Fridae

More than 300 delegates from 11 countries converged in Hong Kong last weekend for the fifth annual Amplify Conference. (Video added)

Singapore's first national LGBT census is now underway and will run for a month until July 15.

Tokyo's inaugural Rainbow Week will kick off this Saturday with a pre-party before the parade which will pass through the Shibuya and Harajuku districts on Sunday, April 28.

As public hearings are underway before the bill will be proposed to parliament for debate, the English-language local media appears to be covering the issue positively with interviews with same-sex couples who speak about the discrimination they currently face and their hopes for the future.

In dismissing one of two legal challenges in which plaintiffs sought to have the country's anti-gay sex law declared unconstitutional, the judge concludes that while anal and oral sex in private between a consenting man and woman is considered "acceptable," the same conduct was "repugnant and offensive" when carried out between two men, "therefore no reason to strike down... s 377A... as arbitrary or discriminatory."

Malaysia-based AirAsia is an official sponsor of the Sydney Mardi Gras for the first time which is also a first for any mainstream Asia-based company.

Arguing that section 377A is constitutional, the Attorney-General argues that the law applies to all men, not just self-identified gay men, who have sex with other men; the law “reflects public morality”; and "because there is a scientifically-established difference between the public health risks associated with sex between men and sex between women."

Iron Chef, lesbian and mother of four Cat Cora was in Singapore this week for the opening of her first and only restaurant outside of the United States. She talks to Fridae about family life, coming out in the 80s and how she deals with being openly gay in countries that may be less accepting.

Members of the LGBT community in Singapore today expressed their disappointment and outrage over the prime minister's reasoning as to why section 377A of the Penal Code which criminalises gay sex should remain.

A second pastor, who appealed to his church members to support another church in its call to lobby the government to retain a law which criminalises sex between men, has deleted references to the issue from his statement.