Fridae

After waging a 5-year legal battle, W, a transgender woman will be allowed to marry her boyfriend after winning her appeal at Hong Kong’s top court today.

With Malaysia's 13th general election slated to be held on May 5, politicians have yet again aspersions on LGBTs this time with the Deputy Prime Minister warning the country's Muslim citizens against LGBT activists.

Thailand's National Human Rights Commission's Dr. Taejing Siripanich explains why hate crimes and lack of anti-discrimination legislation are not being prioritised as same-sex marriage is, and that advocating for a new law to be created to legalise same-sex partnerships is "easier than changing the existing marriage law."

Media outlets have declared the Queen of England to support gay rights even as the new Commonwealth Charter she signed yesterday makes no mention of sexual orientation; the Commonwealth Secretariat clarifies the news to be an "interpretation that certain publications who have reported (it) have formed on their own."

Ging Cristobal, Project Coordinator for the Asia Program of IGLHRC, has called the initiative a "major breakthrough" as police officers in major provinces all over the Philippines will undergo training that will include a LGBT community dialogue, and gender and sexuality workshops with human rights regional officers.

President Barack Obama on Monday became the first US president to use the word “gay” and express his support for full equality for gay men and lesbians in his inauguration speech at the presidential swearing-in ceremony.

Members of the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern about reports of LGBT violations received from NGOs at the fourth periodic review of the compliance of the Philippines with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in Geneva this week.

A Malaysian High Court has dismissed an application by four transgender women who had sought to have an Islamic law that bars Muslim men from wearing women's clothes reviewed.

We now know what the draft ASEAN Human Rights Declaration will say. Is it good news or bad news for LGBTI? Douglas Sanders looks at the issues.

Call Me Kuchu, a powerful documentary about the struggle against Uganda’s "Kill the Gays bill" and which follows several LGBT activists including David Kato before he was murdered in 2011, will be screened at the Freedom Film Festival that runs this weekend in Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Penang on Oct 6 and Singapore on Oct 28.