Fridae

Human rights groups the world over have strongly condemned the recent execution of two male teenagers in northeastern Iran amidst conflicting reports of convictions on "homosexual" charges.

While Singapore will not see Nation - Asia's largest gay and lesbian event - on its shores this year, several gay individuals and groups have come together to organise IndigNation held from Jul 28 till Aug 26. A Fridae exclusive!

Thai police raid newsstands and seize thousands of porn movies and magazines, some featuring four-time boxing champion Sirimongkol Singwancha among other male celebrities.

Canada has become the fourth nation - after Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain - to grant full legal rights to same-sex couples after a landmark bill was signed into law.

It's probably for the first time that lesbians in Thailand could do as almost anything as gay men have enjoyed for the longest time: meeting others and truly relax in privacy.

Eased restrictions on property financing and foreign home ownership will benefit same-sex couples who are planning to jointly purchase private residential properties using their pension funds and foreigners looking to buy private homes in Singapore.

Don Baxter, Executive Director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO), provides an overview of the 7th International Conference on Aids in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) held in Kobe, Japan last week.

Action for AIDS clarifies that only one volunteer got infected after becoming a volunteer and not five as the paper reported; and none of the counsellors have met patients who later become their partners.

Described by attendees and organisers as "historic," the groundbreaking international conference of Asian queer studies held in Bangkok last week attracted some 550 scholars, NGO workers and gay activists from over 20 countries. Sylvia Tan reports from Bangkok.

Spain has became the third country to legalise gay marriage. In Hong Kong, a party held on the same night as Kylie's originally scheduled concert which was cancelled after she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer raised HK$70,000 for the HK Breast Cancer Foundation.