Singapore
battles culture of shame She loves children and her
lifelong dream is to be a wife and a mother, but
the raspy voice and masculine frame betray the
fact that Leona Lo was born a man. Unlike many
other transsexuals in Asia who prefer to live
privately because of the social stigma of sex
change Singaporean transsexual woman has chosen
to live a normal life, but in
public. 13-9-2007
Malaysia:
He's my daughter Appalled by how transsexuals are
generally mistreated by society and even their
families, the third winner of FreedomFilmFest07
hopes to change mindsets by showing how
and acceptance can make all the difference. IT
was an assignment that seemed straightforward
enough: do a video clip on transsexuals in
Malaysia for a news
site. 13-9-2007
Lesbian
kiss riles Singapore A 'silly
prank' that backfired in a class photo leaves
Singapore rile on issues of sexuality
Sex
is back with a bang Sex is back with a bang in the
Asian box office as steamy new films hit the big
screen
Being gay in China or Tibet Before
Communist China occupied it in 1948, Tibet was a
theocracy, ruled by a monastic hierarchy, whose
population growth tended to be low, given the high
proportion of celibate Buddhist monks and nuns in the
mountainous Himalayan nation.
20-8-2008
Being gay in South Korea Like
neighbouring China and Japan, South Korea doesn't
criminalise male homosexuality, but nor does it have
antidiscrimination laws that cover gay men, lesbians or
members of the transgender community. In addition,
military service discrimination and discriminatory
censorship of LGBT publications is also a problem.
20-8-2008
Pluralistic rabbis: In same-sex wedding, both can break glass In a solution to a
decidedly postmodern Jewish dilemma, a group of
pluralistic, secular rabbis ruled this week that when
standing under the huppa in a same-sex marriage
ceremony, both partners can be given the honor of
"breaking the glass".
20-8-2008
Gay teenager faces return to Iran after Dutch ruling A gay teenager who
claims he faces the death penalty in Iran after his
boyfriend was executed there two years ago has spoken of
his anger and disappointment at losing his legal battle
against deportation. 20-8-2008
Iran's 'diagnosed transsexuals' Homosexual relationships are banned in
Iran, but the country allows sex change operations and
hundreds of men have elected for surgery to change their
lives. "He wants to kill me. He keeps telling me to come
home so he can kill me. He had put rat poison in my
tea.". 29-2-2008
Iran sex changes get mullahs' money as regime persecutes gays Nasser didn't think
much of Iran's Islamic regime -- until it paid for him
to become a woman. Growing up in the city of Mashhad,
Nasser knew he was different from the other boys,
sneaking around in his aunt's skirts and experimenting
with makeup. At age 14, he told his parents he wanted to
have a sex change. 15-2-2008
Malaysian police break up gay sex party Police in Malaysia, where sodomy is a
crime, broke up a gay sex party and arrested 37 men,
including a Briton and a Chinese national, a senior
official said this week.
14-11-2007
Singapore: Gay debate takes ugly turn The Parliamentary debate on the law
against gay sex will be remembered for its fiery,
heart-felt spirit. But outside the House, passions -
among both supporters and opponents of Section 377A -
have, at times, degenerated into spite.
3-11-2007
Gay sex workers play Russian roulette with HIV in South Asia Shujaat plies his trade
well. As dusk falls on the Pir Wadhai bus station in the
Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, the slender 19-year-old
gauges disembarking passengers for that 'look' - a
responsive glance or wink suggesting a desire for more
than just a quick bus ride home.
3-11-2007
Transsexual women in the Philippines This is not an easy piece to write. It's
probably the most unusual and unprecedented case the
Philippine Supreme Court has had to deal with in its
history. It will be many, many years before the high
court can have some kind of "transgender law" to guide
its future deliberations on transgender cases.
3-11-2007
Bahrain: Final operation for sex change A woman fighting for the right to be
legally recognised as a man will travel to Thailand in
December for her final sex change operation. She now
expects to win her legal battle after a medical report
concluded that she is neither male nor female.
2-10-2007
Malaysian court annuls same-sex marriage A Malaysian court has ordered a couple to
separate, declaring their marriage a same-sex union as
the husband was a woman. An Islamic court in the central
state of Malacca ruled as void the marriage between
40-year-old Mohd Sufian Mohamad and 43-year-old Zaiton
Aziz after medical examinations showed Sufian was a
woman. 6-9-2007
LGBT group accused of inciting prostitution in Turkey Eighteen members of a
Turkish LGBT association which also represents
transvestites have been arrested in the city of Bursa
for "forming a gang to commit crimes, being an associate
with a gang, and inciting prostitution."
6-9-2007
Is that Mr, Mrs or Ms? Thailand
may soon let people who have had a sex change officially
alter their title, too. A proposal that would allow
transgender men and women to choose how they are
addressed is being considered by the country's National
Legislative Assembly to support an anti-discrimination
provision in the draft constitution.
22-8-2007
India: Help at hand for sexual minorities Christy Raj would have been stripped if
'she' had not jumped off a running bus. But curious men
felt offended as Raj, a female-to-male transgender,
dressed up as a man and claimed to be one as well.
8-8-2007
Japan: Cross-dressing festival lives up to its queer billing Yokohama is home to
an obscure festival where older women hand out bills to
worshippers, but the twist in the story is that the
biddies aren't quite what they seem. There's something
decidedly queer about the port city's Yasaka Jinja on
the afternoon of the festival.
28-7-2007
Ian McKellen urges Singapore to recognise gay rights British actor Ian
McKellen on Tuesday urged tightly-governed Singapore to
loosen up and repeal its archaic laws barring homosexual
acts. The openly gay McKellen indicated the laws, which
are remnants of British colonial rule, may affect a
vibrant business city like Singapore, which is vying
with other Asian cities to draw more foreign talent and
professionals. 28-7-2007
Bail for 'same-sex' couple in Pakistan; Supreme Court suspends jail sentence The
Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to a 'same-sex'
couple and suspended a verdict handed down by the Lahore
High Court. The high court had declared the marriage
un-Islamic and sentenced the two to three years in jail.
1-7-2007
India: Transvestite dancers endure rape and sadism To earn a living, Kiran dresses up in
women's clothes, dances at wedding parties in
countryside and tries not to struggle when he is raped
at knifepoint by drunken male wedding guests.
18-6-2007
Lahore judge jails same-sex couple The recent discovery of the same sex
female couple in Pakistan, unprecedented in the
country's history and taken with shock by the public,
has raised many moral, cultural, religious and legal
questions which are not easy to be addressed by the
court of law. 28-5-2007
Minister says gay sex should be legal Singapore's powerful former prime
minister Lee Kuan Yew, has questioned the country's ban
on sex between men. 25-4-2007
Amend criminal law to punish same-sex sexual assaults A Chinese lawmaker has
called for amendment to or judicial interpretation of
the country's existing Criminal Law to severely punish
those making sexual assaults on victims of the same sex.
8-3-2007
Boy's Town: Russian style Homosexuals were rare species in Russia
some 10 years ago. Homosexual males met one another in
secrecy, they might be sent to prison because sodomy was
a punishable practice under the penal code effective at
the time. But things have changed dramatically. These
days it is trendy to be a gay in Russia. The "lavender
invasion" has reached the scale of an epidemic..
24-12-2006
New magazine says 'yes' to bringing gay industry out of the closet in Japan In Japan,
homosexuality is either the, well, butt of jokes, or
shoved under the mat as though it doesn't exist. But a
group of same-sex editors have been trying to change all
that with a new magazine that's radical by Japanese
standards, according to AERA.
24-11-2006
Court says Israel must register same-sex marriages The Israeli
Supreme Court touched off a fresh controversy over gay
rights Tuesday when it ordered the government to
register same-sex marriages performed abroad.
26-11-2006
Indonesian gays fight back Indonesia's
fledgling LGBT group, Arus Pelangi (Rainbow Flag), last
Monday launched a national campaign against a welter of
ultra-homophobic regional statutes based on Muslim
Sharia law. 15-10-2006
Pakistan: Marginalised male sex workers vulnerable to HIV/AIDS Under the illuminated
Minar-e-Pakistan, the towering monument that marks the
birth of the country, Pervaiz Din lays out the
accessories of his trade. The tiny bottles of massage
oil and aromatic colognes tinkle cheerfully as he pulls
them out of a cloth bag and sets them out on a tray.
Through much of the balmy September night, Pervaiz will
await customers who seek a soothing roadside massage, a
head rub - or something more.
24-9-2006
Leading Indians urge end of "monstrous" gay sex law Leading Indian writers, artists,
lawyers and academics led by author Vikram Seth have
written an open letter urging the government to overturn
a British colonial era law that criminalises
homosexuality. 18-9-2006
Rainbow flag to grace Taipei city hall Civic officials sponsoring a gay
festival in Taipei, Taiwan, will hoist the rainbow flag
September 17 above the city hall in what they term a
first for an Asian city, the Taipei Times reports. The
annual "LGBT Civil Rights Movement-Queer-friendly
Taipei" has been hosted since 2000 by the city's
Department of Civil Affairs, with an annual budget of
about $30,000. 8-9-2006
Man changes sex to keep lesbian girlfriend Japan is smitten, Cyzo says, by the story
of a man who underwent the samurai chop, so to speak,
just because his girlfriend started to swing in the
opposite direction. 26-8-2006
From Moscow with gay love I was
the only American gay journalist to witness the
first-ever Russian Gay Pride Festival, held May 25
through May 27, in Moscow. The mayor of Moscow had
pronounced the festival a "degenerate" event.
24-6-2006
Gay travel guide tries Southeast Asia edition The editor of a new gay and lesbian
travel guide to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore says
he hopes the book will foster more acceptance of
homosexuality - which is outlawed in all three
conservative Southeast Asian nations.
27-5-2006
Japanese exhibition a gender-bender There's nothing rare about nude photos in
Noughties Japan, but one Tokyo exhibition featuring
naked subjects is currently stirring up a fuss for its
"different" presentation of beautiful bods in the buff.
29-3-2006
Singapore allows film fans to see Brokeback Mountain Promotional material for Brokeback
Mountain in Singapore will carry a consumer advisory
saying "mature theme, sexual scenes". Cinemagoers in
Singapore will be allowed to watch gay cowboy romance
Brokeback Mountain without censorship from Friday.
19-2-2006
20 HK men with HIV in net sex link Twenty men who met through the Internet
have been infected with HIV after having unsafe sex, the
first such cluster of cases in Hong Kong.
19-2-2006
Nepal accused Of 'sexual cleansing' An international human rights
organization has joined local LGBT activists in accusing
the government of Nepal of trying to wipe out gays and
transsexuals. 15-1-2006
Hong Kong gays fight sodomy laws, triggering debate in traditional society When
William Roy Leung made legal history in Hong Kong by
successfully challenging antigay laws, the 20-year-old
gay man told a crowd outside the courthouse he could
finally be in love without living in fear of being
thrown in jail. 3-1-2006
Same-sex unions promoted in Taiwan Around a hundred people attended an
engagement ceremony for a gay couple on International
Human Rights' Day to urge the government to squarely
face homosexual rights issues in Taiwan, including
legalizing same-sex marriage and giving rights to
homosexual couples. 16-12-2005
Asian gays and lesbians celebrate 10 years of online "Utopia" Websites seem to
have a shorter shelf life than a ripe banana, but one
pioneering Internet portal is celebrating a decade of
service providing a free, safe and popular online
community for millions of homosexuals in
Asia. 16-12-2005
UAE: Hormone therapy for gay men Men arrested at what a UAE official said
'appeared to be a gay wedding' are to be given hormone
therapy, officials said.
4-12-2005
Iran: Two more executions for homosexual conduct Iran's execution of two men last week for
homosexual conduct highlights a pattern of persecution
of gay men that stands in stark violation of the rights
to life and privacy.
23-11-2005
HIV increase in gay Hong Kong Hong Kong's health department reports an
increase in the number of new HIV cases among gay men,
while the rate amongst heterosexual people remains
steady. 23-11-2005
Russia: Lonely transsexual wants to become pregnant Two years
ago, the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper wrote about a
40-year-old man, Igor Sarkisov, who wanted to become
pregnant and have a baby. Unfortunately, the man could
not find a woman for having a normal family with her.
9-11-2005
Lesbian
couple rebel to live together in India Same sex relationships are still looked
down upon in India, yet there are a few who have the
courage to rebel against this societal prejudice even in
a small place like Chhindwada, a town in Madhya Pradesh.
9-11-2005
India:
Double murder caused by sexual jealousy The City police today claimed to have
worked out the sensational double murder inside a temple
here earlier this month with the arrest of a teenager.
9-11-2005
China:
Condoms sent to entertainment venues Gu Du was the victim of extortion. He was
blackmailed, as well as being chastised by his employer
and almost fired. The reason: Gu is gay.
15-9-2005
Breaking the
silence on sexuality in Japan Now that the conspiracies of silence have
begun to evaporate, scholarly works on gender and
transgender have begun to proliferate. This very
interesting collection of papers is an example of the
fruitful amplification of the field.
14-10-2005
Thailand's transgendered, MSM require culturally appropriate HIV targeted help Men who have
sex with men (MSM) in Thailand, who often do so with
transgendered men known as Katoey, do not perceive
themselves to be engaging in sex between men, and are
consequently requiring culturally appropriate targeted
prevention. 13-9-2005
Survey finds Vietnamese youth oppose homosexuality Vietnam's first national survey on youth
was released Friday in Hanoi. Done in cooperation with
the World Health Organization and UNICEF, the survey of
7,584 people ages 14-25 asked questions about health,
sexuality, education, and family lives.
6-9-2005
Sodomy no
longer a crime in Hong Kong In a landmark decision, the High Court
ruled Wednesday that current laws on the age of consent
discriminate against homosexuals.
24-8-2005
Pardons
urged for jailed gays in Hong Kong The High
court's ruling on gay discrimination not only sparked a
legal challenge, but also demands for erasing past
criminal records for consensual sex between men under
21.
24-8-2005
Massive Asian gay fest hits snag Asia's biggest LGBT festival, already
moved from Singapore, now is facing opposition in its
new home, the popular gay Thai resort of Phuket.
19-8-2005
Shanghai University to offer gay studies A university in Shanghai is offering
China's first class on homosexuality and gay culture and
several hundred students have applied for the 100
openings, a professor in charge of the course said
Tuesday. 17-8-2005
Homosexuality: Daring to care in Thailand Yutthachai Preeyamas feels comfortable
with his sexual orientation, and is accepted by his
family and friends as a 'Man Who Have Sex with Men,' or
MSM. But when the 27-year-old went to see a doctor with
a rectal problem, he was surprised by the doctor's
reaction. 9-8-2005
Iraq: Focus on boys trapped in commercial sex trade Hassan Feiraz,
a 16-year-old boy, has started a desperate new life
since being forced into the sex trade in Baghdad,
joining a growing number of adolescents soliciting in
Iraq under the threat of street gangs or the force of
poverty. 8-8-2005
India: Jharkhand girls defy odds and law, get married Gaining
ground for gay rights in India, two young women in a
Jharkhand village defied society and law to get married
in a ceremony approved and arranged for by their family
members. 29-7-2005
Woman gets girlfriend after sex change A 27-year-old Hakka girl told a man,
alias Gengzi, who had a sex change in Guangzhou on
Saturday she was willing to be his girlfriend, the
Southern Metropolis Daily said.
23-7-2005
Meet on Asian gay communities begins Transsexual movie actors and anti-gay
discrimination were among the topics on the agenda in
Bangkok on Thursday at the opening of the first-ever
international conference on Asia's gay, lesbian and
transgender communities.
9-7-2005
First international conference on Asian 'queer' studies comes to Bangkok Next week
Bangkok will play host to one of the world's largest
gatherings of scholars, human rights activists, artists
and film-makers involved in researching and documenting
Asian lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered,
transsexual, bisexual and queer (LGBTQ) cultures.
30-6-2005
Pakistan's sexual outcasts at risk from HIV, says report On a sultry summer's night, men crowd into
a tent on the edge of Lahore's red light district. They
silently eyeball the slinking female figure on stage before them.
She flirts, pouts and bats an eyelid, rolling her hips and running a
suggestive finger across the lips.
Lesbian students caught half-naked in Pakistani University In a
surprising incident at one of the colleges in Lahore, two college
girls were caught half-naked in a washroom in an unconscious
state after they had lesbian sex. They had reportedly taken pills before having
sex, and later passed out.
Gender
confused get ticket to ride in Japan's women's only carriages Straight women have
welcomed the move to ban guys
from one carriage on most commuter trains, saying it has made
for more spacious, less smelly commutes without the likelihood of
being molested, an occupational hazard for nearly every woman passenger in the capital
at one time or another.
Hong Kong
holds first gay rally
Waving flags of rainbow colours, 16 gay and gay-friendly organisations
rallied through one of the busiest streets in Hong Kong to mark the
first International Day Against Homophobia.
Pakistan:
Focus on gay rights Sitting on a bench
in the shade of the cool palms of Lahore's Lawrence Gardens,
Tariq thought carefully over what to say next. For years
he had kept his sexuality a secret, knowing all too well the risk
of revealing himself as gay.
In Thailand's tolerant society, transvestites and transsexuals glitter
At the Miss Tiffany Universe pageant
- which boasts dozens of gorgeous, lithe, smooth-skinned contestants -
one thing is undeniable: Thailand turns out some of the most beautiful transvestites
and transsexuals in the world.
Indian man kills self to be reborn as woman After failing in a sex change
hormone therapy, a 25-year-old man in West Bengal
committed suicide in the hope that he would be born as a
woman in his next life.
Youth
takes on sex, lies, and gender Themed Gender Issues Represented in the
Cinema, this year's BFF toured the nation and held an
essay competition open to senior high school students in
Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Malang, Makassar and
Medan.
Russian
Supreme Court rejects attempt to legalize same-sex marriages The Russian
Supreme Court has refused to introduce amendments to the
Family Code allowing same-sex marriages, Ekho Moskvy
radio reported on Tuesday. The court's resolution reads
that the court is not entitled to change laws.
Kyrgyzstan: Focus on gay and lesbian rights Kyrgyzstan is known as an island of gay
tolerance in an otherwise oppressive region. Some gay
people come here from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, where
homosexuality is punishable by law, in search of a more
favourable and accepting environment.
Israeli lawmakers welcome directive on rights for same-sex couples Many members
of the political establishment yesterday welcomed
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's directive under which
the state will recognize same-sex couples when it came
to issues of money and
property.
