30 Dec 2008

Fridae's top 10 most commented articles in 2008

A Hong Kong actor's homophobic remarks on radio, a Singapore TV station being fined S$15,000 for showing a ''normal'' gay family, an interview with a HIV+ spokesman in Taiwan are just a few stories that got you talking.

1. Singapore: 3 men sent to reform centre for beating male "flasher" to death
By News Editor, October 30, 2008
In the first known case of its kind in Singapore, six men have appeared in court for beating a man - who allegedly exposed himself and offered sexual favours - to death.

2. LGBTs protest Singapore bank's charity drive for anti-gay Focus on the Family
By Sylvia Tan, November 28, 2008
News of Singapore's largest bank's S$15,000 Christmas present to the anti-gay Focus on the Family group has spurred gay and lesbian credit card holders to act.

3. Exotic
By Shinen Wong, October 24, 2008
When Shinen Wong was called 'exotic' by a white boy he fell in love with in college, he obsessed for months about being compared to rugs, vases and strip dancers...

4. Movie boycott called over Hong Kong actor's homophobic remarks
By Sylvia Tan, June 10, 2008
A Hong Kong actor who said in an interview that he would respond with physical violence should another man express any attraction or interest towards him has resulted in a call to boycott the movie he is currently promoting.

5. Singapore TV station fined S$15,000 for showing a ''normal'' gay family
By News Editor, April 25, 2008
The authorities has fined a free-to-air station S$15,000 for airing a programme that showed a gay couple and their adopted baby; on the same day, a segment of the Ellen DeGeneres Show where the host condemned homophobia and the recent murder of a 15-year-old gay student was glaringly snipped by the same TV station.

6. Homosexual flasher killed: Were sentences appropriate?
By Alex Au, November 10, 2008
Do the sentences ranging from 18 months in a reformative training centre to 4 ½ years' jail and eight strokes of the cane - and charges of causing grievous hurt - commensurate with the severity of the offence?

7. Olympic hotties
By Dinah Gardner, August 19, 2008
China may be leading in the gold medals tally in the Beijing Olympics but it's not doing too well in the Olympic hottie table, as Fridae's Beijing correspondent Dinah Gardner finds out.

8. Hugo Chang: Attitude speaks
By Jason Tan, December 01, 2008
If you hang around California Fitness in Zhongxiao East Road in Taipei, you may bump into Hugo Chang - a beefy, sunny big boy with poster boy looks. He may be HIV+ but he doesn't let the illness get him down.

9. Updated: Penang police arrests 70 at 4 raids
By News Editor, November 03, 2008
Over the weekend, police raided four massage parlours and gay saunas. A source told Fridae that there were no sex parties in progress during the police raids despite being reported by the media.

10. Forget ''marriage'' and get a civil partnership: Elton John
By News Editor, November 14, 2008
English pop singer and gay rights champion Sir Elton John has blamed the passing of Proposition 8 in California on the use of the term "marriage."

*Denotes the article being in Fridae's 10 most viewed articles in 2008.

The number of comments were tallied on Dec 30, 2008.