Fridae

An innocent on-screen kiss between Singaporean actresses Vivian Lai and Kate Pang took place during last Sunday’s Singapore Star Awards 2. The result has been a media frenzy, with actions taken by the Media Development Authority and MediaCorp.

With bullies running the country, many LGBTs find themselves hiding further and further beyond the margins of the legal, beyond the reach of the laws that deem them unfit for society. Making a person think he deserves no justice is NO different from denying him justice. And that is how many LGBTs are denied one of the most fundamental rights of being human: the right to justice. 

Bersih (which means "clean" in Malay), a Malaysian movement for free and fair elections which saw tens of thousands of activists, politicians and citizens take to the streets of Kuala Lumpur 9 July 2011, is slated to take place on Saturday, April 28. Hafidz Baharom, an openly gay social commentator, shares why he has decided to go.

While many gay men adore and worship their respective pop divas, it's no reason to turn their backs on their gay friends just because they are loyal and are devoted to another, says Otto Fong who witnessed wars breaking out on his Facebook wall of late.

Pang Khee Teik, co-founder of Malaysia's only sexuality rights festival, Seksualiti Merdeka, writes in an open letter to the community after hearing from many that they were "doing just fine" but are now under scrutiny after Seksualiti Merdeka 'decided' to fight for LGBT rights publicly.

Jennifer Chang of Outandaround.com ponders about the fight for same-sex marriage equality and why it matters.

It's easy to think of Thailand as being very LGBT-friendly with its numerous LGBT-oriented venues, and transgender females and cross-dressers who are regularly seen on TV soap operas and in public but LGBTs have not assimilated well into Thai society, writes a columnist in the Bangkok Post.

This week saw two milestones in the American march to gay equality with Washington State passing a bill legalising same-sex marriage and the federal court of appeal for the ninth circuit delivering its decision Tuesday that California's Proposition 8 was unconstitutional, since it violated the United States Constitution.

Outing. What are the ethical implications? Is it ever right? Ever wrong? What liberty do we have to hypocrisy, and what obligations to others' privacy?

In November this year, the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists at last made an announcement on sexual orientation and the efficacy of faith-based 'therapies' – making it the first psychiatric or psychological professional body in Asia known to have done so. Fridae's Hong Kong correspondent, Nigel Collett, examines the issue.