One in five gay men in the United States has HIV, and almost half of those who carry the virus are unaware that they are infected, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. 2005 – 2008′s numbers showed AIDS once again spiraling out of control with white homosexual males living in Lexington and Louisville being the primary cases in the commonwealth.

On July 08, 2009 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts sued the United States Government for infringing on the sovereignty of the Commonwealth with the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) because marriage is “an exclusive prerogative of the states.” Yesterday, the Obama administration defended its right to define marriage as a heterosexual union before a federal judge considering the constitutionality of the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA), the AP reported.

Facing a deadline of midnight tonight to adjourn, legislative leaders have yet to agree on a budget. Governor Beshear told Kentucky lawmakers to “get their egos under control” and produce a budget by midnight as Kentuckians expect. Currently, the new budget has no funding for the Kentucky AIDS Drug Assistance Program, but an effort led by Kentucky Equality Federation effectively killed House Bill 350, a bill that would have dismantled the education and prevention efforts performed by the Kentucky HIV/AIDS Branch, a unit of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Budget negotiations in Frankfort collapsed Wednesday amid enormous differences over a sliver of the spending plan that would create a spate of state-backed construction projects while adding to the Commonwealth’s debt. Organizations across the Commonwealth have expressed alarm and dismay that the budget will be passed that does not include funding for the Kentucky AIDS Drug Assistance Program (KADAP).

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand joined 17 U.S. senators in calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to overturn a ban on gay men donating blood. Many states criminalize gay men donating blood. The senators said that while hospitals and emergency rooms are in urgent need of blood products, “healthy blood donors are turned away every day due to an antiquated policy and our blood supply is not necessarily any safer for it.”

During U.S. President Ronald Regan’s administration, the United States Government established a ban that prohibited HIV positive visitors and immigrants from entering the United States. Today, the ban was lifted.