Cher has criticised the “stupid bigots” who have attacked the casting of her transgender son, Chaz Bono, on US show Dancing With The Stars.

The singer defended Bono, who underwent a female-to-male sex change last year, saying “it took guts” to participate in the celebrity ballroom dancing show.

“Chaz is being viciously attacked on blogs and messageboards about being on DWTS!” she said via her Twitter page.

She urged fans to pledge their support for Bono on other social media sites.

Cher wrote: “I support him no matter what he chooses to do. It took courage to do DWTS!”

She added that “mothers don’t stop getting angry with stupid bigots” who hurt their children, but said she was sure the “vast majority of people will love Chaz” on the show.

Bono replied to the comments on his Twitter page saying: “Thanks for all your support mom. The haters are just motivating me to work harder and stay on DWTS as long as I possibly can.”

‘Primetime first’

Bono, 42, has been the target of online jokes and hate messages since Monday’s announcement that he would be taking part in the new series of Dancing with the Stars, which begins on 19 September.

Some fans have said they will no longer watch the show – which is one of the most popular programmes in the US – while he is a contestant, while some conservative groups have called for a boycott.

Dan Gainor, of the Culture and Media Institute, called Bono’s casting “a ridiculous, agenda-driven move” by the show’s producers.

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Monkey HIV vaccine ‘effective’, say researchers

By Neil Bowdler Science reporter, BBC News

A new vaccine can protect macaques against the monkey equivalent of HIV and could provide a fresh approach to an HIV vaccine, a study suggests.

US researchers say the vaccine offered protection to 13 of 24 rhesus macaques treated in the experiment.

In 12 of the monkeys, the vaccine was still effective 12 months later.

They claim the work, published in the journal Nature, could “significantly contribute” to the development of an effective HIV/Aids vaccine.

The researchers gave 24 healthy rhesus macaques a vaccine containing a genetically modified form of the virus, rhesus cytomegalovirus (CMV).

The vaccine was engineered to produce antigens to attack simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), the monkey equivalent of HIV.

It was shown to offer complete control against SIV within 13 of the monkeys, with half the monkeys still protected a year on.

The vaccine worked by stimulating the production of a particular type of blood cell, called “effector memory T-cells”, which can remain vigilant in the body long after an infection has abated, providing long-term protection.

Lead author Professor Louis J Picker, of the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute in Oregon, compares these cells to armed soldiers at the ready.

“There are soldiers that are back at the base with their rifles in the shed, and then you have the guys out in the field,” he told the BBC.

There was also evidence, he said, that the vaccine all but eradicated traces of SIV in the monkeys, something which he said was “unprecedented” in HIV vaccine research.

Safety concerns
Researchers in the field welcomed the research, but said safety issues would need to be addressed before similar approaches could be tried in humans.

“I’m excited by the science because it really does demonstrate that it may be possible to eradicate the HIV virus by a strong immune response,” said Professor Sir Andrew McMichael of Oxford University.

“But at the same time I’m scratching my head how to take this approach into humans.”

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Obama to lift HIV entry ban soon

The US is to end its 22-year ban on people with HIV entering the country, President Barack Obama has confirmed.

Mr Obama made the announcement as he extended funding for an act that provides HIV/Aids related health care. “If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/Aids, we need to act like it,” Mr Obama said. The US is one of only about a dozen countries barring entry on HIV status. The ban is expected to be lifted at the beginning of 2010.

‘End the stigma’

Mr Obama confirmed the move as he signed the Ryan White HIV/Aids Treatment Extension Act. He said the entry ban had been “rooted in fear rather than fact”. He said: “We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the Aids pandemic – yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people with HIV from entering our own country.

“On Monday, my administration will publish a final rule that eliminates the travel ban effective just after the New Year.”

Mr Obama added: “It will also take an effort to end the stigma that has stopped people from getting tested, that has stopped people from facing their own illness and that has sped the spread of this disease for far too long.” The process to lift the ban had begun under the administration of George W Bush. The Ryan White Act is named after a 13-year-old boy who contracted the virus via blood transfusion and helped educate Americans about the disease until his death in 1990 aged 18. The act helps about 500,000 people, many on low incomes, by providing treatment and support.

HIV was added in 1987 to the list of diseases disqualifying people from entering the US.

Obama to end military gay policy

Obama: “I will end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’”

US President Barack Obama has said he will end the ban on gay people serving openly in the military.

He said he would repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows gay people to serve in the military if they do not reveal their sexual orientation. Mr Obama was speaking to America’s largest gay group – the Human Rights Campaign – in Washington. He had been criticised by some in the gay community for the lack of action on gay marriage and the military issue. A big gay rights protest march is planned in Washington for Sunday.

Disquiet

Mr Obama was addressing thousands of gay and lesbian people at a fundraising dinner in the US capital. He said the US had made progress on gay rights and would make more. On the military issue he said the US could not afford to lose those people who had much needed skills for fighting. “We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country,” Mr Obama said.

“We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage.” Mr Obama did not give a timetable for repeal of the policy, passed by Congress in 1993, under which thousands of service members have been discharged. The US president has repeatedly pledged to tackle issues important to the gay community. Read more.

Watch C-Span video – Obama reacting to HRC attendee screaming “We love you.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=leQarSfzT6A