Fridae

The issue of sexual orientation is being used time and time again for political gain as two recent cases in Singapore and Taiwan have shown. But why does sex and sexual orientation hold so much power in the minds of the public?

While it might be generally accepted that coming out not only contributes to an individual's sense of well-being but also serves a public good, Charles Tan observes that some LGBT activists are appearing to advocate the reverse when it comes to the issue of outing politicians.

Pakistan's Supreme Court also recommended that transgenders be allocated a certain number of government jobs and specifically as tax collectors to utilise their "special skills".

Should politicians have to declare their sexual orientation, just as they have to declare their assets? Fan Yun, an associate professor of sociology at National Taiwan University, discusses the issue after an opposition leader and hopeful in Taiwan's 2012 presidential election was asked to clarify her sexual orientation.

Taiga Ishikawa has become the first openly gay politician in Japan to win an election. In an interview with the Japan Times published last month, he says he hopes to enact a partnership ordinance that would allow unmarried couples regardless of gender to have equal rights as married couples.

What has been brewing over two weeks on the internet has now boiled over onto the cover pages of the two most widely circulated English language newspapers in Singapore today.

Singapore's most anticipated public rally to support the freedom of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT) to love is back for the third year on June 18.

The 33-minute documentary, which is the first project of its kind about the Yogyakarta Principles and LGBT rights in Asia, will be screened in Hong Kong, Beijing and Cambodia in May while many other countries including the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand are in the process of planning events around the video. Watch the trailer now.

Civil society groups in Malaysia have blasted the Terengganu Education Department for sending 66 schoolboys with ‘effeminate’ tendencies to a 4-day boot camp held to intervene before the boys “reach the point of no return”, meaning before they "become" gay or transgender.

A gay professional volleyball player, who was taunted with incessant homophobic chants during a April 2 semifinal match which caused him to come out publicly, was later honoured by fans who held demonstrations against homophobia at a later game.