome here. But that doesn’t that mean that we squelch people’s speech that have religious-based values either. And we need to allow people to speak.”

She then turned to Jane Schmidt, a Waverly High School student and president of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. Here’s their exchange in full:

JANE SCHMIDT: One of my main concerns is government support for the LGBT community. So my question is what would you do to protect GSAs in high school and support the LGBT community.

BACHMANN: Well, No. 1, all of us as Americans have the same rights. The same civil rights. And so that’s really what government’s role is, to protect our civil rights. There shouldn’t be any special rights or special set of criteria based upon people’s preferences. We all have the same civil rights.

JANE SCHMIDT: Then, why can’t same-sex couples get married?

BACHMANN: They can get married, but they abide by the same law as everyone else. They can marry a man if they’re a woman. Or they can marry a woman if they’re a man.

JANE SCHMIDT: Why can’t a man marry a man?

BACHMANN: Because that’s not the law of the land.

JANE SCHMIDT: So heterosexual couples have a privilege.

BACHMANN: No, they have the same opportunity under the law. There is no right to same-sex marriage.

JANE SCHMIDT: So you won’t support the LGBT community?

BACHMANN: No, I said that there are no special rights for people based upon your sex practices. There’s no special rights based upon what you do in your sex life. You’re an American citizen first and foremost and that’s it.

ELLA NEWELL, a junior at Waverly High School: Wouldn’t heterosexual couples, if they were given a privilege then, that gay couples aren’t, like given that privilege to get married, but heterosexual couples are given a privilege to get married?

BACHMANN: Remember every American citizen has the right to avail themselves to marriage but they have to follow what the laws are. And the laws are you marry a person of the opposite sex.

There. Got that? You might have to re-read it a few times to follow Ms. Bachmann.

Gays want “special privileges” while people like Ms. Bachmann follow the law of the land.

Even more reason why “the law of the land” needs to change.

Society evolves.

Forward.

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I Am What I Am – Shawna Hamic

Shawna Hamic, who plays “Mme. Thenardier” in the national tour of Les Miz singing “I Am What I Am” at a cabaret benefit.

Members of the 25th Anniversary touring production of ‘Les Miserables’ presented a one-night only benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS at Town Danceboutique in Washington D.C.

‘Signature Songs; an evening of Broadway Showstoppers’ raised $6200.

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Study in mice suggests hope for AIDS protection

As scientists struggle to find a vaccine to prevent infection with the AIDS virus, a study in mice suggests hope for a new approach — one that doctors now want to test in people.

The treated mice in the study appeared to have 100 percent protection against HIV. That doesn’t mean the strategy will work in people. But several experts were impressed.

“This is a very important paper (about) a very creative idea,” says the government’s AIDS chief, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He didn’t take part in the research.

The new study involved injecting mice with a protective gene, an idea that’s been tested against HIV infection in animals for a decade.

In the nearly 30 years since HIV was identified, scientists haven’t been able to find a vaccine that is broadly effective. One boost came in 2009, when a large study in Thailand showed that an experimental vaccine protected about a third of recipients against infection. That’s not good enough for general use, but researchers are now trying to improve it.

The mouse work is reported by David Baltimore and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology.

Baltimore’s team used a harmless virus to carry an antibody gene and injected it once into a leg muscle. The researchers found that the mice made high levels of the antibody for more than a year. The results suggest lifetime protection for a mouse, Baltimore said, although “we simply don’t know what will happen in people.”

If all goes well, a preliminary experiment to test the safety of the approach might begin in about a year, he said. Baltimore said his group is also planning human experiments that he hopes will start in the next couple years.

More at Yahoo News

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The Candi and Randy Show tonight – Holiday Happenings

On The Candi and Randy Show tonight we talk “Holiday Happenings” – music you love/hate to hear, do you shop early or late, favorite things to do, least favorite things about the holidays, traditions/memories, etc…

9pmEST/6pmPST tonight

Hit the link to tune in.

Or call in to listen or comment at 818-495-6931 – we love callers.

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Attack on gay teen results in 90 day sentence

According to the Columbus Dispatch, a 15-year-old Ross County boy will serve 90 days in a juvenile detention center for the assault of a gay student that gained national attention after a cell phone video of the attack went viral on the Internet.

Levi Sever, 15, was sentenced yesterday after previously pleading guilty to a delinquency count of assault before Juvenile Court Judge Richard Ward. Sever was also ordered to undergo mental health counseling during his detention.

Sever has not attended school since the attack, but school officials have declined to discuss the discipline he received.

Zach Huston, 15, was assaulted on Oct. 17 in a classroom at Unioto High School, with the youth and his mother both saying he was targeted because he is gay. Huston and his mother both have stated school officials did not respond appropriately to their reports about bullying due to his sexual orientation.