Fridae

As US voters re-elected President Barack Obama to a second term, voters in Maryland and Maine passed referendums to allow gay couples to marry – making it the first time same-sex marriage has been approved by a popular vote; Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin also made history by becoming the first openly gay person elected to the Senate.

Legislative Council (LegCo) member Cyd Ho Sau-lan is planning to move a motion on Wednesday, Nov 7, to urge the Government to conduct a public consultation on legislation to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

US actress and director Jodie Foster won the coveted prize which will be presented at the annual film awards show in January; she’s also the first openly gay woman to win since the award since it was first presented in 1952.

In the last two years, three internet surveys in Europe, the USA and Asia asked over 200,000 gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) about sex, safety and stigma. Gus Cairns looks at some of the data, and finds a mix of the expected and unexpected and some challenging findings for HIV prevention.

It was a record turnout at the Taiwan LGBT Pride Parade on Saturday with over 50,000 attendees from more than 20 countries.

Titled "LGBT Diversity in the Workplace", the event is part of Fridae's ongoing efforts to promote the empowerment of LGBTs in Asia. Registrations are now open.

Over 30,000 LGBTs and their allies from around Taiwan and the world are expected to converge in Taiwan to attend Asia’s largest LGBT Pride march on Saturday, 27 Oct. Watch videos here.

About 90 human resource professionals, diversity champions, NGOs and LGBT community leaders attended the second Annual Workplace Diversity conference, which was presented by Aibai and IBM, in Beijing last month.

Members of the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern about reports of LGBT violations received from NGOs at the fourth periodic review of the compliance of the Philippines with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in Geneva this week.

The Cebu City Council on Wednesday passed a landmark anti-discrimination ordinance on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, disability, age, health status, ethnicity and religion.