Tag: samoa gay rights

Report delves into men and fa’afafine sex antics

Close to 30,000 fa’afafine and men have sex with other men in Samoa. So says the Pacific Multi-country Mapping and Behavioural Study 2016, as part of the Ministry of Health’s sixth annual report to UNAIDS. Obtained by the Samoa Observer this report is evidence of Samoa’s commitment to the global response to HIV, AIDS, and… Read more »

Miss Fa’afafine: A look inside Samoa’s transgender beauty pageant

Homosexual acts may be illegal in Samoa, but the annual transgender beauty pageant is a mainstay of the island nation’s social calendar. Miss Fa’afafine takes its name from the Samoan word for the society’s “third gender”, which literally translates to “in the style of” (fa’a) “woman” (fafine). Estimates of the proportion of fa’afafines in the… Read more »