Fridae

Aikane - "this sends a great, strong message to the leaders of Hong Kong . . ." Where on this good earth do you find that inference? i suppose you think the appointment of a senior diplomat helps the local gay community? Really? Well, did you read that he was previously Consul General in Shanghai? And what, pray tell, good did he do there for the advancement of civil rights for the Shanghainese LGBT community? Zilch! His appointment will achieve nothing for the gay community in Hong Kong. 5 years ago Britain's gay Consul General in Shanghai married his partner in Shanghai? Did that advance any LGBT rights? Nope! Please get real!

Yet another botwildfck rant that merely repeats in deliberately frightful English what he has written before. Give it a break botwildfck! You have made your views many times - ad nauseam!

Not surprising that most of the comments above are made with little knowledge of the situation and make major assumptions that may or may not be correct. I lived in greater China for more than 35 years and have visited my many gay friends in Taiwan over 50 times. I am certain these young men will continue their relationship. That will not change. Obtaining parental consent for marriage is a vitally important issue in traditional Chinese culture going back millennia. Asia is not the United States where individuality is a key in society. Like it or not, many Asian cultures put the harmony of the group well before the desire of the individual. Disrespecting the cultures of others, no matter how much you disagree with them, is pure arrogance. The world does not live by western values. China and Taiwan are slowly changing. Great strides have been made in recent decades. With respect to the poster, saying "this is horrible to listen to ones parents" shows complete ignorance.

This is horrible that they are listening to the parents. It's their live ans the the parents need to butt out !! Love wind so stay together guys

This is cultural for sure and so very sad to see... Someday people will be able to live thier lives for themselves....I grew up in this kind of situation and have never persued what truely makes me happy for the sake of friends and family and if I had it all to do over I'd never make that choice again! I understand loyalty to family but we all need to live our own lives and do what makes us truly happy as well... Bravo for the policy change in TW!

Quite sad....I hope they are able to resolve their issues with the families and get back to being happy and together. Wishing them the very best.

The culture in that region especially the Chinese is that the bond within family is paramount. Most people live lives for their families and not necessarily for themselves.

Pitiful

What's left to say after the above comment? Appointing Hanscom Smith as the new Consul General of Hong Kong and Macau sends a great, strong message to the leaders of Hong Kong, and affirms the rights of its LGBT citizens.

I have flown to Taipei to take part in 7 out of the last 8 Pride Parades. They are fantastic. Airfares within Asia make Taipei very affordable and there are loads of inexpensive hotels. Go and have a fantastic week-end!

One additional point. If the old taboo about gay guys was suddenly lifted, it could be the perfect way for China to solve its huge imbalance between male and female. Largely thanks to the one child policy, there are 113 males born for every 100 females. That works out at many millions of spare men (tens of millions?) who will not find wives.

The survey was of Singaporeans, not the large overall Singapore community. That gives a total population of just under 4 million born in Singapore. Take away the 14.8% who are under the age of consent and the percentage comes to 12.37%. That is way over the notional world average.

"monkeys always wanna play games on the subject, then ridicule and clown you in public when you're gay. They can't seem to get that shit outta their heads." That is racist, rude in the extreme and totally uncalled for.

"i should know, cuz i know of some relatives of mine who do this .. it's not right, in fact, it's never right and that movie [sic] sends the WRONG message to the Filipino community, that it's "OK" to marry just to present your straight side to people yet hide your gay side, it's just totally fucked up, it's totally wrong, and these people need to know that" Oh really! So it's "totally wrong" is it? So you have actually lived in the Philippines, you know a lot about Filipino society, you know the influence of the Catholic Church and the macho image of Filipino men? Sorry, but I really doubt it. Until you do know, then perhaps your remarks should be tempered. All societies are different. Because the Philippines does not fit your view of the gay world, you happily call it a "fucked up country". Sorry pal, that's utter nonsense! Your views may work in American or wherever. If you want to comment on the Philippines, go and live there for a year or two and then give us the benefit of your actual experience.

What times? Perhaps if you knew a bit more about Asian culture in general and Hong Kong's in particular - especially in relation to the British and Chinese relationship over a century and a half - that comment would seem pretty foolish!

Wakeup? Rather than a one word comment I suggest a little history of Brunei and the reason behind the introduction of sharia law might make for interesting reading. The story involves the spread of Islam centuries ago, massive corruption (many tens of billions of US$s) in the ruling family and a desire to hold on to power. Not a little unlike the USA at present I'd think.

So laws which you like should stay and those you don't like should not be laws? Surely you realise life doesn't work like that. You will be interested to know that Led Zeppelin and The Bee Gees cancelled their gigs in Singapore because of the long hair law. It is not still around. It was taken off the statute books a good quarter of a century ago.

And what is the point of that admonition? Is it going to achieve anything on a chat forum? Although the ad was made by Cathay Pacific, the management of the airline's home airport the Hong Kong Airport Authority decided the ad had to be taken down. Same with Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway Corporation. These are two massive corporations! What I wonder do you call them? Actually, they reversed their ban after a couple of days.

botwildfck - I am sure the editor is happy that someone responds so regularly to new news items but instead of a string of posts do you think you might consider marshalling your thoughts before hitting the keyboard? There are many gay guides to Pattaya, some more accurate than others. Whilst personal comments are useful, some of what you write above is nonsense, sorry to say. "men should be careful on visiting club, cafe, etc because there were girls/ ladies who like to touch your cock and suck it in public" is rubbish. Of course, if you saw this lewd action, perhaps you will inform members here of the exact name of the cafe, I will happily offer an apology. But as an old Thailand hand, I do not believe it.

- according to hollybook Marriage between and woman was not recognized as correct value, even it was not accepted by God as moral value, why? - because God want men to be closer to God than to be closer to clitoris-vagina. - Marriage man and woman is curse from God and Hatred of God to Men that prefer to make vaginal intimacy than intimacy with God. - God made extradition to Man and women marriage and refuse marriage between man and woman as moral value . - Marriage between man and woman is special curse tradition - God regard man and woman marriage case as violent - When women will get menopause, I think that is good time for men to leave clitoris-vaginal play then choose to purify by closer to God.