Asia
CCHR calls for Cambodia to show strong national and international leadership regarding the promotion of human rights for LGBT people
CCHR recently called on the Cambodian government to use its position as chair of ASEAN to lobby for the inclusion of provisions protecting the human rights of LGBT people in the draft ASEAN human rights declaration please see attached CCHR’s press release dated 16 January 2012 We unreservedly welcome the fact that Thailand has lobbied… Read more »
‘The Island President Deposed’ (non-gay background)
I first heard about Mohamed Nasheed in 2008, when, immediately after taking office as the first-ever democratically elected leader of the Maldives, he decided not just to repair his country’s broken economy and nurture its fragile democracy but also to take up the formidable battle against climate change. The Maldives is considered among the nations… Read more »
Flying the flag for ladyboys: Thai airline takes on transgender flight attendants
Boss of PC Air hires transgender cabin crew and says he wants Thailand to give more rights to ‘members of the third sex’ Her eyelashes, and her stockinged legs, are long enough to warrant a double-take from passengers on board. It may seem a form of harassment to others, but Thai flight attendant Punthakarn Sringern,… Read more »
Anwar under fire for suggesting review of gay laws
Kuala Lumpur – Days after being acquitted of a sodomy charge, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim continued to come under fire from his detractors, this time for appearing to support gay rights. Pro-government newspapers slammed Mr Anwar on Sunday for suggesting that Malaysia’s strict laws on sodomy and oral sex be reviewed, saying this could lead… Read more »
Singapore: Two men with HIV jailed for non-disclosure to same man at different times
A 27 year-old former civil engineer and a 48 year-old married man who had casual sex at different times with a 37 year-old man (who subsequently tested HIV-positive) have each been sentenced to 18 months in prison because they did not disclose they were HIV-positive. This is the first time that I’m aware that one… Read more »
China: 16 million women ‘married to gays’
A university professor in China has estimated that 16 million women in the world’s most populous country are married to gays. Professor Zhang Bei-chuan of Qingdao University says the huge number of women – equivalent to the population of the Netherlands – who have tied the knot with gay men are struggling to cope. Speaking… Read more »
Woman in Cambodia sentenced to 4.5 years jail for lesbian sex with ‘minor’
Rights workers and members of Cambodia’s nascent gay community say the case is an example of homophobia as a 20-year-old woman was sentenced to jail based on falsified documents submitted to the court identifying the “victim” as 14 years old. A 20-year-old woman has been sentenced to four and a half years behind bars for… Read more »
I am What I am
Rumour has it transsexuals don’t usually live past 50, so Abigail Chay, a Singaporean transgender comedian now 52, treasures every second she is given. Fridae.asia’s Hong Kong reporter Tony Ed Lo meets Chay and Angus Chan, who play Abigail in the musical that recently ended its run, and finds out how her life story came… Read more »
India’s Royal Supergay: Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil
When Jenni and I first researched the idea for Out & Around, I googled “Gay Around the World” and came up with a video clip of Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil speaking on Oprah in 2007 about gay life in India. We found Prince Manvendra’s story so compelling that we built our entire project around trying… Read more »
India unlikely hotspot for gay tourism
When Thomas Roth first visited India, he was often asked about his wife and children — questions he would try to evade. That was thirty years ago, when homosexuality was a criminal offence in India and for many the term “gay” only meant “happy.” Roth is again planning a trip to India, this time with… Read more »
Pakistan’s transexuals celebrate right to vote
Pakistan’s transgender community is quite excited these days. The reason behind their excitement and happiness is the implementation of Supreme Court of Pakistan’s decision regarding their right to vote. Earlier, transgender persons/eunuchs locally known as “hijras” did not enjoy the right to vote. It was only in November last year the country’s Supreme Court directed… Read more »
Conservative India unlikely hotspot on gay tourism map
New Delhi (Reuters) – When Thomas Roth first visited India, he was often asked about his wife and children — questions he would try to evade. That was thirty years ago, when homosexuality was a criminal offence in India and for many the term “gay” only meant “happy.” Roth is again planning a trip to… Read more »
Tajikistan: LGBT Community Stuck in the Shadows
No help – and sometimes worse – for the LGBT community in Tajikistan. (Photo: David Trilling) Being gay is no longer a crime in Tajikistan, but police are reticent to address hate crimes, including the murder of a gay man in Dushanbe in 2011. Police have also been known to blackmail closeted individuals by threatening… Read more »
Psychological characteristics in high-risk MSM in China
Men who have sex with men (MSM) have become a high-risk group of HIV infection in China. To date, little is known regarding the behavioral, social and psychological characteristics in Chinese MSM, which makes the implementation of preventive and therapeutic strategies for this high-risk subpopulation of people extremely difficult. Methods: A total of 714 questionnaires… Read more »
Video: Without any window of His own: Being gay in Bangladesh
Bangladesh – Sometimes an image or a word says more than an action. Sometimes things cannot be expressed as bluntly because of fear and stigma. Growing up, we were taught that society is where men and women get married, and that’s how a relationship works. But at least 10% of the total population of a… Read more »
No homosexuality in Pakistan, and other lies
While visiting Karachi University a few months back for a fieldwork assignment, I had a rather peculiar run-in with a group of clinical psychologists. All of them were involved in clinical and rehabilitative projects and had recently banded together to start a small forum to teach people aspiring to enter mental health and also to… Read more »
What do Azeris think about homosexuals? (With English subtitles)
The Channel 13 has interviewed Azerbaijani people about homosexuality in Baku, and here the results are! Translated by quliyevresad! by Rashad Guliyev on Source – YouTube
Seksualiti Merdeka challenges ban in Kuala Lumpur High Court
The Kuala Lumpur High Court will hear the judicial review application filed by committee members of Malaysia’s only sexuality rights festival, which was forcibly cancelled by the police last November, on Feb 21. Committee members of Malaysia’s only sexuality rights festival Seksualiti Merdeka, which was forcibly cancelled by the police last November, have filed a… Read more »
Thailand found over 10,000 new HIV/AIDS patients in 2011
Bangkok(NNT) – The Public Health Ministry has made public the number of HIV/AIDS patients in 2011, saying over 10,000 new patients were found last year alone. According to the Public Health Ministry, over 1 million people were infected with the deadly disease in 2011, with nearly half still alive. The statistics from January to November… Read more »
The Father of India’s Gay Rights Movement: Supergay Ashok Row Kavi
In a bursting country of billion people, it’s rare to be known as the “first” to do anything. Yet, journalist Ashok Row Kavi is well-known in India for being the first gay person to come out publicly in the country. His first coming out interview was in 1986 with Savvy Magazine, an Indian feminist magazine,… Read more »
Gay Leader Ashok Row Kavi Interview with Out & Around
In a bursting country of billion people, it’s rare to be known as the “first” to do anything. Yet, journalist Ashok Row Kavi is well-known in India for being the first gay person to come out publicly in the country. His first coming out interview was in 1986 with Savvy Magazine, an Indian feminist magazine,… Read more »
The Father of India’s Gay Rights Movement: Supergay Ashok Row Kavi
In a bursting country of billion people, it’s rare to be known as the “first” to do anything. Yet, journalist Ashok Row Kavi is well-known in India for being the first gay person to come out publicly in the country. His first coming out interview was in 1986 with Savvy Magazine, an Indian feminist magazine,… Read more »
Codified homophobia in Sri Lanka and its oppressive side-effects
“Saman” is a graduate student in Sri Lanka who was doing research on ‘safer sex’ for his thesis. He told me that while he was working in the southern city of Galle, the local police detained and tortured him assuming he was gay. While in detention he witnessed how the Sri Lankan police discriminated against… Read more »
Filipino father admits burning son after discovering three children were gay
A Filipino father has told police he drunkenly attacked his son after learning that three of his children were gay. The Philippine LGBT Hate Crime Watch said today that 19-year-old Edmund Padilla was left with burns and blisters after his father, Erano, attacked him with boiling water. Erano Padilla reportedly told police he attacked his… Read more »
Malaysian opposition leader speaks of “archaic” sodomy laws during trial
The former Deputy Prime Minister and current Leader of the Opposition in Malaysia has spoken of the “archaic” and “unjust” sodomy laws under which he is standing trial. Anwar Ibrahim, who is married with six children, is accused of engaging in sodomy with an aide in 2008. As a verdict nears, he insists the act… Read more »
India’s Supergay Attorney in Anti-Sodomy Law Case: Aditya Bondyopadhyay
In 2009 in a landmark case, the Delhi High Court challenged the constitutionality of India’s anti-sodomy law, Section 377. The results have catapulted India into a stronger gay rights movement. Out & Around met with Aditya Bondyopadhyay, a leading attorney on the legal team that constructed the case. Aditya now spends most of his time… Read more »
India’s Gay Attorney in High Court: Interview With Aditya Bondyopadhyay
In 2009 in a landmark case, the Delhi High Court challenged the constitutionality of India’s anti-sodomy law, Section 377. The results have catapulted India into a stronger gay rights movement. Out & Around met with Aditya Bondyopadhyay, a leading attorney on the legal team that constructed the case. Aditya now spends most of his time… Read more »
Gay, Lesbian and HIV Grassroots Growing in China
Increased awareness is changing what was stigmatized treatment of HIV/Aids in China. This year the country will host its first ‘AIDS Walk’, which will include a trek along the Great Wall. There are officially 780,000 people living with HIV/Aids in China, but stigma and discrimination means that people are afraid to get tested. Anyone taking… Read more »
Transgender airline staff make inaugural flight in Thailand
Thailand’s first transgender air stewardesses have taken part in PC Air’s inaugural flight from Bangkok to Surat Thani. The new airline took on four transgender crew last year when hiring thirty in-flight staff. PC Air boss Peter Chan told the Daily Telegraph last year: “I think these people can have many careers – not just… Read more »
India’s Supergay Attorney in Anti-Sodomy Law Case: Aditya Bondyopadhyay
In 2009 in a landmark case, the Delhi High Court challenged the constitutionality of India’s anti-sodomy law, Section 377. The results have catapulted India into a stronger gay rights movement. Out & Around met with Aditya Bondyopadhyay, a leading attorney on the legal team that constructed the case. Aditya now spends most of his time… Read more »
The truth about tolerance
Thailand is well known for being tolerant towards people of different sexual orientations. After all, hardly a day goes by without one seeing ladyboys and chic lesbian tomboys with their shortly cropped hairstyles and manly attire roam the streets of Bangkok. The most obvious response of bystanders is a mixed bag of raised eyebrows and… Read more »
Philippine HIV cases rose 89% in November
The number of new HIV cases in the country jumped by nearly 90 percent in November compared to the same period in 2010, a Department of Health (DOH) report said. The Philippine HIV and AIDS Registry report released last week said there were 212 new HIV cases reported in November last year, an 89-percent increase… Read more »
Book review: I will survive
Social worker Leow Yangfa’s first book explores the lives of 21 GLBT people in Singapore, focusing on their struggles with abuse, illness and prejudice. Ng Yi-Sheng reviews. Meet Elle. She’s a queer Singaporean woman who lives in Australia with her girlfriend. She’s still waiting for her parents to accept that she’ll never marry a man.… Read more »
Homosexuality is not a psychiatric disorder: Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists
In November this year, the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists at last made an announcement on sexual orientation and the efficacy of faith-based ‘therapies’ – making it the first psychiatric or psychological professional body in Asia known to have done so. Fridae’s Hong Kong correspondent, Nigel Collett, examines the issue. Unnoticed in the media and… Read more »
Gay people should not face discrimination
Last week, Viet Nam News asked readers about discrimination against homosexual people in their countries. The readers were asked what measures should be taken to protect homosexual teenagers from being bullied at schools and homosexual people in general from being ill treated because of their sexual orientation. Here are some of the responses: Nguyen Thu… Read more »
Living in silence: Gay North Korea
Life inside the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, more commonly known as North Korea, is not generally well understood. The nation is among the most isolated in the world. ‘Reclusive’ only begins to scratch the surface of what one could say about the DPRK’s obsession with secrecy. And because people often fear what they don’t… Read more »
Malaysia urged to repeal anti-gay law and abandon politician’s tria
Human Rights Watch says the law is being used to Human Rights Watch says the law is being used to “slander” Anwar Ibrahim The Malaysian government has been urged to revoke its laws criminalising homosexuality and abandon the criminal trial of its former deputy Prime Minister, which is believed to be nearing a verdict. The… Read more »
Malaysia: Revoke Law Banning Same-Sex Sexual Relations
Drop Case against Ex-Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (New York) – The Malaysian government should revoke its colonial-era law criminalizing consensual sexual acts between people of the same sex, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should drop their criminal case alleging consensual “sodomy” against opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who… Read more »
Cambodian Police Force 2 MSMs to Cut Hair
Men who have sex with men (MSM) are still under degrading treat- ment. Arrest, detention and inhuman or degrading treatments against MSM and other most-at-risk population have been reportedly committed by Cambodian law enforcement officials. Nokorwat newspaper (Temple News) which is a Cambodian local newspaper in its article issued on 28 November 2011 said two… Read more »
‘Missing’ gay Malaysian newlywed in Ireland draws harsh criticism
A Malaysian man, who was reported missing as early as 2008 while he was a medical student in Ireland, is now a subject of controversy in his home country after photos of him in a same-sex civil union surfaced last week. Ariff Alfian Rosli, a 28-year-old Malaysian man whose family reported him missing after he… Read more »
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