Fridae

Fridae's music critic, Ms Mariah Scary, reviews a bumper harvest of new albums from the likes of Tori Amos, Cyndi Lauper, Britney Spears and horror of all horrors, Dolly Parton.

In a clear break with the Catholic Church and other mostly pro-abstinence religious quarters, which recently claimed condoms offered no guarantee against HIV/AIDS, the European Union last week released results of numerous studies showing that condoms are effective barriers against the virus.

This World AIDS Day, Mahler Lui, looks at HIV/AIDS infection rates in Asia and urges Asian governments to continue to actively provide sex education to its young adults, come to terms with its homosexual population, and not endorse 'abstinence' as the main prevention measure to combat the disease as one study has shown that young adults who aspire to practice 'abstinence' are much more inclined to have unsafe sex than those who participated in sex education.

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.

Fridae's music critic, Ms Mariah Scary, reviews Sarah McLachlan's new album Afterglow and finds herself in a state of sweet surrender.

HIV continues to spread amongst gay men in high-income countries and safer sex warnings are falling on deaf ears, according to the 2003 AIDS epidemic update published by UNAIDS.

Queen Elizabeth II of the UK has announced in her annual speech that MPs will debate the issue of civil partnerships for same sex couples in the coming session.

A 24-year-old British man has been sentenced to 42 years in jail by a Thai court for sexually molesting at least eight homeless boys.

Fridae's self-professed No. 1 fan of Queen Kylie, Ms Mariah Scary, attempts to dance to her idol's new release, Body Language, only to leave the dance-floor completely disappointed.

The 13th Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival will be held from Nov 28 - Dec 13, 2003, after almost being cancelled due to the lack of corporate sponsorship caused by the economic downturn. Fridae's Hong Kong correspondent Tim Cribb tracks down festival directors Raymond Yeung and Wouter Barendrech for an exclusive report.