No Regret - Gay Korean Film

While not the best film I have ever seen, No Regret from South Korea does address the taboo topic of homosexuality into the very popular Korean visual formatting of high melodrama known throughout the nation. And for this, it offers us a perspective of gay life within a cultural context that is relatively unique.

Check out the trailer.


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So Gay North Carolina

Following South Carolina's disavowal of the "South Carolina is so gay" advertising campaign that plastered the London subway this summer, Chapel Hill, the liberal university town in North Carolina, is looking for ways to attract gay and lesbian tourists.

Chapel Hill was the first town in the state to include sexual orientation as a category of hate crime law, as well as the first to elect an openly gay council member.

Heads up South Carolina - All the way up to Chapel Hill.

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Gay Online TV station launches in Romania

Starting 1 October 2008, Romanians will get their own online television channel dedicated to issues surrounding gay life in the European nation. Launched by the anti-discrimination group Be An Angel, the channel - Angelicuss TV - will only be broadcast on the Internet.

This is a nice advance for the gay community in Romania where homosexuality was decriminalized only in 2001.

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Coquille Native Americans legalize same-sex marriage

The Coquille Indian Tribe, who live on the southern Oregon coast, has established new rules recognizing marriage for both heterosexual and homosexual couples.

Although Oregon voters approved an amendment to the Oregon Constitution in 2004 to prohibit same-sex marriage, the Coquille are a federally recognized sovereign nation and are not bound by the state's constitution.

Many Native American tribes historically had accepted same-sex relationships, but that was before European colonizers and subsequent pioneers brought and spread the disease of homophobia across North America.

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Matthew Mitcham - Australian Olympic Gold Medalist Gay Diver

Congratulations to Matthew Mitcham on his Olympic Gold Medal in the Men's 10m Platform in Beijing. Mitcham, 20, is the first Australian to openly declare his homosexuality before going into an Olympic games.

Mitcham had battled depression, retired from diving, but then nine months later resumed his sport in 2007.

Earlier this year, Mitcham called Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd "narrow-minded" and "old-fashioned" in reference to Rudd's opposition to gay marriage.

Greatness.

Read more here and here.

Lesbian, Gay, and Transgendered in Taiwan

An interesting article from Taiwan gives us a window on Taipei's gay and lesbian population and describes how homosexuality for many Chinese is a matter of family secrecy.

An excerpt:

"Taiwan, the whole Chinese world in fact, has a tradition of keeping 'potentially embarrassing' family matters a secret. This tradition has seen the parents of many gay people express extreme anger and hatred toward them, with some parents choosing to totally isolate and ignore their own children. On some occasions, parents even use emotional blackmail to force their children to 'return to normality.'"

Indeed, many of us can understand the stigmatization of being different in a way that is not acceptable by those we thought we could trust. It's sad, but perhaps not as sad as the current situation facing transgendered people in Taiwan.

Another excerpt:

"Many transgendered people suffer condemnation by their families and ridicule and ostracism at school. In a world where the distinction between men and women is kept crisp and clear, transgendered people do not fit in on either side. This situation has turned many of them into orphans, loved by no one and despised at all times. They have to learn to rely on themselves to grow and survive in this world."

We can never forget that no matter how comfortable we think we feel at any given moment, there is always that potential of our freedoms and luxuries being lost. The people who have suffered, yet somehow managed to continue, are the ones from whom we can learn the most. Sure, transgendered people have "to rely on themselves to grow and survive in this world," but really, don't we all have to do this? I think so. And if it's too hard sometimes, we can always look to, among others, those courageous kick-ass transgendered survivors for inspiration.

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Britain Japan Exchange LGBT Youth

It's amazing how young gays and lesbians, more than ever it seems, are coming together through social networks to promote community and overcome isolation. One such endeavor is an exchange program, organized by the LGBT group Freedom Youth, between young people in Bristol, England, and Tokyo, Japan.

Not only will each group get to experience another nation, they will also be exposed to both the different and similar aspects of LGBT life in the two countries.

This is fantastic. If only everyone had an opportunity to travel, to have a bigger window on the world, then maybe our views would be much more open to difference.

Chapeau to Freedom Youth!

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German Arabic Al-Salaam magazine claims shaking hands with gay men transmits flesh-eating bacteria

Saturday funnies.

PinkNews is reporting that the German Arabic language magazine Al-Salaam has printed an article claiming that gay men carry deadly diseases and that Muslim men should not shake their hands.

Hmmm.

Here's an alternative salutation to that potentially deadly gay man/Muslim man (cuz' there are no gay Muslim men, right?) handshake:

KISS!


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Panama no longer a no sex zone

Panamanian President Martín Torrijos Espino signed a decree on July 29 repealing a 1949 law that criminalized sodomy.

Finally.

But the following 11 nations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean continue to ban gay sex:

Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Belize
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Jamaica
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago

All of the above are former British colonies, and undoubtedly, the legacy of homophobia in these nations comes from that nasty Chapter XVI, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (aka anti-sodomy) law enacted by the British during colonial times throughout most of its territory.

Nevertheless, the world just got one nation bigger.

Welcome Panama!

Ah, Spain!

Plus Ultra (Latin, for further beyond) is the national motto of Spain. I suppose it’s appropriate to mention here because I wish that Spain would once and for all move further beyond its very unprogressive way of viewing non-Spaniards.

Check out the photo at this link of Spain's Olympic basketball team in an ad using their fingers to apparently make their eyes look more Chinese.

Horrendous!

Tacky!

Disrespectful!

I could go on and on!

As London's Daily Telegraph has noted, “[Spain's] poor reputation for insensitivity toward racial issues has been further harmed [by the photo].”

No kidding. I have never been to Spain myself, but I have read about similar racial blunders in the country, most recently in this post by Wendi Muse at Racialicious.

Now, I don't want to make any sweeping generalizations (because that would be just as bad as racism or stereotyping), but maybe, just maybe, someone in Spain might want to examine why the idea that it’s okay to view 'others' in this racist manner is acceptable.

Unsurprisingly, Spanish basketball players are defending the idiotic photo. Why are people who are not offended by the photo so unwilling to accept that fact that it has offended and hurt, yes HURT, a large number of people. It's almost as if these non-offended people are standing at a car wreck pointing their fingers at the injured and saying, "Ha! Ha! You're hurt and I'm not." If these non-offended people would stop thinking about themselves for once, then maybe the world would truly be a place where we could peacefully coexist.

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Openly Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

The Federation of Gay Games (FGG) has identified openly-gay, lesbian, and bisexual athletes taking part in the Beijing Olympics in the hope that members and allies of the LGBT community will send messages of encouragement and appreciation for all out athletes.

Out Olympians at the Beijing games:

Gay Games Ambassador Judith Arndt (Germany, cycling)
Linda Bresonik (Germany, soccer)
Imke Duplitzer (Germany, fencing)
Vicky Galindo (USA, softball)
Gro Hammerseng (Norway, handball)
Natasha Kai (USA, soccer)
Lauren Lappin (USA, softball)
Matthew Mitcham (Australia, diving)
Katja Nyberg (Norway, handball)
Rennae Stubbs (Australia, tennis)
Victoria "Vickan" Svensson (Sweden, soccer)

It takes loads of courage to come out as an athlete. So congratulations to all of you sports lovers who are openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual!

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Illegal Citizens: Queer lives in the Muslim world

From Salaam Press comes the new book Illegal Citizens: Queer lives in the Muslim world by Afdhere Jama, a Somali-American writer based in San Francisco.

Since part of this blog's mission is to document and explore the diverse vantage points of being gay and of color, Illegal Citizens is a significant and notable work in that it chronicles the struggles of 33 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in 22 countries.

A definite must for your bookshelves.

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Gay Marriage, Gay Divorce

What a year it has been so far. My straight best buddy just got married, and just a few months ago, I got divorced. Oops. I suppose I've never even mentioned the fact that I was ever married. Well, yes. I married a man here in Canada in 2005. I'd like to say that the marriage ended peacefully and with the same mutual respect with which it began, but unfortunately the end was messy, costly, ugly, and painful. Nonetheless, it was an unparalleled learning experience, and one at which I look back without an ounce of regret. I might even do it again with someone who seems right, again.

Marriage is a relationship that we as gay men and women have a right to experience. As in friendships and in family ties, marriage has taught me much about myself, and to deny that right to anyone would be akin to denying them friends or family.

I am so lucky to be surrounded by people who support me, and I am fortunate to have been married and divorced because for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, I love and I cherish life till death do us part.

A pill before sex to prevent HIV transmission?

Is this possible?

Well, it was revealed at the current International Conference on AIDS in Mexico City that three trials, in which anti-retroviral drugs are being given to uninfected people at high risk of HIV, are under way around the world.

If possibility turns into probability (early reports are optimistic), could this be the solution we've been waiting for?

We'll see. For a long time, the AIDS pandemic has made us focus on our intimate behaviors in a way that has enabled sex to become something that constructed rather than supported or enhanced our identities. If a preventative pill does become the panacea for HIV transmission, then maybe we'll finally be able to concentrate on our relationships without the added complication of AIDS. For some of us, that may mean first celebrating by taking the 'pill' and fearlessly sleeping with as many men as possible. And why not? Lots of us have been afraid to have sex for a long time now. And, in any case, what may come afterwards is that sparkling realization that sex is neither the most important nor the only factor that shapes our identities and lives.

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