Fridae

In November this year, the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists at last made an announcement on sexual orientation and the efficacy of faith-based 'therapies' – making it the first psychiatric or psychological professional body in Asia known to have done so. Fridae's Hong Kong correspondent, Nigel Collett, examines the issue.

Hillary Clinton's fine speech in Geneva on LGBT rights saw the US playing catch-up to initiatives of a dozen other Western countries. As activists, we welcome the US to the process. But dawn is not yet breaking everywhere. There are many time zones. Douglas Sanders contemplates the time lag for Asia.

The plaintiff, publicly known as Ms W and who has since 2008 been fighting for her the right to marry, will now take her case to the Court of Final Appeal after the Court of Appeal last Friday refused her the right to legally marry a man.

British singer-songwriter Elton John appeared with husband David Furnish and baby Zachary at the 20th World Orchid Conference in Singapore last weekend where he had an orchid named after him.

Nearly 100 African NGOs and activists have appealed to the British government not to cut aid to African countries after British PM David Cameron threatened to seek to reduce foreign aid to Commonwealth countries which persecute gays.

Prof Douglas Sanders reports on the recently held 1st Biennial Conference of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions attended by representatives of the national human rights institutions (NHRIs) established by the governments of Afghanistan, Australia, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Thailand and Timor Leste.

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

When Singapore's most famous drag queen (finally) came out as gay this week, many gay men and women dismissed his acknowledgement as being insignificant and superfluous since "everyone" already knew. Otto Fong argues that his coming out should be seen as important if the gay community wants the public acknowledgement and the respect that comes with it.

Hadi Hussain, a gay activist living in Pakistan, writes that the already unaccepting and hostile climate has turned even worse after the US Embassy in Islamabad hosted a recent LGBT event which triggered a media frenzy and drew the ire of conservative Islamic groups.

Putting debates on sexuality to one side, the association between wealth and corporate achievement raises broader questions on how we measure personal success. Senthorun Raj writes that while we must recognise how heterosexuality is not the only way of life that enables successful living, we must be cautious to avoid reinforcing the normative idea that economic entrepreneurialism is only what counts as success.