Fridae

Homophobia is prevalent in India. Public discussion of homosexuality in India has been inhibited by the fact that sexuality in any form is taboo and rarely discussed openly.

Sex, substance abuse, and the epidemic threatening gay men.

Homophobia (and internalised homophobia) is perpetuated by non-gay as much as by gay people. Leow Yangfa, editor of I Will Survive, says for it to be rendered obsolete we need to recognise it in ourselves, and call it out for what it is.

Chinese filmmaker Fan Popo's latest documentary features six mothers from all over China who share their experiences of coming to accept their gay children as an increasing number of Chinese parents are stepping up and advocating acceptance by family members and society.

"I'm so sorry to be so late in my understanding... Today, I'm an out of the closet Christian that supports homosexuality... I pray and hope you would somehow read about my apology letter to you and give me another chance as a friend," writes a Christian woman – originally from Singapore – to her long-lost gay friend whom she had rejected 12 years ago.

Many lesbians in Indonesia feel the pressure to marry, and like many others in less accepting societies around the world, many consider marrying a gay man, but is it a way to solve their marriage problems? Kate Walton, who works for a national women's organisation in Jakarta, explores the issue.

Coming out or disclosure about one's sexual orientation to our family is a difficult yet important step. Bryan Choong, a full time counsellor at Oogachaga, a LGBT-affirmative counselling agency in Singapore, highlights how an individual's familial relations may affect the coming out process.

Richard Burger, author of Behind the Red Door: Sex in China, explains in an interview that same-sex behaviour in ancient China differs from the modern understanding of homosexuality.

Richard Socarides, an attorney and Senior Advisor during the Clinton Administration, shares his experiences coming out as gay while he was in this twenties to his father who was already at the time a preeminent scholar on the “gay cure” and widely regarded as the father of conversion therapy.

Although cheating is not specific to any sexual orientation, is it more tolerable or even acceptable among gay men than among heterosexuals? This writer wonders if gay men have learnt (implicitly) that not only do we not get censured for our misdeeds, but we may even get rewarded for it.