Fridae

"Is it not known that vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is heightened by the denial of rights, such as the right of transgender people to determine their own names and gender-identity?" asks Bakhtiar Talhah, a Malaysian living with HIV and former executive director of the Malaysian AIDS Council, after the council declined to support the late Aleesha Farhana publicly.

It’s a wedding between a man and a (transgender) woman, but why is the media (including LGBT websites) calling it gay marriage? 

That is the question raised by Talkaboutequality blog and discussed in a column by Tom Chivers in the (UK) Telegraph.

Fridae's Hong Kong correspondent Nigel Collett provides a long list of examples where the Hong Kong government is seen to have discriminated against its citizens on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and says it's time the government shows leadership and roots out the discrimination practised in its ranks.

What does it mean for the Singapore government to tell the UN that the "principle of equality of all persons before the law is enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, regardless of gender, sexual orientation and gender identity" when the specific terms are not found in the Singapore constitution?

Gays and lesbians across China were left pleasantly stunned last evening by an unexpected report from national broadcaster CCTV which not only slammed award-winning actress Lü Liping (吕丽萍) for stoking homophobia, but also assured members of the LGBT community of their place in society.

Fridae's Hong Kong correspondent Nigel Collett examines the furore surrounding the Hong Kong Government's appointment of a reparative therapist advocate to train its social welfare staff.

Jonas Bagas, gay activist and the civil society representative of the official Philippine delegation to the United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS in New York, reports that the country's official HIV registry is not only showing an unusual rise in HIV deaths, but of deaths among young MSMs due to AIDS-related complications that are circulating within the gay, bisexual and transgendered community.

Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao, a former Bishop of The Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia who appears as himself in the recent Pink Dot promotional video, underscores the importance of self-acceptance among LGBT people, and accepting others in the community by embracing difference and celebrating diversity.

What do the polls tell us about public attitudes on sexual orientation issues? Mainly they show the huge gaps between countries like Germany and India. Doug Sanders looks at the latest report.