Fridae

Fridae's Melbourne-based writer Shinen Wong meets Nic and Tim, a couple who recently got married in Australia despite the lack of legal recognition and want to share their story to "put an Asian face to an issue that has been couched as a very ‘Western notion.'"

Hosted by the City of Sydney, the event includes a film screening of Tony Ayres's 'China Dolls' and community forum where a panel of speakers and the audience can share their personal stories about sexual and gender diversity within multicultural families and communities.

Gay men, in particular, have been stereotyped as being particularly narcissistic. But what do we see (or want to see) when we look in the mirror?

Could having the highest concentration of (Caucasian) Buddhists - in the United States - have played a part in Vermont's relative ease with legalise same-sex marriage?

What's with being gay and bitchy? What are we trying to prove by being so mean to each other? Shinen Wong looks at where it might all come from and where we can go from here.

Once thought of as the ultimate life-force, cum today is also seen as potentially 'toxic' - a carrier of a whole host of diseases, from gonorrhea, syphilis to HIV. Shinen Wong calls for a gay male reclamation of the meaning of cum.

Shinen Wong recalls his coming out to his parents some seven years ago.

Shinen Wong ponders the meaning of gay Pride parades as Sydney, where he currently lives, is in the midst of the its 31st annual Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras festival season.

Depending on circumstances, Valentine's Day is either a time to celebrate the one you love, or it is yet another time of the year that excessive commercialisation of sexuality and romance in movies, ads, and chocolate specialty shops all lead to anxiety about being single... writes Shinen Wong.

It's an oft-used descriptor in personal ads but what does it really mean to advertise yourself as a "straight-acting" gay man? Shinen Wong delves into the term's underlying assumptions and bias.