Fridae

A group of activists in Singapore has launched a campaign and appeal for donations to support a gay man who has taken his former employer to court for allegedly terminating his employment on the grounds of sexual orientation, and is now seeking a court declaration that Article 12 of the Constitution which guarantees all persons equal protection of the law will also apply to gay men and lesbians.

In addition to hiring a senior partner from a prominent Singapore law firm, the plaintiffs have applied to have England's former attorney-general Queen's Counsel Lord Peter Goldsmith act as co-counsel in their appeal.

The country's Supreme Court has since Wednesday began hearing a batch of 16 appeals challenging the July 2009 Delhi High Court verdict legalising homosexual acts amongst consenting adults in private.

The Hong Kong High Court has accepted a man’s application to legally challenge the constitutionality of the police action at the seventh annual International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) rally held on May 15, 2011.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court will hear the judicial review application filed by committee members of Malaysia's only sexuality rights festival, which was forcibly cancelled by the police last November, on Feb 21.

Commonwealth countries will be urged to repeal anti-gay laws, which are still on the books in 41 of 54 Commonwealth member countries, at a leaders' summit to be held in Perth, Australia this week.

The nation's gay sex law was today challenged by human rights lawyer M. Ravi – and by the presiding judges. Ng Yi-Sheng reports.

A 26-year-old transgender, who took her case to court after the National Registration Department refused to update her name and gender on her identity card despite having undergone a complete sex reassignment surgery, has lost her case.

The Lawyer Is In is a monthly legal column by George Hwang who will answer questions from readers. This month, he discusses two cases whereby one was outed at work as HIV positive by an anonymous person and another has a non-Singaporean partner who is HIV positive.

George Hwang attended and spoke at the First International Conference on Human Rights in Southeast Asia held recently in Bangkok where he heard many stories of the struggles of sexual minorities, and challenges readers to be special and brave.