Gay News
Gay news from Thailand and Asia
Queer Screen Refutes Gay Sex Film Claim
Feb 7th
Sydney – Australia’s Queer Screen has contradicted a claim by the Sydney Morning Herald that it wants to screen “gay sex movies” as part of this years’ Mardi Gras Film Festival.
The article, published online on Monday, also implied that the four films in question were X-rated, which would make it a crime to publicly screen them, when they are not.
The movies are simply yet to be classified in Australia, as no one has sought to commercially distribute them here, and while there is actual sex on screen in parts of the films, they are not pornographic and the sex occurs as part of the plot.
In a post on Facebook, Mardi Gras Film Festival director Lex Lindsay said he was disappointed with the article – particularly when he had spoken at length with the Herald’s journalist to explain what the films were, the context in which the sex occurred and the process Queer Screen had undertaken with the Classification Board in seeking an exemption to screen the films.
Lindsay wrote that the implication that Queer Screen was trying to screen X-rated material was, “ baseless, reductionist and misleading.”
“These are serious, respectable films that have screened in very reputable forums,” Lindsay wrote.
“The one film that might, maybe, just possibly go that far is an art installation that has played at the Tate Modern.”
“You cannot discuss the nature of film classification without taking into account the content and cultural context of the work. Not if you want to be a grown up in a progressive free world.”
Lindsay wrote that the Herald’s journalist had omitted that Queer Screen had sent copies of all four films to the Classification Board to assist it in its decision despite this not being a requirement in seeking an exemption, and that they had been in communication with the Board from the day that they had decided to include the four films in the festival.
Linsday hade made it known to the journalist that it was common practice for film festivals to seek and receive exemptions for films that were yet to receive a formal classification in Australia.
“For our festival, and most film festivals in Australia, the films we screen do not get classified,” Lindsay wrote in an email to the journalist.
“They receive an “exemption from classification” for the purpose of a small number of screenings in association with a cultural event.”
Films containing real heterosexual sex have previously been classified by the Board such that they can be legally sold and rented from video stores when they have found the sex has artistic merit and is not presented for the purpose of titillation.
Pressure On Wives of Gay Husbands
Feb 3rd
Beijing – Getting married is supposed to be the happiest day for any couple as they start life together as man and wife, but for many it is the beginning of a secret hell as they slowly discover their partner’s true feelings.
“The best time of life has been ruined,” a woman who was married to a gay man said in a show focusing on homosexuality produced by China Central Television.
She is just one of the millions of women leading a fake heterosexual lifestyle and living with mental anguish in China.
An estimated 16 million wives in China are married to gay men, the Guangzhou Daily reported Thursday, citing Zhang Beichuan, an expert in homosexuality and a councilor at the China Sexology Association.
The majority of male homosexuals are believed to enter into heterosexual marriages due to Chinese traditions and carrying on the family bloodline, the paper said.
“Most wives did not know their husbands were gay when they got married,” said Li Bai, a divorced wife of a gay man.
According to the 2005 show “In the name of life”, about 90 percent of gays in China get married without revealing their true sexuality to their wives due to the pressure of traditional social concepts, which leads to many unhappy marriages.
“I loved him and did not know he was a gay when I married him,” a woman said in the show.
To protect their privacy, many women choose to endure their faux marriages and pour out their woes on the Internet.
“What Can I do? It was 20 years into our marriage that I found he was gay,” a blogger in Chongqing named “Bingyusuoxin” said on her micro blog. “I know I should get divorced, but what about our kids?” The woman said she had to keep the truth from her family.
Many women still hide in dark corners and stay helpless, said an online organization for women who are married to gay men. Some are still suffering pain and shame.
According to tongqijiayuan.com, a non-profit website offering psychological consulting and legal assistance to wives of gay men, more than a thousand women have become registered members to complain about their marriages and seek for help.
“We hope more parents will know about the stories of women who marry gay men and do not push their children to marry someone they don’t love,” said Wu Youjian, president of a Guangzhou-based grassroots organization for parents and friends of homosexuals.
Washington State Passes Gay Marriage Bill
Feb 3rd
Seattle – The US state of Washington Senate has approved, by a 28-21 vote, a marriage-equality bill. That’s three votes higher than expected.
A vote in the State House is expected as early as next week, and Governor Christine Gregoire has indicated she will sign the measure into law. (Opponents are expected to launch a referendum effort to overturn it.)
Gregoire championed the measure at the start of the year, but it took some time to convince enough Democrats and two swing Republicans to vote yes on the issue. Major corporations headquartered in the state, like Microsoft and Starbucks, also endorsed the measure.
If Washington State passes marriage equality, which is likely, it will join the US states of Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont as a haven for same-sex marriage.
Gay Murdered, Cooked, In Germany
Jan 27th
Berlin – In a gruesome incident reminiscent of the murder committed in 2001 by Armin Meiwes, dubbed the “Cannibal from Rotenburg” for castrating, butchering and eating a man, the dismembered, partially cooked corpse of a missing man has been found in a Berlin apartment, where prosecutors believe he was killed after a sex game spiralled out of control.
The BZ daily reported on Wednesday that the deceased, Carsten Srock, was found with his limbs expertly carved off with either an axe or large knife. The body pieces were then wrapped fastidiously in plastic bags and cling-wrap, and left to sit in the two-room flat for around three weeks.
His head was found, partially cooked, by the police.
Prosecutors on the case told the BZ they believe the victim was “murdered for sexual pleasure.”
Owner of the Mariendorf apartment is a 43-year-old man identified as Michael S., who was rescued by paramedics after trying to take his own life. The unemployed Berliner attempted to open a main vein, before calling the emergency services minutes after.
It was only upon the arrival of the paramedics that the gruesome truth began to come to light. The paramedics contacted the police, who arrived at the scene to find not only Michael S. bathed in blood, but the body parts of his occasional sexual partner Srock, dotted around the residence.
“Officials questioned the man in hospital,” a spokesman for the state prosecutors told the paper. During questioning Michael S. reportedly admitted to the murder. An warrant for his arrest was issued on Tuesday.
Srock was reported missing by his partner January 2. According to the gay news portal queer.de the bank manager, who reportedly worked part-time at a Berlin gay sauna called “Boiler”, finished his shift behind the bar on the evening of New Years Day.
He then took out a large sum of money from a nearby cash point possibly to help Michael S. pay off debts, or to exchange for sex, reported the BZ.
Srock then rang his partner to say that he had other arrangements and would not be returning home that night. The next day, his phone had been turned off.
“It did not take long for us to narrow the search down to the 43-year-old Michael S.,” a police spokesman told Die Welt newspaper. He also added that investigators had discovered that the pair had apparently agreed to partake in sex games beforehand.
An autopsy later confirmed that the two men had taken part in sexual activity together shortly before the murder. Exact time of death remains, however, unclear.
Berlin’s gay community has been rocked by the revelations, which have sparked condolences on internet forums for the 37-year-old victim.
Lesbian Nightmare in Cambodia
Jan 27th
Phnom Penh – Phlong Srey Rann, 20, shuffled across the dusty prison grounds in her blue and white prison garb early yesterday morning as though she had resigned herself to spending the next four and a half years behind bars for having sex with her girlfriend.
She slouched in the wooden chair provided for her and displayed little emotion as she discussed the events that led to her imprisonment. During a visit on December 28, she had appeared hopeful that her ordeal was nearing an end.
Yesterday, however, the former factory worker expressed little hope that she would be released, although she continued to assert her innocence, insisting that the case against her had been concocted by her girlfriend’s family, who would not tolerate their daughter’s same-sex relationship.
“On August 10, 2011, [her girlfriend’s] brother filed a complaint that I was illegally detaining her. The police then arrested me and accused me of illegal detention and human trafficking,” Phlong Srey Rann explained.
In November, a judge convicted her of having sexual intercourse with a minor and sentenced her to five years in prison.
The “minor” involved was a co-worker she had met at a shoe factory in Kandal province. They had been together for more than a year.
“I told police that I was not [involved in] human trafficking and that we loved each other. I don’t understand why her brother filed a lawsuit against me,” Phlong Srey Rann said.
Letters between the two support these claims. One from her girlfriend identifies an older brother as the source of the problem. “My brother is forcing me to stop having a relationship with you, but I have to overcome it . . . you are the person whom I love so much,” the hand-written letter reads.
Phlong Srey Rann said it was news to her that her girlfriend was under age. Her girlfriend’s family had provided falsified documents to the court identifying their daughter as only 14 years old, she said.
Those documents had led to her conviction.
“My girlfriend’s family lied to the court when they said she was only 14 years old,” Phlong Srey Rann said.
Cambodian labour law stipulates that factory workers must be 18 or older, which would mean that her girlfriend had been working in the factory since she was 13.
Ying Dong Shoes, a member of the Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia, insisted, however, that it strictly adhered to labour laws.
Lei Shi Ken, an administration official at the factory, told the Post yesterday the factory “only hires girls that are 18 and above” and a birth certificate and identification card was required for each employee.
Labour ministry officials frequently monitored the factory and had never made complaints, he said.
Copies of Phlong Srey Rann’s girlfriend’s birth certificate and family book submitted to the factory and obtained by the Post state that she was born on March 9, 1992, which would make her 19 at the time of Phlong Srey Rann’s arrest.
Rights workers and members of Cambodia’s nascent gay community say the case is simply an example of homophobia. Moreover, they say, the country’s weak judicial system has been used by an angry family to break apart a relationship between two young women.
Sokly Hem, the sexual orientation and gender identity project co-ordinator at the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, yesterday called on the court “to bring justice” to Phlong Srey Rann.
“She should not be punished for having a same-sex relationship,” he said, urging officials to “conduct a full and proper investigation”.
Phlong Srey Rann plans to appeal the court’s decision, but at this point has no lawyer.
She said she worried most about her family, who depended on her monthly wage of US$61. “I have to look after and support my family. I am the sole supporter . . . we are so poor,” she said.
Srey Rann’s father, a former soldier, echoed these concerns.
“Every day we depend on this daughter to support our family because she works in the factory,” Phlong Sokha said outside the prison in late December. His wife said she worried more about her daughter. “She is so sad in prison. I pity her so much,” she said.
Both parents appeared distraught, bewildered, frightened and unsure of what to do.
Lim Matharon, the presiding judge in the case, could not be reached for comment.
Chan Reasey Pheak, Phlong Srey Rann’s court-appointed lawyer, said she was no longer involved in the case and refused to comment.
Phlong Srey Rann’s girlfriend had been taken back to her village in Kampot by her family, people familiar with the case said. She was confined to her parents’ home and her mobile phone has been taken from her, they said.
Still, a letter slipped through. “I love only you. I will never love other. If my family does not love you, I will still love you forever.”
Another Gay Teen Bullying Suicide
Jan 25th
Nashville – A gay teen in Tennessee killed himself on Friday after leaving a note in a trash can that read “please help me mom,” WSMV-TV in Nashville reports.
Phillip Parker, 14, hanged himself in his foster parents’ bathroom in Gordonsville after one year of constant bullying, family members told WSMV, an NBC affiliate.
“He kept telling me he had a rock on his chest,” Ruby Harris, Phillip’s grandmother, told the station. “He just wanted to take the rock off where he could breathe.”
The family said it reported the bullying to Gordonsville High School officials on many occasions, but the situation kept getting worse.
An official told WSMV that the school district is coming up with a plan to address the issue with students on Monday.
“He shouldn’t have had to kill himself to be brought to life,” the teen’s father, also named Phillip, told the station.
The teen’s mother, the subject of the note found in the trash, says that she did not realize the level of her son’s pain until it was too late.
“I should have [known] something was wrong, but he seemed happy,” Gena Parker told News Channel 5 in Nashville. “After he did what he did, we found out a lot that we didn’t know, and there is a lot of bullying that goes on at the school.”
The tragedy comes one month after another gay Tennessee teen, Jacob Rogers, took his own life, and just a week after Eric James Borges, who made an anti-suicide video encouraging other gay kids to keep fighting, killed himself in California.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gay-teen-tennessee-hangs-leaving-note-trash-read-mom-article-1.1010752#ixzz1kQqtmiVN
Tough Being Gay In Malaysia
Jan 24th
Kuala Lumpur – Ruling party leaders in Malaysia have lambasted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for nearly two weeks for a statement to a foreign broadcaster that they interpreted as expressing support for gay rights.
Ahmad Maslan, information chief of the ruling government coalition Barisan Nasional, or National Front, criticized Anwar for saying in an interview with the BBC that Malaysia’s laws against sodomy and oral sex should be reviewed.
‘As a Muslim, Anwar should know that the Muslims constitute 60 per cent of the population of the country,’ he said. ‘We cannot support or condone same-sex relationships as it is the same as making incest legal.’
Prime Minister Najib Razak said in reply to Anwar’s interview that laws that protect and promote the interests of the people should not be amended.
Anwar spoke with the BBC shortly after being acquitted January 9 of sodomizing a former aide. It was the second time he had faced the same charge and the second time he said the criminal proceedings against him were politically motivated.
Anwar told the BBC when questioned about gay rights that Malaysia must ‘review some of these archaic laws.’
He said Muslims and non-Muslims in Malaysia generally believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.
‘We do not promote homosexuality in the public sphere or domain,’ he said. ‘I don’t think we make apologies towards that. But I think to use this legislation to be punitive to punish innocent people cannot be condoned or tolerated.’
Anwar, who was initially convicted of the first sodomy charge he faced before the case was overturned, denied he ever hinted at decriminalizing homosexual acts. Such a move is opposed also by his political allies, even if the acts are consensual.
‘If laws are repealed to accommodate homosexuality, it is downright unsuitable for our children and lifestyle,’ said Mahfodz Mohamad, vice president of Pas Dewan Ulama, a non-governmental group that promotes Islam and is allied with the opposition.
The debate has highlighted the difficulties gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people have in living openly in Malaysia.
‘From the cultural and religious aspect, it’s quite oppressive to the point that they are really ridiculed and sometime to the point that people forget that they are humans and they have human rights,’ said Johann Tan, executive director of a local human rights group Pusat Komas.
Tan said his office has been advocating for better understanding for the community.
‘Human rights is colour-blind. Human rights is gender-blind,’ he said. ‘If a certain religious body feels that they [gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders] are deviating from the teachings of God, they should engage them and try to bring them back to the fold. They should not treat them like garbage.’
Nobody knows better the agony of growing up gay in Malaysia than Pang Khee Teik, 38, founder and spokesman of the Kuala Lumpur-based gay-rights organization, Seksualiti Merdeka, which means Sexuality Independence.
Pang, an art director, said that before he came to be at peace with himself and his sexuality, he struggled for at least a decade against pressures from his family, gay friends and neighbours.
‘I had to spend 10 or 12 years of my life when I was younger trying to go straight,’ he said. ‘For 12 years, I was trying to stop myself from falling in love, from feeling anything, and it was very difficult years of my life. I felt terrible. I hated myself.’
But Pang said he still considers himself lucky for liberating himself from the pressures of his family and society because he knows a lot of gay people who succumbed and entered into heterosexual relationships.
Pang said he pities most of the children that are now in the same predicament as he was, who were being bullied in school or were driven out of their homes by their parents in the hope that they would become straight.
As for the political debate surrounding gay rights, Pang said sex is an easy weapon for politicians to use to attack their rivals.
‘Even the homophobia that is acted out by our politicians is politically motivated,’ he said. ‘They are hoping that by saying the right thing, they get more votes.’
But Pang said he hoped that his organization would succeed in making people understand the lives and struggles of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders.
‘Other Malaysians are starting to realize that as human beings, we have a right to express ourselves,’ he said. ‘We have not broken any law. We believe it is completely within our rights, and this is protected by the constitution of Malaysia, to express ourselves.’
Mbeke Slams Uganda On Gay Rights
Jan 24th
Kampala – Former president Thabo Mbeki has criticised Uganda’s anti-gay bill, saying it does not make sense and what two consenting adults do in private “is really not the matter of law”.
Uganda’s Daily Monitor reports that Mbeki made the comments during a question and answer session at the Makerere Institute of Social Research in Kampala last week.
He was asked a question about the plight of a lesbian woman and Ugandan MP David Bahati’s anti-gay bill, which seeks the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality, including the spread of HIV/Aids. It has been reintroduced in the Ugandan parliament after lawmakers failed to debate it during the previous session.
“I would say to the MP; sexual preferences are a private matter. I don’t think it is a matter of the state to intervene,” Mbeki responded.
He added that he was certain Bahati would disagree with his stand and argue that African culture does not permit same sex relations, which he said was at the heart of the continent’s widespread antipathy towards homosexuals.
Mbeki added that apartheid South Africa prohibited sexual relations across the colour line, and the Immorality Act gave police legal ground to raid “people’s bedrooms”.
“I mean what would you want? It doesn’t make sense at all. That is what I would say to the MP. What two consenting adults do is really not the matter of law.”
When asked for comment by the Daily Monitor, Bahati said the bill was brought to curb several issues including inducement, recruitment and funding homosexuality. “His Excellency [Mbeki] needs to read the bill and understand the spirit in which it was brought and the context in which we are talking about.”
The Daily Monitor said Mbeki’s comments came as a boost to crusaders of gay rights in Uganda.
South African gay rights organisation SA GLAAD said on Monday it is highly appreciative of the firm commitment to human rights and the South African Constitution as displayed by Mbeki.
“We wish President Zuma would do the right thing and denounce the virulent homophobia on the African continent and specifically address the Bahati-Bill in Uganda via diplomatic means,” it said.
Death For Gays Bigots Convicted
Jan 23rd
London – Three men were convicted on Friday of distributing anti-gay leaflets, and prosecutors called it a landmark case regarding the prosecution of hate crimes regarding sexual orientation.
A jury found the men to have distributed leaflets calling for homosexuals to face the death penalty. Two others were acquitted of the same charge.
“Everyone has a right to be protected by the law and we regard homophobic crimes, along with all hate crimes, as particularly serious because they undermine people’s right to feel safe,” said Sue Hemming, chief of the Crown Prosecution Service special crime division.
She said in a statement that the leaflet showed a mannequin hanging from a noose and said gay people were destined to go to hell.
One witness testified he felt he was being targeted and feared he would be burned, Hemming said.
Ihjaz Ali, 42, Kabir Ahmed, 28, and Razwan Javed, 27, were found guilty in Derby Crown Court. Sentencing is set for 10 February.
The men were prosecuted under a relatively new law that took effect in 2010. It makes it a crime to promote hatred based on sexual orientation.
Gay MP To Marry In Spain
Jan 23rd
Sydney – An Australian state MP (Member of Parliament) and his partner have to travel to Spain to get married as they cannot legally marry in Australia.
Ian Hunter, will marry his long-term partner, Leith Semmens, in Spain at the end of the year.
It is believed Mr Hunter will be the first sitting gay politician of any Australian parliament to be married, although the ACT’s Andrew Barr has entered a civil union with his partner.
Mr Hunter and Mr Semmens, who have been together for more than 20 years, had planned to marry in New York last year but were held up because the Federal Government refused to grant the necessary paperwork that would have allowed the ceremony to be conducted in the US.
“We have had a long-term plan to go to Spain … so we decided to get married there,” Mr Hunter said in an interview for today’s saweekend magazine, which tells the story of his long climb to a position in Cabinet.
He said it would be a “very traditional” ceremony. Mr Hunter was elected to Parliament in 2006 and promoted to the Cabinet last October by Premier Jay Weatherill. His portfolios include social inclusion, disabilities, social housing and communities.
Spain changed its legislation to allow gay marriage in 2005 and more than 20,000 ceremonies have been held since then.
However, the marriage will not be recognised under Australian law.
But the national convenor of lobby group Australian Marriage Equality, Alex Greenwich, said the marriage of Mr Hunter and Mr Semmens would send a positive message that the law should be changed. “Things like that have a huge impact,” he said yesterday.
“This is a marriage that will be recognised in something like 20 countries but not in Australia where he is a … respected politician.”
A Bill to recognise same-sex marriages is likely to be introduced in Parliament this year.
In December, the ALP altered its platform to support same-sex marriage but agreed to allow MPs a conscience vote instead of being bound by the policy to appease Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who opposes reform.
