Fridae

Coming out or disclosure about one's sexual orientation to our family is a difficult yet important step. Bryan Choong, a full time counsellor at Oogachaga, a LGBT-affirmative counselling agency in Singapore, highlights how an individual's familial relations may affect the coming out process.

A 1-minute video recorded by a 90-year-old grandmother in China in support of her gay grandson has gone viral internationally.

Richard Socarides, an attorney and Senior Advisor during the Clinton Administration, shares his experiences coming out as gay while he was in this twenties to his father who was already at the time a preeminent scholar on the “gay cure” and widely regarded as the father of conversion therapy.

Hong Kong pop singer Anthony Wong has come out as gay – making him the only second openly gay high profile singer in the territory after the late Leslie Cheung to do so.

Leow Yangfa, an openly gay social worker in Singapore, has launched I Will Survive, a website to collect personal lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) stories to raise awareness about coming out for LGBT communities, and promote discussion around LGBT-relevant issues.

Many people who are out as gay, lesbian or bisexual to their friends and families may still face a dilemma about whether to come out at work. Former schoolteacher Otto Fong, social worker and trainer Leow Yangfa and businessman Joshua Yim share their personal experiences.

Shinen Wong recalls his coming out to his parents some seven years ago.

Although South Korean society continues to resist acceptance of homosexuality, two new LGBTQ media projects and an annual queer pride parade last weekend suggest that the climate is warming a little on the Korean peninsula this spring.

While expressing his frustration at being pigeonholed as a gay actor, the British comedian-actor-novelist also criticised those who heap praise on straight actors for their "bravery" in playing gay roles.

What's next for parents? Increasingly in China, parents of gay children are not only accepting their sexuality but trying to help other families in the same situation support each other, Dinah Gardner reports.