Fridae

It is a “provocation and an abuse”should gay and lesbian tourists visit the Vatican City, Bishop Janusz Kaleta of Holy tells a travel and tourism website.

A new ruling that prescribes compulsory relationships and sex education - including gay relationships - for all pupils at the age of 15 has met with opposition from religious groups.

Same-sex marriage advocates in Maine were dealt a crushing blow as Maine voters overturned the state’s same-sex marriage law yesterday.

Produced at a cost of over HK$110,000 (US$14,000) without government or charity funding, organisers say they are HK$77,000 (US$10,000) short and are appealing for funds. 

A record 25,000 participants turned out for the 7th Taiwan Pride Parade which concluded at gates of the Presidential Office Building on Ketagalan Boulevard for the first time to protest at the government’s meagre progress made in gay rights promised to the community during past elections.

President Barack Obama has signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act - named after victims of two brutal 1998 murders: Shepard, a 21-year-old gay Wyoming college student and Byrd, a black man dragged to his death - on Oct 28.

In a city where 1 in 20 (Singapore, Beijing, Ho Chi Minh), 1 in 12 (Hanoi), 1 in 10 (Phnom Penh), 1 in 5 (Chiang Mai) or 1 in 3 (Yangon, Bangkok) gay men are infected with HIV, it is important to stop ignoring HIV as 'a problem affecting others.’

Fridae.com’s Hong Kong correspondent Nigel Collett meets Connie Chan Man-wai, pre-eminent local activist and Chief Director of Hong Kong Pride 2009. 

A 27-year-old gay man died in a Toronto hospital after he was beaten by a group of men and driven over by the occupants of a black SUV. Friends fear he was targeted because he was gay.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the Beijing Aizhixing Institute have put out an alert asking the public to call on the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau to stop harassing and discriminating against gay men after three reported incidents this year.