Asia
New Hong Kong equal opportunities commissioner says he will protect LGBT people
Incoming head of the Equal Opportunities Commission attempts to ally fears his Christianity will prevent his protection of sexual orientation and gender identity minorities The incoming head of the Equal Opportunities Commission in Hong Kong has said that his Christian faith will not prevent him from protecting the rights of LGBT people. Former health secretary… Read more »
Letter from Indonesia: I’m gay, I’m not a product of the West, and I’m not alone
On Monday March 4, law professor Arief Hidayat, stood before members of the House of Representatives and answered questions to determine his fitness for Indonesia’s constitutional court. In a series of answers delivered to the commission of elected officials, Hidayat declared that all Indonesians ought to believe in God, and that the country, an emerging… Read more »
HIV At 30-Year High With More Gay Men Infected
HIV infection is on the rise in Hong Kong, with a 30-year high of 513 new cases recorded last year, health authorities say. The cases marked a 17 per cent rise from 2011, Dr Wong Ka-hing, consultant to the Department of Health’s special preventive programme, said yesterday. In almost half the new cases, the virus… Read more »
Nepal pioneers a third gender on official documents, but concerns persist
In January of this year Nepal officially recognized a third gender category on citizenship documents. Local media lauded the government for recognizing the rights of sexual and gender minorities in the post-war fledgling republic, home to one of the most successful LGBT rights movements in the world. However despite this spike in attention, the reports… Read more »
Sex organ operation not vital to change gender
A Seoul court has Ruled that persons who undergo sex change operations can be recognized as the opposite without altering the sex organ for the first time in the country. According to a research organization specializing in sex change, a Seoul district court Ruled that while sex change operations involve the removal of wombs and… Read more »
Pakistan: First trans woman in general election says the community is ‘more than dancers and beggars’
For the first time a trans woman is running for Pakistan’s general election in May, campaigning on an equality platform that she hopes will improve opportunities for maginalised groups. Sanam Fakir, 32, is a trans woman from Sukkur, and says she wants to campaign for equality for members of the hijra community. In Pakistan the… Read more »
Children Toil in India’s Mines, Despite Legal Ban
Khliehriat, India — After descending 70 feet on a wobbly bamboo staircase into a dank pit, the teenage miners ducked into a black hole about two feet high and crawled 100 yards through mud before starting their day digging coal. They wore T-shirts, pajama-like pants and short rubber boots — not a hard hat or… Read more »
Gay Afghan defies tradition to expose identity
Hamid Zaher is a young Afghan pharmacist, now living in Toronto in Canada. He has defied Afghan tradition by writing a searingly honest memoir about what it was like to be a gay man in Afghanistan. The book has never been published in his home country, where homosexuality is a criminal offence punishable by death.… Read more »
Alarming Instances of Harassment Against Nepal’s Gender Minorities
Letter to Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, Prime Minister of Nepal – Kathmandu, Nepal Honourable Prime Minister, We are writing this letter, as the leadership of the International AIDS Society, to express our deep concern in relation to the alarming instances of harassment that sexual and gender minorities, and the organizations that champion their cause in Nepal,… Read more »
Exploding the myths: Truth about gays
This sounds quite ridiculous but gays are often imagined to be promiscuous, irreligious, lacking any commitment, sense of responsibility and family values. Nothing could be far from the truth There are many anti-gay myths prevalent in Pakistan. Following are just a few of them. Substantial evidence, empirical data and scientific studies also suggest that these… Read more »
World’s only LGBT party launches election campaign
The Philippines’ Ladlad launch a campaign to win a seat in congress in the May election The world’s only political party solely dedicated to LGBT issues, Ladlad in the Philippines, launched its election campaign yesterday. The first day of campaigning started with a blessing at 7am from Rev Ceejay Agbayani from LGBTS community church and… Read more »
Scrap ‘archaic’ gay sex laws, rights watchdogs tell India
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged the Indian government to review legislation criminalizing same-sex relations Two of the world’s leading human rights watchdogs have demanded India scraps its ‘archaic and discriminatory’ laws against gay sex today (12 February). Amnesty International and Humans Rights Watch today urged the Indian government to repeal laws including… Read more »
Police raid and arrest 30 people at India gay party
Indian police arrest 30 gay party goers in Mumbai for dancing ‘indecently’ Thirty people were arrested for alleged ‘indecent’ behavior following a raid at a gay party in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai, India. According to a police officer who spoke with The Times India: ‘The raid was conducted in the wee hours today [10… Read more »
Thailand holds public hearings to consider civil union bill
The Rights and Liberties Protection Department and the House committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights have held the first of a series of public hearings to consider civil unions that would allow same-sex couples equal marriage rights. More than 200 people on Friday attended the first public hearing held to discuss the possibility… Read more »
Sexual relationships among MSM in Hanoi, Vietnam: a qualitative interview study
The prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Vietnam may be more than 30 times higher than that among the general population. The aim of this study was to explore sexual relationship patterns and experiences among MSM in Hanoi, to inform HIV preventive efforts. Methods: Using purposive sampling we recruited… Read more »
Emerging Chinese Leaders Head Home After Extensive Training
Emerging Chinese Leaders Head Home After Extensive Training Political economists have long noted the growing importance of the Pacific Rim. In 2011, for instance, the Brookings Institute noted that “the Asia-Pacific accounts for about 50 percent of trade and 60 percent of global GDP and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that by 2030, the… Read more »
Gay couple distraught after son obstructs online wedding
A gay couple has told of their disappointment after their wedding ceremony, which was being broadcast live online, was interrupted by the son of one of the couple. “We feel so upset and disgraced because the ceremony was interrupted by the son. He even beat the guests away. We are too upset to accept any… Read more »
Singapore PM criticised for defending anti-gay sex law
Members of the LGBT community in Singapore today expressed their disappointment and outrage over the prime minister’s reasoning as to why section 377A of the Penal Code which criminalises gay sex should remain. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was quoted by Today newspaper as saying: “Why is that law on the books? Because it’s… Read more »
Study reveals discrimination against LGBT people in Burma
Police use law that criminalizes gay sex to abuse and blackmail LGBT people Research from human rights activists in Burma has revealed the extent of discrimination against LGBT people in the Southeast Asian country. Human Rights Education Institute Burma (HREIB) carried out focus groups and individual interviews with 24 LGBT people from five different cities.… Read more »
A Proposal for Unwitting Wives of Gay Men in China
A few months after Americans approved gay marriage at the ballot box for the first time, a Chinese court has stirred controversy by recommending China making it easier for women to escape marriages to gay men. The First Intermediate Court of Beijing recently submitted a report calling for legislation that would allow people who discover… Read more »
Thoamada by Vuth Lyno
A rising star in Cambodia’s contemporary art scene, Vuth Lyno creates photographic portraits of LGBTs in his country. Fridae talks to him about his work before his presentation in Singapore as part of TheatreWorks’s Superintense on Sat, 19 Jan. His exhibition Thoamada II will be open from 26 Jan to 2 Mar in Phnom Penh.… Read more »
We are family
The idea that “the family unit comprises of a man as Father, a woman as Mother, and Children” is not biblical, writes Rev Miak Siew, executive pastor of Singapore’s Free Community Church and member of gay advocacy group People Like Us. Here he responds to a Singapore pastor’s recent comments that the acceptance of gays… Read more »
Malaysia: the reality behind the headlines
After a year of headlines about shockingly homophobic statements from the government, Gay Star News visits Malaysia to find out what life is really like for LGBT rights activists there Out of all Asian nations, Malaysia has the dubious honor of collecting the most negative headlines on Gay Star News in the last 12 months.… Read more »
Anti-gay protestors rally against Hong Kong LGBTs
Tens of thousands turned up to support an anti-gay rally in Hong Kong, to show they do not support a government consultation on an gay discrimination law Campaigners opposed to gay rights rallied today (13 January) in Tamar Park, near government buildings in Hong Kong, against government consultation on a law to protect gays from… Read more »
2,000 visit same-sex love photo exhibition in Hanoi
Exhibition is latest success in equal rights group iSEE’s work supporting LGBT people in Vietnam A photography exhibition celebrating same-sex love has attracted thousands of visitors in Hanoi, Vietnam. The exhibition entitled Open – Equal – Love features work by Vietnamese photographer Maika Elan (see some of her photographs on a New York Times blog)… Read more »
Survey shows Singaporeans more accepting of gay people
Academic study shows more positive and less negative attitudes towards gay people from 2005 to 2010 A survey published last month shows that Singaporeans became more tolerant of gay people from 2005 to 2010. The study published in the Asian Journal of Social Psychology showed that 64.5% of respondents held negative attitudes towards homosexuals in… Read more »
Our sisters in Singapore
Gay Star News interviews leading lesbian rights activist in Singapore, Jean Chong The LGBT rights movement in Singapore has been mainly dominated by gay men, but Gay Star News met Jean Chong of lesbian group Sayoni and discovered that sisters are doing it for themselves. Did you have any role models when you were growing… Read more »
Newspapers blast ‘Dark Ages’ laws in Indonesian province of Aceh
New Islamic Sharia laws in Indonesian province of Aceh propose flogging gay people and making it illegal for women passengers to straddle a motorbike Editorials in The Jakarta Post and The Bangkok Post have slammed authorities in the Indonesian province of Aceh for introducing new Islamic Sharia laws that include flogging gay people and banning… Read more »
Real Faces, Real People, Real Love in Vietnam
Maika Elan didn’t know what to expect two years ago when she knocked on doors at a popular hotel for gay and lesbian couples in Siem Riep, Cambodia. She was surprised when most of the guests — many of whom were foreigners — told her she was welcome to take their portraits. Ms. Elan, a… Read more »
Being gay in China
In both Chinese history and literature, homosexuality was open and tolerated. Has social acceptance come full cycle as China increasingly engages the international community? Is there a place for same-sex relationships now? The China Daily Sunday team of Han Bingbin, Gan Tian, Shi Yingying and Xu Lin file the reports. Pederasty, the erotic relationship between… Read more »
New study shows Chinese tolerance for homosexuality over thousands of years
A new study by a Chinese sociologist has documented tolerance of homosexuality and same-sex relationships going back thousands of years in China Chinese sociologist Pan Guangdan has documented acceptance of same-sex relationships in China going back thousands of years, suggesting that tolerance for LGBTs may be coming full circle in the People’s Republic of China.… Read more »
In China, Grass-Roots Groups Take On H.I.V./AIDS Outreach Work
Guangzhou, China — As he waited to give blood for an H.I.V. test one recent afternoon, Le, a 25-year-old marketing professional, explained why he was there. “I was aware of the consequences” of not using a condom, he said, “but somehow I didn’t know how to say no.” Le, a gay man who would give… Read more »
Changing attitudes towards men who have sex with men and transgender people in Myanmar
When Thet Mon Phyo underwent a gender change operation in 2005, her parents told her not to bother returning home. “They were ashamed and I had to go and live with my aunt,” 34-year-old Phyo recalled. “When I was young my father often scolded me for my feminine behaviour. Later, my lover left me because… Read more »
Gay parents in Singapore
There aren’t many openly LGBT parents in Singapore, but there are some who’re willing to share their stories. Meet K, a bisexual mum, and P, a gay dad. Here in Singapore, we’ve heard a lot about gay parents. We’ve watched them in movies like The Kids Are All Right and in (illegally downloaded) TV shows… Read more »
Malaysia hears Christmas call for tolerance for LGBTs
Malaysia’s most read online newspaper has published a Christmas call for tolerance towards LGBTs just days after a prominent lawmaker warned Malays about adopting foreign views on homosexuality Malaysia’s most read news website has published a Christmas call for tolerance for LGBTs from a reader. The Malaysia Kini website published the article ‘Bethlehem revisited –… Read more »
Hong Kong: Out of the closet
Following the closing of the second Pink Season and the 23rd Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival which started in 1989 when gay sex was still a criminal offence, Fridae’s Hong Kong Correspondent Nigel Collett looks back at the territory’s LGBT history and how far LGBTs have become mainstream including the election of its… Read more »
LGBT Issues in China
This semester I have been working at the Beijing LGBT Center. Before going to the center I was getting extremely excited to see how the LGBT community is thriving in Beijing. Not going to lie, I was not expecting much. Having learned about China’s reaction to the rise of the LGBT community and how it… Read more »
A lesbian perspective on Thailand
Gay Star News interviews the founder of the first LGBT rights group in Thailand In most developing countries, gay men form LGBT rights groups first, encouraged by HIV and AIDS prevention funding. Thailand is unusual in that the first LGBT rights group, Anjaree, was formed by lesbians in 1987. Anjana Suvarnananda, one of the founders… Read more »
Activists march for gay rights in Macau
Gay rights march planned for former Portuguese colony near Hong Kong Activists in Macau are planning a march for gay rights on Thursday in response to the government not including same-sex partners in drafted cohabitation law. Jason Chao, who started a Facebook page urging the government to include gay couples in the domestic partnership law,… Read more »
Thai government drafting same-sex civil partnership law
The government in Thailand has formed a committee with policy advisors and LGBT rights advocates to draft legal recognition for same-sex couples The Thai government has formed a committee to draft legislation on civil-partnership law for same-sex couples. One of the committee members, Anjana Suvarnananda of LGBT rights group Anjaree told Gay Star News that… Read more »
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