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Content about Cancer

January 16, 2013

Lesbian and bisexual women at risk from cervical cancer

Cervical Cancer Prevention Week launches to raise awareness of the disease in the lesbian and bisexual community

Cervical Cancer Prevention Week will place across Europe on 20 to 26 January, with the hopes it will raise awareness among lesbian and bisexual women.

The European Cervical Cancer Association intends to use the week to dispel myths about the disease, and to educate on its causes and methods of prevention.

August 10, 2012

Gay humorist and essayist David Rakoff dies of cancer

Frequent contributor to NPR's This American Life was 47 and had written about his cancer battle

It was just last year that David Rackoff won the prestigious Thurber Prize for American Humor for his essay collection Half Empty. One of the essays, another shoe, had the author ruminating about his battle with cancer and how there was chance he would have to have his left arm and shoulder amputated.

'There are other extra-functional and non-cosmetic realities I have to consider,' he wrote. 'How does someone without a left arm know he’s having a heart attack, for example?'

On Thursday (9 August), Rakoff died from the cancer at the age of 47.

August 10, 2012

Trans man denied care for breast cancer

Jay Kallio was not told by his doctor he had cancer and missed his 'therapeutic window' for chemotherapy

A transgender man is speaking out against his doctors after he was denied care for breast cancer.

New Yorker Jay Kallio, 56, a former paramedic who is disabled with kidney failure, rheumatoid arthritis and now cancer has struggled to find proper medical care.

When a suspicious lump was found in Kallio’s breast and tested positive for cancer, the surgeon was allegedly ‘shocked’ about his gender, and then felt he could not tell Kallio the results.

July 14, 2012

Australian boys to receive Genital Warts vaccine

In a world first, Australian boys will receive a vaccine against a virus that causes oral, anal and penile cancers in gay men

In a world first, the Australian Government will begin vaccinating boys against strains of the Human Papilomavirus (HPV) that are known to cause cervical cancer in women and oral, penile and anal cancers in men.

Australian schoolgirls have been receiving the Gardasil HPV vaccine since 2007 but the drug was not being subsidised for boys, meaning that a course of the drug was costing parents who wished to immunise their sons many hundreds of dollars.

July 14, 2012

Australian boys to receive Genital Warts vaccine

In a world first, Australian boys will receive a vaccine against a virus that causes oral, anal and penile cancers in gay men

In a world first, the Australian Government will begin vaccinating boys against strains of the Human Papilomavirus (HPV) that are known to cause cervical cancer in women and oral, penile and anal cancers in men.

Australian schoolgirls have been receiving the Gardasil HPV vaccine since 2007 but the drug was not being subsidised for boys, meaning that a course of the drug was costing parents who wished to immunise their sons many hundreds of dollars.

June 22, 2012

Cancer inspires a gay man to screen women

Gay Justen Schafer tells his story of surviving testicular and colorectal cancer and why he now runs a charity screening women for the disease

Balls, arse, tits and the vajayjay. Sounds like an average night out on the town.

June 17, 2012

Lesbian mom with cancer is face of Pentagon gay pride

Officer Charlie Morgan will attend the event to show why Don't Ask Don't Tell should not exist

A lesbian mother with terminal cancer has become the face of Pentagon’s gay pride.

Army Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan, 47, will join the Pentagon on 26 June to pay tribute to the LGBT service members following the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT).

Morgan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, and underwent a double mastectomy and several rounds of chemotherapy to save her life.

June 10, 2012

Medical body fights to extend HPV vaccination for gay men

BASHH wants gay men to be protected from disease that can cause genital warts and cancer

A group of British medical professionals are calling for the vaccination of a cancer-causing STD to extend to gay men.

Sexually active gay men are the only high-risk group that is not being protected from HPV in the UK, a sexually transmitted disease that can lead to genital warts as well as cervical, anal and other cancers, The Guardian reports.

May 28, 2012

Charity highlights lesbian and bi womens cancer risk

Charity urges lesbian and bisexual women to attained regular cervical cancer screenings

The Lesbian and Gay Foundation (LGF) in north west England are highlighting the need for all lesbian and bisexual women to attend regular cervical screenings.

Cervical Screening Awareness Week (CSAW) from 10 to 16 June, is a UK wide scheme lead by Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, the UK’s only dedicated cervical cancer charity.

April 26, 2012

The truth about gay health

As a new report from Stonewall reveals shock stats around drugs, suicide and discrimination we examine how the health system is failing lesbians, gays and bisexuals

Drugs, alcohol, smoking, depression, self-harm, suicide, domestic abuse, body image issues, eating disorders and cancer risks – when Stonewall put a finger on the pulse of Britain’s gay and bisexual men, it diagnosed a heap of trouble.