Earlier this year I lost a dear friend, V Kingsley, from cancer.

Just a few days ago, we lost another amazing LGBT leader, Paula Ettelbrick, also from cancer.

It wasn’t so long ago that Lisa Tonna and I were working to finalize a book on how to run an LGBT tobacco cessation group, little did we know she, a nonsmoker, would die of lung cancer herself just a year later, at the age of 38. Now I struggle as two other lesbian friends are diagnosed with cancer, both near my age.

On Tuesday, October 4, 2011, on The View television show, Herman Cain, a Republican presidential candidate, responded to Joy Behar's questioning regarding his previous statements that "being gay is a choice" by saying: "You show me the science that says that it's not. [I] could be persuaded. Right now it's my opinion against the opinion of others who feel differently. That's just a difference of opinion."

BOSTON -- The United States Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has awarded The Fenway Institute a grant to create a national LGBT health technical assistance and training center for community health centers.  The multi-year, almost $900,000 grant will allow Fenway to train health center providers, administrators and staff in how to better serve and care for LGBT patients.

Harvey Makadon, MD, The Fenway Institute’s Director of Professional Education and Development, will oversee the program which will work with Fenway-affiliated faculty from across the country to:

For better or for worse, in sickness and in health -- there's a long line of research that associates marriage with reducing unhealthy habits such as smoking, and promoting better health habits such as regular checkups. However, new research is emerging that suggests married straight couples and cohabiting gay and lesbian couples in long-term intimate relationships may pick up each other's unhealthy habits as well.