Fridae

Gays should not lead mostly Muslim nation, says Malaysian ex-PM says
Gays should not govern mostly Muslim Malaysia, ex-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said in a court filing last week, seeking to strike out Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's RM100 million libel suit.

Anwar filed a defamation suit on Jan 27 last year against Dr Mahathir over his statement pertaining to Anwar's sodomy charges. Anwar alleged Dr Mahathir uttered defamatory statements at a Malaysian Human Rights Commission conference on Sept 9, 2005.

Anwar claimed the words meant he was a homosexual, he engaged in activities contrary to Islam, he was a pervert, unfit to hold office, had criminal tendencies and was dangerous to Malaysian society.

The 81-year-old former prime minister in his affidavit claimed that his comments at a Malaysian Human Rights Commission conference about two years ago were fair and justified, and that he had qualified privilege to make them. In the application filed last Friday, the former prime minister said Anwar's writ of summons and statement of claim should be struck out because it was scandalous, frivolous or vexatious. He is seeking costs of this action from Anwar.

Dr Mahathir said his statement at the Press conference was based on the admission of guilt by Anwar's former speech writer Dr Munawar Ahmad Anees and Anwar's adopted brother Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja in 1998 of sexual misconduct with Anwar. Munawar served six months in prison for the crime.

The Malaysia New Straits Times quoted Dr Mahathir as saying: "I strongly believe we cannot have a prime minister who is a homosexual. Malaysia is officially an Islamic country."

According to various reports, Mahathir fired his deputy Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 alleging he was involved in corruption and had engaged in sodomy � an illegal act in Malaysia � after Anwar publicly denounced Mahathir's economic policies during the Asian financial crisis. Mahathir retired in 2003 after 22 years in power.

Anwar, now a key opposition figure, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of corruption and sodomy in 1998. A successful appeal in Malaysia's top court against the sodomy conviction set him free in 2004.

Anwar claimed the words meant he was a homosexual, he engaged in activities contrary to Islam, he was a pervert, unfit to hold office, had criminal tendencies and was dangerous to Malaysian society, reports the Times.

The High Court has fixed March 7 to hear the defamation suit brought by Anwar against Dr Mahathir.

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Student's body scrawled with gay slurs
The autopsy report of a University of Texas freshman who was found dead with gay slurs and pictures of genitalia drawn with a permanent marker on his body revealed disturbing findings.

According to media reports of the autopsy findings released this week, fellow members of Lambda Phi Epsilon - the first and only national Asian American interest fraternity - scrawled obscenities and drew pictures of genitalia and the University of Texas (UT) at Austin logo on the body of Phanta "Jack" Phoummarath while the freshman was passed out, dying from alcohol poisoning. The report noted that Phoummarath had a blood-alcohol level of .41, more than five times the legal limit for driving while intoxicated.

The 18-year-old freshman was found on Dec 10, 2005 at the fraternity's house.

A family attorney says he was not gay.

The Travis County medical examiner's office reported that partygoers used green and black markers to write "FAG," "I'm gay" and "I AM FAT" on Phoummarath's head, face, torso, legs and feet. Someone also added drawings depicting naked men and women and blackened his toenails.

Three members of the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity were indicted on hazing charges last month, following a year-long investigation into Phoummarath's death.

Used most frequently in the United States and Canada, hazing is described on Wikipedia as "an often ritualistic test, which may constitute harassment, abuse or humiliation with requirements to perform meaningless tasks; sometimes as a way of initiation into a social group" such as a fraternity.)

An affidavit said fraternity members chanted for Phoummarath and six other pledges to finish as many as eight bottles of vodka, whiskey and rum, while other drinks were being passed around as well.

His family alleges in a lawsuit against the fraternity that pledges were pressured to drink at the party and that someone wrote vulgar graffiti on Phoummarath's body after he passed out. The medical examiner ruled that Phoummarath died of acute alcohol poisoning.

Randy Sorrels, the attorney representing Phoummarath's family, said it's disturbing to see the behaviour shown by members of the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity.

UT suspended Lambda Phi Epsilon as a registered student organisation until 2011 after determining that hazing had occurred.

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Supermodel Eve Salvail comes out as a lesbian
Supermodel Eve Salvail, who is known for her trademark shaved and tattooed head, has confirmed in a TV interview that she is a lesbian.

The revelation however will not come a complete surprise to many fashion watchers as it was reported in gay news magazine The Advocate that the 33-year-old first came out on Chaunce Hayden's eYada.com show in 2000 when she revealed that she dated women exclusively.

Until speaking on the talk show of fellow supermodel Tyra Banks last week, Salvail had refused to discuss her sexuality in public.

One of the top models of the 1990s, the Canadian model was discovered by Jean-Paul Gaultier and is the first supermodel to shave her head. In addition to on-screen roles in The Fifth Element and Zoolander, she appeared as herself in the late Robert Altman's movie about the fashion industry, Pret A Porter.

Salvail, sporting peroxide blonde hair, talked openly about her girlfriend for the first time in the January 9th edition of The Tyra Banks Show, which was entitled "Coming Out Stories."

She said: "I was always with my girlfriend at the time backstage, but I'm very private about my personal life. She was my make-up artist, my manager, my hairdresser, my everything else."