A transgender veteran from New York, who tragically took her own life earlier this year, has been identified as Elisa Rae Shupe, a prominent advocate for equality. Shupe made history by securing a landmark court victory that advanced transgender rights in the United States. In a 2015 op-ed for The New York Times, Shupe reflected on her journey, stating, “While I have freed myself from the torment of gender dysphoria, I have exchanged that relief for the hostility and condemnation of a society that is only beginning to grasp my struggles. I have effectively traded my white male privilege to become one of America’s most reviled minorities.” A year after the publication of that op-ed, Shupe achieved a significant milestone when she became the first person in the U.S. to legally obtain recognition of a nonbinary gender identity. This occurred after an Oregon court ruled that the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles must create a nonbinary gender option on driver’s licenses. At the time, Shupe explained, “I was assigned male at birth due to biology, but I am confined to that designation for life. My gender identity is undeniably feminine. It has never been male, yet I feel compelled to acknowledge my male biology. Being nonbinary allows me to reconcile these aspects. I see myself as a third sex.” Despite her groundbreaking achievements, Shupe faced numerous challenges throughout her life. In 2019, she publicly announced her decision to detransition in an essay published by the far-right outlet The Daily Signal. In the piece, she criticized healthcare professionals and LGBTQ+ organizations…

In the early hours of March 30, a 21-year-old student was assaulted by a stranger near the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The perpetrator slammed the victim to the ground while making derogatory remarks about the LGBTQ+ community. The police investigated the incident as a hate crime and have since apprehended a suspect. Police and eyewitnesses say that at around 2 a.m. that Sunday night, the victim, with a couple of friends, was walking near Jorgensen Hall at the university when an unknown man approached them. The unidentified man said, “Do you know he’s gay?” referring to the victim. He then reportedly slammed the victim to the ground while using a homophobic slur before running away. A security camera captured the assailant, who is a white male with short brown hair, wearing a black t-shirt, pair of jeans, and brown cowboy boots. The university police launched an investigation, with the charge being 3rd-degree assault. They said that the incident was an anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime under both state and federal law. Police made images from security footage public, and those images were seen by an attorney who had 21-year-old Cale Wacker as a client. Wacker is not a student and doesn’t work at the university. The attorney advised Wacker to turn himself in. The police eventually charged 21-year-old Cale Wacker with the crime on the morning of April 3. Wacker is currently facing charges of third-degree assault with a hate crime enhancement. The hate crime enhancement upgraded what would have been a class 1 misdemeanor to a class 4 felony. The judge presiding…

A high-ranking Army reservist has been caught with his pants down, literally, after an adult X account linked to him was made public. The since-deleted account, maintained by Army Reserve Lt. Col. Adam Harmon, 44, was revealed by the New York Post. On the alt account, reportedly in use for six years, Harmon shared X-rated images and videos of himself along with salacious commentary, some posted while he was serving overseas. Harmon is listed as a military intelligence officer by the U.S. Army Reserve. In his day job as a lawyer, Harmon is an equal opportunity adviser and a diversity, equity and inclusion professional, with previous stints at white-shoe law firms Foley Hoag and WilmerHale. Like his alt account, Harmon’s LinkedIn profile has been deleted. Harmon has been married for several years to another West Point grad, decorated U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Peter Bennett. On the alt account, which had 800 followers, Harmon posted as “franzkafka2007″ and exploited his position in the military with sexually explicit content produced in uniform. Harmon posted two videos of himself masturbating in uniform, one in an Army barracks. Neither shows his face. “A few guys have been very into f–king me in uniform lately so why not,” Harmon posted with an image of his fatigues pulled down below his butt. The reservist didn’t seem to worry that his conduct was unbecoming; he posted the butt selfie and caption to both his alt and regular X accounts, and other photos shared space on both the alt account and Harmon’s Instagram. In September 2023, he shared…

Wow, what an interesting meeting - good and bad. The good part was the content, after all, as our leading HIV research meeting, CROI never disappoints, and this time there was indeed a lot of interesting content. The not-so-good part , however, is the state of shock that many HIV clinicians and researchers are in. Due to the many actions of the current government, HIV research both domestically and globally has been directly affected, and there is hardly a topic or discussion that has not been affected. Some research abstracts have been retracted; some regular attendees have canceled their plans to attend meetings; and some planned projects will no longer be feasible in the current funding environment. Now onto the regular portion of the Super Quick Review™. BIC/FTC/TAF was superior to darunavir/cobicistat/FTC/TAF* as initial therapy for patients with advanced HIV. The importance of this study is that this population is rarely included in clinical trials—median CD4 is 41, and nearly half have HIV RNA > 500,000. The composite outcome of combined clinical and virological endpoints was not significantly different, but this result still supports BIC/FTC/TAF (or TLD) as initial therapy even for patients with advanced HIV, which is what most of us do. Two experimental formulations of lenacapavir, given as a once-yearly intramuscular injection, achieved sufficient levels to be used for once-yearly PrEP. The researchers showed some very nice PK profiles, with levels exceeding those observed in the PURPOSE 1 and 2 trials. These data support a planned Phase 3 study. Some information is available from HPTN 083 on subsequent treatment outcomes for people who acquired HIV during cabotegravir …

The study estimates that if funding cuts proposed by five major donors, including the United States and the United Kingdom, are not eased, there could be 4.4 million to 10.8 million new HIV infections and 770,000 to 2.9 million AIDS-related deaths among children and adults worldwide between 2025 and 2030. Those most affected are likely to be in sub-Saharan Africa and among marginalized groups already at higher risk of HIV infection, such as people who inject drugs, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and children. Since 2015, international donors have contributed approximately 40% of HIV funding in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which are critical to global HIV treatment and prevention efforts. Five countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands—together account for more than 90% of international HIV funding. However, all of these countries have recently announced plans to slash foreign aid, global international AIDS funding is expected to decrease by 24% by 2026. In addition, the US government, the largest contributor of foreign aid, suspended almost all foreign aid funding (with limited exceptions) on January 20, 2025 for a 90-day review and evaluation. Foreign aid programs, such as PEPFAR), provides HIV treatment and prevention services, including funding for health clinics that provide antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV testing and essential laboratory services. These programs also provide health services beyond HIV treatment and prevention, including health system strengthening, health care workforce training, and integration of HIV services with other health services (such as tuberculosis treatment and prevention, and maternal and child health programs) to improve…

The antiviral drug letermovir (Prevymis), which targets cytomegalovirus (CMV), was associated with reduced inflammation, improved CD4 /CD8 T cell ratios, and better physical function in HIV patients who were receiving effective antiretroviral therapy, a study showed at the 2025 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in San Francisco. Based on the findings, letermovir "may be the most exciting intervention to target inflammation and aging in HIV patients in the last 20 years ," said lead researcher Dr. Sarah Janela Weibel of the University of California, San Diego . Although antiretroviral therapy (ART) can suppress HIV replication indefinitely, HIV-infected individuals remain susceptible to chronic inflammation, which may contribute to comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease and age-related effects such as frailty. CMV coinfection in HIV-infected individuals is associated with an increased risk of frailty and other adverse effects of aging. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) belongs to the herpes virus family and is transmitted during sexual intercourse and between mothers and babies through body fluids such as saliva and urine. Studies have shown that about one-third of children, half of middle-aged adults, and up to 90% of the elderly in the United States have been infected with CMV, and the infection rate is even higher in low-income and middle-income countries. CMV is usually asymptomatic in people with healthy immune systems, but reactivation of the virus in people with advanced immunosuppression can cause severe disease. Before the advent of effective antiretroviral therapy, AIDS patients were susceptible to CMV colitis, pneumonitis, encephalitis, and retinitis, which can cause blindness. Asymptomatic CMV infection is not usually treated, but letermovir (Prevymis) is used to prevent disease in CMV-positive…

New findings from a phase 1 study investigating two formulations of once-yearly intramuscular (IM) lenacapvir for HIV preoperative prophylaxis (PrEP) were discussed at the 2025 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. The results, published simultaneously in The Lancet, represent a major advance in the fight against HIV and could open new avenues for long-term prevention. Comparison of once-yearly and twice-yearly formulations of lenacapvir In the Phase 1 study, participants received a single dose of 5,000 mg of either the first formulation (containing 5% ethanol) or the second formulation (containing 10% ethanol) by intramuscular injection. Both formulations showed encouraging pharmacokinetic profiles, with lenacapavir concentrations remaining above the threshold associated with efficacy for more than 56 weeks. Overall, the two formulations compare very well. The pharmacokinetic data showed that the once-yearly lenacapvir formulation lasted for more than 52 weeks, specifically 56 weeks, and consistently maintained above 95% effective concentrations. Key results from the study included median trough concentrations at Week 52 of 57 ng/mL for the first formulation and 65.6 ng/mL for the second formulation, both exceeding the median trough concentrations of 23.4 ng/mL observed with the previously twice-yearly subcutaneous (SC) formulation at Week 26. These results suggest that the once-yearly formulations not only last longer, but also maintain higher plasma concentrations compared to the twice-yearly SC formulations. The study confirmed that these high concentrations remained stable over 56 weeks. The median peak plasma concentration was 247 ng/mL for the first formulation, while the second formulation had a higher peak of 336 ng/mL, which is much higher than the highest concentration observed…

1. What is U=U?  U=U is an abbreviation for the following phrase: Undetectable viral load = Unable to transmit the virus This means that if a person living with HIV achieves an undetectable HIV viral load through antiretroviral therapy (ART), they will not transmit HIV even if they do not use condoms or take preventive medication (PrEP). 2. What are the conditions for achieving U=U?  The protection achieved through treatment (ART) depends on the following factors: ART treatment was continued stably for several months.  The viral load remained undetectable for several months - guidelines recommend six months.  Take your medicine on time every day. 3. How can a person not be contagious? Simply put, when the HIV viral load is undetectable, there are too few viruses to cause infection. Although people receiving ART remain HIV positive, HIV transmission no longer poses a risk. Most infections require a certain amount or concentration of virus to occur. For example, the viral load may need to be above 500, 1000 or 1500 copies per milliliter to be infectious. The actual upper limit is unknown, but an undetectable viral load means the virus is too low to pose a risk of infection. HIV itself is a relatively difficult virus to contract, but ART treatment reduces this risk to zero. 4. Is U=U suitable for everyone?  Yes. The PARTNER study included both gay and lesbian and heterosexual couples. In some heterosexual couples, the man is HIV positive, while in others, the woman is HIV positive. About a third of the 900 couples in the PARTNER…

A study presented at the 2024 HIV Drug Therapeutics Conference in Glasgow suggests that two broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), teropavimab and zinlirvimab, could be effective partners alongside lenacapavir in long-acting HIV treatments. The results emphasize the significance of screening for antibody sensitivity in HIV, while also proposing that people with partial resistance might still benefit from this combination if the dosing is sufficient. Lenacapavir (Sunlenca), administered as an injection every six months, is approved for people with multidrug-resistant HIV who have undergone extensive treatment. However, there is currently no other durable partner for lenacapavir to form a full six-month regimen, meaning it must be combined with daily oral antiretrovirals. Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) show potential in fulfilling this role. While most individuals with HIV produce antibodies targeting highly variable parts of the virus (which can’t handle new mutations), a small group of individuals naturally produce bnAbs. These bnAbs target stable regions of the virus, making them more effective in neutralizing the virus across different strains. Research indicates that bnAbs are promising for HIV prevention, treatment (especially in children), and functional cures, though viral resistance can limit their use. Dr. Paul Cook and colleagues from East Carolina University tested a combination of lenacapavir with two bnAbs, teropavimab and zinlirvimab, both developed by Gilead Sciences. Lenacapavir is the first approved HIV capsid inhibitor. Teropavimab (GS-5423), derived from the bnAb 3BNC117, targets the CD4 binding site on the gp120 protein of HIV, which is a critical entry point for the virus into cells. Zinlirvimab (GS-2872), derived from the bnAb 10-1074, binds to the…

Briggs and researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry have discovered the mechanism behind a crucial step in the HIV life cycle. In collaboration with teams from Heidelberg University and Yale University, they revealed that the mysterious "spacer peptide 2" (one of the HIV viral components) plays a key role in transforming immature HIV-1 particles into infectious particles. The research results have been published in the journal Nature. Key processes in HIV maturation HIV needs to undergo a maturation process to become infectious, which involves rearrangements in the structure of the matrix protein (red). In immature virus particles, the matrix protein forms a loose lattice structure (top right), while in mature HIV, the binding of spacer peptide 2 triggers the formation of a new, more stable lattice structure (blue, bottom right). © Illustration: Margot Riggi, MPI of Biochemistry. HIV-1 particle maturation HIV-1 particles are initially released from infected cells in an immature, non-infectious form. The main building block of the virus particle is about 2,000 copies of a long rod-shaped protein called Gag. To be able to infect host cells, HIV must go through a maturation process that involves the cleavage of Gag by HIV-1 protease (a viral enzyme), breaking it down into six smaller proteins, including the capsid protein and the matrix protein. This cleavage process results in a huge rearrangement of the virus's internal structure. Although scientists have been exploring structural changes in the viral capsid that envelops the genome for many years, comparatively little is known about the virosome, the protein shell beneath the lipid membrane…

Luca Guadagnino, a renowned director behind Call Me by Your Name and Challengers, now brings us into a new romantic world in Queer, adapted from the deeply personal work of William S. Burroughs. The result? A unique, striking film that stands out in its own right. Set in 1950s Mexico, the film follows William Lee (played by Daniel Craig), a wandering writer trapped in a life of alcohol and drug abuse. His existence is marked by indulgence, with little to anchor him. When not numbing his mind to cope with life's chaos, William spends his time with his mischievous gay friend Joe (Jason Schwartzman) or in the bars where fleeting encounters with young men occur—often with a price. William, a wandering dandy, drifts through life aimlessly, moving from one binge to the next, and from bar to bar. It is during one of these hazy nights that he encounters Eugene (Drew Starkey), a strikingly handsome young man who, with his Navy background, seems almost otherworldly. Eugene’s beauty, marked by a flawless face and perfect body, draws William in, sparking an immediate obsession. As they start spending time together, William's desire grows, and he wonders if he can seduce Eugene into his bed. But Eugene remains a mystery—ambiguous, detached, sending mixed signals while spending much of his time with Mary (Andra Ursuta), a woman he enjoys playing chess with. Eventually, one night, Eugene finds himself at William’s place, and they sleep together. In that moment, William feels a rare sense of aliveness, something he hasn’t experienced in ages. However, as the…

For his first short film as director, Frédéric Lavigne hits hard and right in the heart with the hyper sensitive Coeurs perdus .  Paris, 1992. Julien (Guillaume Soubeyran) is a science thesis student. A bisexual who doesn't really accept himself, he logs on to a gay phone line from time to time to have anonymous encounters. It is through this channel that he meets Christophe (Isaak Dessaux), a boy his age who is a bit of his complete opposite. Julien is taciturn, discreet, speaks little, internalizes or even represses his feelings, dresses in little vintage T-shirts. Christophe, who is a hairdresser, is an assertive gay man, who may seem extravagant at first glance, extroverted, with a queer look. Opposites attract and their first meeting immediately causes sparks: Julien is clumsy and not very comfortable but Christophe with his kindness and spontaneity will quickly take the lead. In the weeks and months that follow, they will live an up-and-down relationship: while Christophe becomes attached, Julien remains elusive, inaccessible, and undemonstrative. We understand that he feels things but blocks them, does not fully assume them. And then one day he learns news that will shake him up forever...  There are films that have this rare little magic that makes you know from the first scenes that you are going to love what you are going to see. Hearts lost to this magic. Everything rings true in this highly melancholic short film that is extremely promising. Obviously, the director Frédéric Lavigne was not mistaken in choosing the ultra-cute Guillaume Soubeyran in the lead role, who explodes here on the…