Fridae

Boris O. Dittrich, a member of parliament at the time when the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage in 2001, wrote in an op-ed that despite gay people marrying "civilisation as we know it didn't end."

"Privacy aside, is a question on someone's sexuality really so negative and undeserving of a response?" Asked The China Post in an editorial following a public debate with gay and women's groups expressing their outrage after a would-be presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen was asked to clarify her sexual orientation.

Fridae interviews Singaporean artist Michael Lee, whose latest work Office Orchitect is showing at the Singapore Biennale, about his legacy of homoerotic art. His first gay-themed work One Or Zero (1997) is still banned in Singapore despite having bagged the first prize in the experimental category of the United Film and Video Association Student Film Competition.

Openly gay actor Sir Ian McKellen is on his third month of his nationwide "role model" tour of secondary schools on behalf of Stonewall, the gay equality charity that he co-founded in 1989. Over last two years, he had toured 54 secondary schools and has inspired not only students but teachers to come out to their supervisors.

ABS-CBN highlights Filipino representation at the recent Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards which honours media outlets and TV shows for positive representations of LGBTs and the issues affecting their lives.

Gay men in UK may soon be allowed to donate blood but only as long as they have not had sex with another man in the past decade.

Researchers found that the use of some rectal lubricant products might increase susceptibility to rectal STIs and make users more vulnerable to HIV. Four (out of six) Astroglide lubricants which appear to increase viral replication were the only ones containing a compound called polyquaternium-15 which, when tested, was found to be the cause.

Positive Voices is an ongoing series featuring Asian LGBT individuals who are HIV-positive and are living positively.

Although a local newspaper reported that Huangpu police acted after receiving complaints that the bar was staging sex shows, the claim has been vehemently refuted by everyone present on the day, according to the Shanghaiist blog.

BeLonG To Youth Services in Ireland has launched a new campaign, Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Week! to provide an annual focus for promoting friendship amongst young people as a way to combat homophobic bullying.