Fridae

From 3 to 20 July 2013, Singapore-based theatre group Wild Rice is staging a festival of works by bad-ass playwright and political commentator Alfian Sa’at, with a particular focus on his landmark gay play Dreamplay: Asian Boys Vol. I.

Penang's state assembly last week debated an assemblyman's proposal to set up a committee to oversee the welfare and needs of 'Mak Nyahs' (transgenders) in the northern state.

In addition to hiring a senior partner from a prominent Singapore law firm, the plaintiffs have applied to have England's former attorney-general Queen's Counsel Lord Peter Goldsmith act as co-counsel in their appeal.

One of the top three universities in Thailand has introduced two LGBT courses, a breakthrough in the country and the region. Doug Sanders reports from Bangkok.

Syphilis cases among men who have sex with men (MSM) have more than doubled from 5% in 2005 to 12.5% in 2011 while the annual prevalence of HIV also rose "significantly" from 24.5% in 2005 to 29.4% in 2011 among MSM.

The festival marked the close of the 5-day, 28-film run last month at a small crowded cafe near Andingmen, Beijing with more cheer as usual as organisers report that this year marks the first time in its 13-year history that none of their events were disrupted nor did they have to engage in a cat and mouse game with the police as they did in previous years.

Following the success of Singapore's Pink Dot rally with a record turnout of 21,000, writer Lisa Li reminds the community that as the movement grows it needs to be more accepting of diversity within its ranks, and argues that LGBTs should be accepted as equal members of society as human beings and not just because we are "law-abiding... or productive members of the economy."

Todd Sears, founder of the first Wall Street LGBT leadership organisation Out on the Street, was in Hong Kong last month. Fridae's Hong Kong Correspondent, Nigel Collett, finds out more about the first Asian Summit scheduled for 24 October this year.

With an estimated record turn out of 21,000, Singapore's Pink Dot rally to support the acceptance of LGBTs has become the second largest gay-affirmative event in Asia in five years, behind the annual Taiwan Pride Parade in Taipei. Watch the official video here.

Dr Vincent Wijeysingha, an opposition politician in Singapore, has come out as gay in a Facebook post today; making him the first openly gay politician in the country.