Fridae

Four firefighters ordered to take part in a gay pride parade have been awarded over US$34,300 after successfully suing San Diego city for sexual harassment.

The proportion of HIV infections being transmitted among MSM is larger and more significant than originally believed, says World Health Organization adviser Massimo Ghidinelli as a 3-day conference is underway in Hong Kong to consider strategies to deliver better services to MSM communities.

In the first known case of its kind in Asia, a gay couple and a middleman have been sentenced to jail for organising a bogus marriage between a Malaysian man and a Hong Kong woman to gain residency.

No stranger to controversy, prominent gay activist Nathee Teerarojanapong has publicly opposed - in the media and a televised debate - Chiang Mai's second pride parade happening this weekend. Fridae's Bangkok correspondent Vitaya SaengAroon reports.

Not one, but two Singapore theatre companies will soon be staging Oscar Wilde's famed comedy The Importance of Being Earnest: Buds Theatre from Feb 19 to 22, and Wild Rice from Mar 25 to Apr 11. Fridae looks back at the history of gay scandal that surrounds the play, and its enduring popularity.

Gathered near Tiananmen Square, two lesbian and gay male couples in traditional white wedding gowns and black tuxedoes respectively held mock wedding photo sessions in front of curious and bewildered passersby.

Something unique and very new emerged onto Hong Kong's streets on Sunday, Feb 15, an organised and vocal answer to the fundamentalist Christian right. Nigel Collett reports.

Depending on circumstances, Valentine's Day is either a time to celebrate the one you love, or it is yet another time of the year that excessive commercialisation of sexuality and romance in movies, ads, and chocolate specialty shops all lead to anxiety about being single... writes Shinen Wong.

The issue of sex with teenagers below legal age is a thorny one with discussions typically generating more heat than light, says Alex Au.

More than half of the world's remaining "sodomy" laws - criminalising consensual homosexual conduct - are relics of British colonial rule. In 1860, British colonisers introduced a new criminal code including Section 377 to occupied India and other colonies.