Fridae

The Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film and Video Festival 2006 will open on Thursday featuring over 50 screenings as well as a forum on transgenderism and a performance/lecture on FTM transgenderism by NY-based artist Tobaron Waxman. Elsewhere, the Bangkok Pride festival will culminate in a parade on Sunday; Beijing has opened its first clinic for gays providing anonymous and free STD testing and treatment.

The Hong Kong government will not appeal a recent ruling that will effectively lower the homosexual age of consent from 21 to 16. In Singapore, a cable television provider has been fined US$6,400 for airing lesbian sex scenes in an American reality TV show. Same-sex couples in Osaka may soon be invited to the City Hall where they will receive blessings by the Mayor.

A Singaporean gay man seeking asylum on grounds of gay persecution by his home country has been granted a new trial by the United States Court of Appeals.

Nation.VI, scheduled to be held in Phuket from 20-22 October, will be Fridae's final event. The company, which also operates Asia's largest gay and lesbian portal, will now focus on regional expansion and advocacy work.

Gays and lesbians in Singapore had its inaugural showcase of 12 short films by nine local filmmakers last Friday. In Taiwan, gay university students have been found to be three times more likely to suffer from depression and think about suicide than their heterosexual peers.

Nation.VI will go ahead as planned as the resort island of Phuket has remained unaffected despite the recent military coup in Bangkok on September 19.

Taipei Pride's annual parade drew up to 10,000 participants last Saturday. In the US, a new HIV/AIDS prevention campaign by the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center creates controversy. Still on HIV, two studies have shown that practicing regular genital hygiene in males may reduce the risk of HIV infection.

W.Fridae presents a charity screening of the multiple award-winning movie My Summer of Love in aid of the Association of Women for Action and Research and Cat Welfare Society on Oct 16 at the brand new GV VivoCity in Singapore.

Some 300 people attended a rainbow flag-raising ceremony in front of Taipei City Hall on Sunday to mark the beginning of Taipei Pride Festival. Fridae's new Taipei correspondent Philip Hwang reports.

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal has upheld the original decision handed down by a lower court in August 2005, against a law that prescribes life imprisonment for men younger than 21 who have sex with men.