Fridae

Nowhere as gay as the last but the 79th Annual Academy Awards is for the first time hosted by an openly gay host Ellen DeGeneres and lesbian singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge's who won Best Song for her global warming anthem, ''I Need to Wake Up,'' highlighted not only the environmental issue but also same-sex marriages.

Fridae catches up with Sahran Abeysundara and Howard Bicknell of the reality TV show The Amazing Race Asia and finds out how being in the race has changed their lives and what advice they have for couples who are planning to sign up for the next race.

The second International Conference of Asian Queer Studies will convene in Sydney this week. New Jersey has became the third state in the US to offer civil unions, meanwhile in Italy, the civil union debate rages. A Russian lawmaker has introduced a bill to recriminalise homosexuality, punishable with a five-year prison sentence.

Fridae columnist Tan Chong Kee 'fesses up to being a bitch during testy Chinese New Year family interactions in his younger days and ponders what his comebacks would be to those all too familiar questions this year.

During a busy lunch hour on Valentine's Day in Beijing's central business district, six lesbians and gays handed out 200 red carnations wrapped in leaflets calling for the acceptance of gay love and marriage. A Beijing exclusive by Dinah Gardner.

On this Valentine's Day, Fridae's Alvin Tan pays tribute to those special someones who, like our partners, are equally indispensable to our lives: our gay and lesbian friends.

Former professional basketball player John Amaechi has made history by becoming the first National Basketball Association (NBA) player to ever come out and talk about his life and experiences as an athlete and a gay man in the homophobic world of professional sports.

Fridae's festive fairy, Alvin Tan, offers gay men and women some tips on how to outwit, outplay and outlast annoying relatives and family friends this Chinese New Year.

The Workers' Party (WP) - thought to be a likely ally of the gay community - disappointed many this week by revealing that it is divided over this issue of gay sex and is unable to "move (the issue) forward as part of the party agenda."

Welcome to Fridae's monthly advice column where writer Alvin Tan lends a listening ear and dispenses his own unique brand of advice for those misguided gay men and women who need it oh-so-badly.