Fridae

Fridae is pleased to publish an excerpt of Prof Douglas Sanders's paper which was to be presented in Singapore on Aug 7 and 8. The scheduled lecture - organised in association with Singapore's pride festival - has been banned by the authorities.

Lucky Seven: The latest Bangkok pride festival was held from Oct 28 to Nov 5 with no soldiers in sight. Douglas Sanders notes the changes this year as the parade appeared to be less commercial, over all, than in past years.

The picture of a widely reported same-sex wedding in Kathmandu, Nepal last Saturday showed one partner dressed as a woman, the other as a man. Was this really a same-sex marriage? Douglas Sanders has more.

The largest LGBT rights conference yet held was held in Montreal, linked to the first Out Games. Doug Sanders has more on the celebrity lineup at the largest gay rights conference ever held.

A new book gives a picture of Indonesia that sets the sprawling country apart from its Asian sisters. Are queer things actually simpler in complicated Indonesia? Douglas Sanders checks out Tom Boellstorff's The Gay Archipelago.

Health insurance, family pressures, immigration, dealing with hospitals, inheritance and a number of financial issues pose problems for same-sex couples in Korea. Report from Douglas Sanders in Seoul.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has expressed concern and his opposition towards violence and discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Fridae's Douglas Sanders reports from the ILGA World conference in Geneva.

Queer academics talk about "sexuality"- and now it's an acceptable word for foundations and government think tanks. It even shows up in Shanghai, these days.

Queers from around the world gathered in November in South Korea to plot the overthrow of conventional sexual thinking at the United Nations. Doug Sanders was there.

There is probably more talk about gender non-conformity in Asia than in the West. But paradoxically some US court decisions lead the way on fighting gender discrimination under the label of sex discrimination.