To be hosted by an openly gay man, the ground-breaking online series will focus on gay issues and will be launched on Thursday by Phoenixtv.com and other mainstream web sites.

The weekly, hour-long Internet TV show “Tongxing Xianglian,” or “Connecting Homosexuals,” is being produced and will debut on Phoenixtv.com which is operated by Hong Kong-listed broadcaster Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings. Host Didier Zheng (left) and producer Gang Gang of the new Chinese gay-themed show Tongxing Xianglian The 12 episodes will feature openly gay presenters including AIDS activist, Didier Zheng, discussing issues related to gay people - such as coming out and gay marriage. The show is expected to be accessible to 130 million people through large Chinese web portals Sina.com, Mop.com, PPLive and Tencent. Producers of the programme will also provide a forum for gay viewers to communicate with each other. While major Chinese cities are becoming more open to gay people coming out, many are still remain under heavy pressure within traditional families. Until 2001, homosexuality was listed as a mental illness. During Mao Zedong’s era, homosexuals were persecuted and prison terms and death sentences meted out. “We hope that after this show airs, homosexuality will no longer be an issue, that society will be more enlightened about it, more understanding and more tolerant.” Says the show’s producer Gang Gang. The series can be seen at itv.phoenixtv.com.

Only removed from the list of psychiatric illnesses in 2001, China once again demonstrates rapid progress–socially, at the very least. Can’t say the same about other countries that have soared in economic progress.

Someone informed me that The L Word Season 4 was out, but I didn’t manage to find it in the DVD shops here. So I downloaded it (which causes my computer to be more corrupt), and spent whatever time I had over the weekend watching it.

For those who don’t know, L Word is somewhat like…Friends? To draw a generic picture. A wee bit like friends, just that most of the characters are lesbians…and very hot. Full of very attractive women. *swoons*

You don’t have to be gay to appreciate it. The story plot is pretty good, though I wonder whether the portrayal of LA gay culture is accurate.

SINGAPORE

LAWS: 1. Male homosexual sex is illegal, and can be punished by life in 

         prison, lesbian sex is legal in private.

      2. Visual representation of homosexual acts are banned, and so are 

         materials that portray homosexuality as a legitimate and acceptable 

         lifestyle. 

      3. The Ministry of Defence does not admit self-acknowledged gay men 

         into the military, but they have to serve the army in the capacity

         of administrative or logistical clerks when serving their two and a 

         half-year compulsory military service.

NOTE: 1. Singapore’s Registrar of Societies refused to register the gay 

         organization People Like Us on March 31, 2004 and ordered its members 

         to cease activity. The agency said registering the group would violate 

         the Societies Act’s ban on organizations that are “likely to be used 

         for unlawful purposes or for purposes prejudicial to public peace, 

         welfare or good order in Singapore” and its ban on organizations that 

         are “contrary to the national interest.” People Like Us said it would 

         launch an appeal to the Minister of Home Affairs. However, on April 7, 

         2004, the ministry suggested that would be pointless. “As the mainstream 

         moral values of Singaporeans are conservative, it is hence contrary to 

         public interest to grant legitimacy to the promotion of homosexual 

         activities and viewpoints,” the ministry said in response to a press 

         inquiry. For the time being, People Like Us has halted activity, but a 

         spokesman said the organization’s more than 1,000 members will continue 

         to advocate for gay rights individually.

      2. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore, is anti-gay.

Homosexual Rights Around The World

So, in light of the proposal to outlaw lesbianism and the stir it has caused in the GLBT community in Singapore, I think many citizens will depopulate the country should the Lee Administration give the go-ahead to NCSS.

Here’s more reason to staying away from the place where big brothers dictate and impose their bigoted ideas on you:

http://www.methodistmessage.com/mar2007/penalcode

Homosexual
lifestyle:
NCCS
commends
Govt on taking
bold stand (b) The Explanatory Notes to the Proposed Amendments issued by the MHA state that “The Public Prosecutor is aware that some offenders are of low IQ or mentally deficient. They take this into account in deciding whether or not to charge the offender.” This approach by the Public Prosecutor demonstrates compassion towards low IQ offenders and the NCCS commends the same. The question is whether, given the variety of conditions that exist within the spectrum of mental illness, the statutory general exception for unsoundness of mind (section 84 PC) should be amended substantively to reflect the same. This contrasts with the present approach of leaving the same for prosecutorial discretion.


(c) We are aware that the proposed amendment to delete section 377 PC but on the other hand retaining section 377A PC may be controversial in some quarters. Nevertheless, we consider homosexual acts to be sinful, abhorrent and deviant, whether consensual or not. The NCCS commends the Government on taking a clear, unequivocal and bold stand of neither encouraging nor endorsing a homosexual lifestyle and opposing the presentation of the same as part of a mainstream way of life. At the same time, we do not condemn homosexuals as the Bible calls us to hate the sin but love the sinner. Given that section 377A PC criminalises homosexuality whether done private or publicly, we are of the view that a similar prohibition ought to be enacted in respect of lesbianism, considering that lesbianism (like homosexuality) is also abhorrent and deviant, whether consensual or not.’

If you recall my last post on this whole gay sheep controversy, I wasn’t too pleased about it. And I’m peeved again after I spotted a Review article in today’s Straits Times.

It’s all a question about whether homosexuality is nature or nurture, genes or learned behaviour.

I had quite interesting comments for the post by the way:

Comment from emptypockets | [e]
Date: 7 January, 2007, 12:40 am

If it sounds too insane to be true… maybe it is.

I looked into this story in detail. Basically, (1) the scientists aren’t trying to cure gayness, (2) they haven’t been able to change sexual preference in sheep, (3) this is part of a large field of research trying to understand the biological basis of behavior that the article ignores, (4) this research is months to years old, and (5) the article also got the details of the experiments wrong (they didn’t inject hormones into brains or use electronic sensors). I interviewed the researchers themselves and read their papers.

What’s weird is that the Times knew all this was false when they printed it.

Comment from udo schuklenk | [e]
Date: 7 January, 2007, 7:14 pm

‘emptypockets’, whoever you might be, busily defending this research again (any chance you might be involved in it yourself?). In any case, taking your points 2 and 3, it seems clear that this is research trying to understand the (if any?) biological basis of sexual preference (3), and it is trying to change it (2). QED

Anyway, have a look at some quotes I extracted.

” …if you figure out how to make sheep gay, maybe you could figure out how to make them straight.”

“Science will gradually convince us that sexual orientation is innate, more like skin colour than character.”

“We may come to view homosexuality as we do infertility — as a disability”

If you really advocate that homosexuality is an inherent quality of humans and animals alike, why the hell are you even conducting experiments to try and change nature? How can you call it a disability when it doesn’t affect our normal everyday activities? Shouldn’t you be spending more time, effort, and money on the other “disabilities” of our society such as the disabled to improve their quality of life instead of harping on this “innate” characteristics that is simply part of human nature as you so claim?

china: 2006 news round up and new gay resources

By Dinah Gardner

With a rapidly changing social landscape, China’s Shanghai and Beijing are seeing more gay-friendly resources and establishments being set up. Fridae’s Dinah Gardner recaps the top gay related news deadlines in China, checks out the new gay establishments/resources and talks to three people to find out their hopes for their community in 2007.

Top gay news 1. China rejects gay marriage proposal A proposal to legalise same sex marriage was rejected by China’s parliament at last March’s National People’s Congress. This was the third time for renowned sexologist Li Yinhe to suggest such a change in the law, and the third time discussion was rejected. Her previous two attempts were in 2003 and 2005. Li is a member of a parliamentary advisory body. “(Parliamentary spokesman) Wu Jianmin… said the legislation for homosexual marriage was a little bit beyond our current situation,” Li said. “But we can see from this that the social attitude towards homosexuality has very much improved in China in the past few years.” Li, a professor of sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said despite this setback she believed that same sex unions in China will be legal some day. She had suggested the legislature pass a law to allow gays and lesbians to marry each other and to change the term “husband and wife” in the current marriage law to “partners.” According to Li, a majority of China’s public support gay marriage. A recent online survey came out with 63 percent of respondents saying they back same sex unions. 2. China okays first gay student union A university in southern China has given its approval for the country’s first gay and lesbian student union. Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen) university in Guangdong province’s Zhuhai okayed the group, Happy Together, in October last year. Media reports quoted the union’s chairwoman Liao Mingzhu as saying: “Happy Together welcomes members of diverse sexual orientations, and will focus on anti-Aids education and promoting awareness of [homosexual] issues, in an effort to foster a campus atmosphere of equality, tolerance and mutual respect.” The union was originally a reading group that studied queer theory and had about 50 members. Happy Together is the first officially approved openly gay student union. However, many of China’s universities have gay groups that hide under umbrella organisations so they don’t have to use the word gay in their application for approval. Beijing’s Minorities University and Shanghai’s Fudan University, for example, have been running gay unions for several years. 3. NGO sets up China’s first free national helplines for gays and lesbians A Hong Kong based NGO has set up two national free helplines for gays and lesbians in China. The Chi Heng Foundation established its gay hotline in May and the lesbian service in November. Both lines are run by volunteers in Shanghai. Rager Shen, Chi Heng’s mainland officer for MSM (men who have sex with men) said the gay helpline gets around 20 calls a session and that the most common problem is related to fears that homosexuality is a disease. “We get so many calls from people confused about their sexual orientation, worried that being gay is not normal and they should go to the hospital,” Shen said. “We also have callers who are being blackmailed because they are gay and others who are under pressure to get married.” There are scores of helplines for gays and lesbians around the country, and at least one aimed at helping parents of gay children. The Chi Heng Foundation’s hotlines are the country’s first free and national numbers. The hotline is at 800-988-1929; phones are manned weekdays 7-9pm, Saturday 4-9pm and Sundays 3-6pm for men. Women volunteers will answer questions Saturdays 2-4 pm. What they’re saying… Name: Darren Tang Age: 36 Where: Beijing (but hails from Singapore) What he does: Founder of Promen, a gay networking group, project director in entertainment æ: What was the most important development for gays and lesbians in China in 2006? “The Chinese government started to reach out to gays by setting up this website about HIV and AIDS. It was a good sign that the government is trying to communicate with the gay community.” æ: What were you most disappointed by? “I hear the response to the gay website, and this gay clinic that was also set up, wasn’t that great. A lot of gays here were worried about coming out to anyone, they were worried that the site was just a way to target them.” æ: What are your hopes for 2007? “That more people will come out and join in social activities. We need more people to get involved for gay restaurants, activities, bars and everything to survive. And we need more windows, more things for gay people to get involved in. You know, people are so hungry for friendship, for a social gathering besides logging onto the Internet and going to clubs.” ================================================ Name: Xian Age: 34 Where: Beijing What she does: Founder of Common Language, a Beijing-based lesbian support group. æ: What was the most important development for gays and lesbians in China in 2006? “The opening of (China’s first gay) student union is definitely the number one hit for LGBT rights this year. It will inspire the spread of other gay and lesbian student groups around the country… It’s also great that (politician and sexologist) Li Yinhe bought up the same-sex marriage proposal and writes about this issue in her blog.” æ: What were you most disappointed by? “Xu Fei a top seeded singer was kicked out of the (televised) Super Girl singing competition after rumours she was a lesbian (were posted on the Internet). Also there are too few lesbian groups because there are not enough social resources and support.” æ: What are your hopes for 2007? “For next year we hope there will be a continuation of this steady growth in rights. And we hope there will be many more local groups forming which deal with gay issues.” ================================================ Name: Bing Lan Age: 31 Where: Beijing What he does: Runs aibai.com, a Chinese-language gay news website æ: What was the most important development for gays and lesbians in China in 2006? “There have been a lot of gay news in China this year, it’s really hard to think of the most important news. I guess the biggest development is that the government is more supportive about gay NGO’s that help with Aids education. A lot of groups have been allowed to organise, the government has been much more relaxed in letting them do their work, letting them be independent.” æ: What were you most disappointed by? “The police in Tianjin raided a gay sauna and made some arrests earlier this year. That was a big setback.” æ: What are your hopes for 2007? “That there will be more public debate about gays and lesbians and not just about gays and HIV. And that there will be laws to protect us.”

Source: Fridae.com

There’s a Gay and Lesbian hotline in Shanghai I found in a magazine one day long ago. 63804448. “Three volunteers from Shanghai will answer questions about gay health, HIV & AIDS, psychological concerns and legal issues.” Does this advertisement sound very negative to you? Like homo people encounter plenty of depressing problems?

Nevertheless, things are positive for China, eh? Somehow sounds more encouraging than in Singapore.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-2524408.html

Science told: hands off gay sheep
Isabel Oakeshott and Chris Gourlay

Experiments that claim to ‘cure’ homosexual rams spark
anger

SCIENTISTS are conducting experiments to change the
sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics
fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality
in humans.
The technique being developed by American researchers
adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of
homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate
with ewes.

It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one
day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the
chance that their offspring will be homosexual.
Experts say that, in theory, the “straightening”
procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone
supplement for mothers-to-be, worn on the skin like an
anti-smoking nicotine patch.

The research, at Oregon State University in the city
of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science
University in Portland, has caused an outcry. Martina
Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won
Wimbledon nine times, and scientists and gay rights
campaigners in Britain have called for the project to
be abandoned.

Navratilova defended the “right” of sheep to be gay.
She said: “How can it be that in the year 2006 a major
university would host such homophobic and cruel
experiments?” She said gay men and lesbians would be
“deeply offended” by the social implications of the
tests.

But the researchers argue that the work is valid,
shedding light on the “broad question” of what
determines sexual orientation. They insist the work is
not aimed at “curing” homosexuality.

Approximately one ram in 10 prefers to mount other
rams rather than mate with ewes, reducing its value to
a farmer. Initially, the publicly funded project aimed
to improve the productivity of herds.

The scientists have been able to pinpoint the
mechanisms influencing the desires of “male-oriented”
rams by studying their brains. The animals’ skulls are
cut open and electronic sensors are attached to their
brains.

By varying the hormone levels, mainly by injecting
hormones into the brain, they have had “considerable
success” in altering the rams’ sexuality, with some
previously gay animals becoming attracted to ewes.

Professor Charles Roselli, the Health and Science
University biologist leading the research, defended
the project.

He said: “In general, sexuality has been under-studied
because of political concerns. People don’t want
science looking into what determines sexuality.

“It’s a touchy issue. In fact, several studies have
shown that people who believe homosexuality is
biologically based are less homophobic than people who
think that this orientation is acquired.”

The research is being peer-reviewed by a panel of
scientists in America, demonstrating that it is being
taken seriously by the academic community.

Potentially, the techniques could one day be adapted
for human use, with doctors perhaps being able to
offer parents pre-natal tests to determine the likely
sexuality of offspring or a hormonal treatment to
change the orientation of a child.

Roselli has said he would be “uncomfortable” about
parents choosing sexuality, but argues that it is up
to policy makers to legislate on questions of ethics.

Michael Bailey, a neurology professor at Northwestern
University near Chicago, said: “Allowing parents to
select their children’s sexual orientation would
further a parent’s freedom to raise the sort of
children they want to raise.”
Critics fear the findings could be abused.

Udo Schuklenk, Professor of Bioethics at Glasgow
Caledonian University, who has written to the
researchers pressing them to stop, said: “I don’t
believe the motives of the study are homophobic, but
their work brings the terrible possibility of
exploitation by homophobic societies. Imagine this
technology in the hands of Iran, for example.

“It is typical of the US to ignore the global context
in which this is taking place.”

Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, said:
“These experiments echo Nazi research in the early
1940s which aimed at eradicating homosexuality. They
stink of eugenics. There is a danger that extreme
homophobic regimes may try to use these experimental
results to change the orientation of gay people.”

He said that the techniques being developed in sheep
could in future allow parents to “play God”.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the
pressure group, condemned the study as “a needless
slaughter of animals, an affront to human dignity and
a colossal waste of precious research funds”.

The tests on gay sheep are the latest in a long line
of experiments seeking to alter the sexuality of
humans and animals.

Günther Dorner, a scientist in the former East Berlin,
carried out hormone-altering tests on rodents in the
1960s in the hope of finding a way to eradicate
homosexuality.

In 2002, Simon LeVay, an American neurologist, claimed
to have discovered that homosexual and heterosexual
men had physically different brains. His tests on the
corpses of gay men who had died of Aids were widely
criticised.

As with plenty of what Science can and has brought us, scientists have somehow attained a certain power of “playing God”. You can make a carbon copy of yourself, and rip the liver out of your doppelganger in order to save yourself. If you, by the wonders of nature, are unable to produce offspring with your spouse (or maybe dislike sex), you can make a baby manually. Moreover, you can genetically engineer your baby by adjusting intelligence levels and manipulate the physical features before fertilization. Amongst the many things scientists seem to toy around with sex quite a bit. From being able to switch adult genitalia, we have progressed to choosing the sex of our children, to being thrown with the prospect of choosing the child’s sexual orientation. Or more like removing sexual orientation since this term is used only when having to mention homosexuality and other orientations that don’t flow with the mainstream. There is a global trend towards gay equality but if they implement this experiment on humans we will be a world that refutes diversity. I’m a non-believer of God, but I’m sure there’s a reason why we’re not uniform and machines — we can’t and shouldn’t be pre-programmed, reformatted, nor defragmented.

Imagine, say 20 years from now, these programmed kids will be asking their parents: How come those two men/women are getting it on? And their parents would tell them of how people before the kids’ generation were born with defects that could not be reprogrammed, whilst these kids, version 1.0 of the new generation were produced with meticulous calculations of beauty and intelligence genes, with the removal of any homosexual tendencies, can be modified at any time with any new developments, lets say a too-slow-to-orgasm bug fix, or a foreplay-knowhow plugin, and thus upgrade to 2.0 beta version, etc.

One fine day a smart kid will find that it can relate to a computer so well, you’ll find him fucking the computer USB ports. Haha, new tendency for you to remove.

I came out to a Korean friend today. For those who do not know what coming out means, go read up.

Somehow, it doesn’t seem to get easier with every coming out experience.

If you don’t know the difficulty of coming out - well, I don’t really know how to go about describing the difficulty to you either, but just know that it is a hundred ten times more difficult than coming clean to people about facts like you smoke, or watch porn, or that you get high sniffing your own armpits.

Anyway, this Korean friend of mine had no prior experience with anyone in such a “special relationship”.
Out of the many people I have told, this Korean friend is probably the first I have come across who has never known anyone “like this”. It may actually be the easiest to tell a person like her because her glasses are untainted, so she mostly swallows what you say and holds not much prejudice. She just has many questions, like why I would want to be with Sam, since she has many very good gal pals but never wanted to be with them (?!). A question like that is quite a first for me, and I succeeded in answering without laughing.

Nevertheless I couldn’t stop wondering after that, whether I did “our people” right by explaining things properly; whether she’ll treat me differently from now on; or whether she’s just pretending not to mind. I get really sensitive over such stuff and even wonder why she hooked her arm with mine before lunch and then walked a little distance away after.

And despite coming out to many people already, I still have problems using proper terms and resort to using euphemisms like “特别的朋友” (special friend).

Do you think I’m actually enjoying this? That maybe I crave for such attention or possess some perverse desire to be outstanding by inviting prejudice?

Of course I have the visions like all of you who were brought up in this media-powered world. Yup, that means all of us. Sometimes when I’m talking to my mother over the phone I just want to tell her about my dear girlfriend but yet I manage to concoct all sorts of stories and lies in hope that she wouldn’t suspect anything. Lies only grow on top of one another and form this mountain that has become so big today it cannot be moved nor broken down.

I wish —

I could tell my parents how happy I am with Sam

I could introduce Sam to my extended family

I could bring Sam to family gatherings and that everyone would love her

I could see Sam play with my nieces and nephews

I could bring Sam to all sorts of family events like weddings and funerals

I could say yes I have a girlfriend to my classmates whenever they ask whether I have a boyfriend

I could tell my parents the truth about my ring, my holidays, and the smile on my face

I just wish I could tear down that mountain of lies one day soon.