A San Francisco lawmaker has reintroduced a bill seeking to legalise gay marriage in California as State lawmakers kicked off the new legislative session on Monday.
The 5th Singapore AIDS Conference was themed "HIV in Singapore: The Challenge and the Hope." Fittingly, speakers seized this opportunity to challenge the government and the public to liberalise laws and attitudes towards MSMs and the HIV-positive community.
HIV/AIDS is hitting Asia in a big way, and MSM are now bearing the brunt of it. Dr Tan Chong Kee urges all MSM to ask ourselves what we can do to stop the spread of HIV among the community.
Starting 1 Dec 2006, World AIDS Day, a new national policy committee - chaired by Dr Balaji Sadasivan - will work to combat a rise in the number of HIV cases and provide guidance on all policy matters related to HIV/AIDS. Alex Au questions if the absence of gay representation on the panel will prove to be a serious weakness.
A HIV/AIDS researcher has warned that Sydney's gay community could have an HIV infection rate that is similar to countries in Africa. South Africa is a step closer to legalising same-sex marriage after the controversial legislation passed both houses of Parliament. In Manila next week, the LGBT community and their allies will march on Dec 9 as the Philippine Congress is considering passing an Anti-Discrimination Bill.
In part 2 of "Bangkok's MSM HIV explosion," Baxter discusses the Thai National AIDS Strategy and MSM, the gay community's response and the future of Bangkok - and elsewhere in Asia.
Don Baxter, the Executive Director of AFAO, writes about the astonishing increases in HIV seroprevalence among Thai gay men and MSM, and asks if the Thai capital is merely the precursor for similar HIV catastrophes among the MSM communities of Asia's other mega-cities? Part 1 of 2.
They're young, they're smart, and they're doing their bit for gay activism. Fridae talks to three groups of youths in Singapore, aged 16-22, who've started web-based initiatives to educate and support the queer community. Come meet the crews of Plume.sg and Queercast, plus a group of online film producers.
New Zealand's Gay Men's Health launches "Assume Nothing," a major new HIV/AIDS awareness campaign; still on HIV/AIDS, the fifth Singapore AIDS Conference will be held on Dec 2. A Chinese university has approved the country's first LGBT campus group. In a landmark ruling, a court ruled that couples who marry in civil ceremonies abroad will be allowed to register their unions locally.
Following the government's clarification that gay sex laws have to stay on the books as "many religious groups also do not condone homosexual acts," Alex Au asks if it is legitimate to hold on to laws for its symbolic value and examines the government's sharp U-turn on child sex tourism laws and legalisation of casinos despite vigorous protests from various quarters.