Archives > January 2006
China Censors Decree Gay Cowboy Film too Sensitive
Scotsman.com - Scotland, January 30, 2006
Censors in China have banned the screening of Brokeback Mountain because they object to its homosexual content.
Read more..
US Blocks LGBT UN Inclusion
Gay NZ - New Zealand, January 26, 2006
The United States has joined Iran, Zimbabwe, China, Cameroon and Egypt, blocking two international LGBT rights groups from participating in United Nations hearings.
Read more..
Kerala Feared to Become a Place of Sex Tourism
NewKerala.com - Ernakulam, Kerala, India, January 26, 2006
As the people and authorities in Kerala enjoying a spurt in tourists arrival, there are many sections who are worried about the growing sex-trade in the State.
Read more..
Gay Muslims Channel 4
Socialist Party - UK, Janaury 26, 2006
The experience of British gay and lesbian Muslims was the subject for the Channel 4 documentary Gay Muslims. One of the aims of the programme was to illustrate the diversity within Islam and how different Muslim communities deal with homosexuality.
Read more..
USA Votes with Iran to Deny Gay Rights Representation at the UN
PinkNews.co.uk - UK, January 25, 2006
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has denounced the United States' vote against two gay rights organizations' applications to join the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Read more..
China City to Survey Gay Men
The Advocate - Los Angeles, CA, USA, January 25, 2006
Health officials in Wuhan, the capital of China?s Hubei province, plan to interview gay and bisexual men in the city about their sexual behavior to help shape HIV and sexually transmitted disease prevention programs in the region, the Xinhua News Agency reports.
Read more..
Nepal Trip Lands Pakistani Gays in Trouble
Indo-Asian News Service - Kathmandu, Nepal, January 25, 2006
A trip to Nepal by three transgenders from Pakistan has stirred up serious trouble for Pakistan's gay community, causing an eight-year-old health programme for homosexuals to be halted.
Read more..
Ladies of Pleasure or Sex Slaves?
Expatica - Netherlands, January 24, 2006
Dutch prostitution policy is meant to free female sex workers from parasitic pimps and turn them into empowered self-employed entrepreneurs. But the authorities are now asking their clients for help to tackle the problem of women being trafficked for sex.
Read more..
AIDS Fear in Brothel Law
Calcutta Telegraph - Calcutta, India, January 24, 2006
The National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco) will petition the Prime Minister to drop a proposed law to punish sex workers' clients, arguing it would increase the threat of HIV/AIDS.
Read more..
Sex Education Survey Encouraged Amidst Raised Eyebrows
Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan, January 23, 2006
A recent study on girl college students' reproductive health knowledge has been received well by most students, parents and staff but has also raised a few eyebrows.
Read more..
Pope Encyclical To Praise 'Eros', Not Bury It
Reuters India - Mumbai, India, January 23, 2006
Vatican City - Pope Benedict's first encyclical will praise the positive aspects of erotic love and human desire within the context of a greater spiritual love, officials familiar with the document said on Monday.
Read more..
PM Likely To Hold Talks With Kashmiri Pandits
India Monitor - Whalley Range, Manchester, UK, January 23, 2006
Girls from Lucknow, Patna, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Ludhiana, according to a sex survey by a leading weekly magazine, have sex at a much younger age (15-18), as compared to their counterparts in big cities.
Read more..
How Playboy Can Score in India
ktla.trb.com - Los Angeles, USA, January 22, 2006
Despite strict obscenity laws, stricter religious mores and a fanatical element that regularly pickets and threatens to blow up movie theaters running risque movies, Playboy Enterprises is considering an Indian version of its magazine.
Read more..
Sexuality Education Becoming Increasingly Popular In Schools
Channel News Asia - Singapore, January 21, 2006
More schools are conducting sexuality education programmes over and above the number of hours stipulated by the Education Ministry.
Read more..
Sex For Sale? The Argument Doesn't Sell
CounterCurrents.org - India, January 21, 2006
Decriminalisation of prostitution, as suggested by the Planning Commission of India, institutionalises the abuse of human beings and is an obstacle to women�s emancipation.
Read more..
International News
New York Blade - New York, USA, January 20, 2006
New Delhi - The arrest by Lucknow police of four men for homosexuality and allegedly running an online gay club sparked a rare protest in the capital city last week, Reuters reported.
Read more..
Gay Abandon in Bollywood
Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, India, January 19, 2006
In Indian films, homosexuals are mostly stereotyped as drag queens, sequined sissies, often intended as a comic relief. Take TV actor Bobby Darling or the even the popular Kantaben act by Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan.
Read more..
'Muslims fear female sexuality'
News24 - South Africa, January 19, 2006
Berlin - British author Salman Rushdie said the West had failed to grasp the extent to which Islamic extremism was rooted in men's fear of women's sexuality.
Read more..
Golden Globes: Chinese Connection
Hindustan Times - India, January 18, 2006
There is a whole world of difference between the overall value of the general run of Indian films and that of the cinema that emerges from China.
Read more..
Schools Respond Well To Sex Education Survey
Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan, January 18, 2006
A survey on girl students' reproductive health knowledge is being responded to well by selected schools and colleges, Daily Times learnt.
Read more..
Staring at People - India's National Pastime
Patna Daily - India, January 17, 2006
Whenever a person takes a walk on a street in India, one thing that the person cannot escape from, is the constant staring at them by all kinds of people, strangers as well as people familiar to them.
Read more..
Nepal "Abusing" Transsexuals
uk.gay.com - UK, January 17, 2006
A human rights group has accused Nepal of abusing transsexuals, with the government apparently sanctioning violent attacks on sexual minorities.
Read more..
Singapore Government Awards S$100,000 Grant To Group With Ex-Gay Affiliation
Fridae.com - Singapore, January 17, 2006
A group which plans to help gays and lesbians "understand" their sexual identity has received a S$100,000 (US$61,500) grant from the Singapore government.
Read more..
Do Away With Anti-Gay Law
Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, India, January 15, 2006
Much as India claims it is globalising, there is enough evidence to show that on a range of social issues it remains locked in medieval mode, unable or unwilling to move in step with the rest of the world.
Read more..
Intellectuals Defend Homosexuality
Times of India - India, January 14, 2006
Lucknow - The society has always looked at lesbianism and homosexuality with a jaundiced eye. But now those with such leanings have decided that they are not going to take things lying down.
Read more..
Crucial Vote Looms in Philippines
Zenit News Agency - Rome, Italy, January 13, 2006
Washinton, D.C. (Zenit.org).- Legislation that aims to impose a two-child limit on families in the Philippines is facing a vote this Monday.
Read more..
Protests Over Arrests of Indian Gays Get Louder
Webindia123 - India, January 13, 2006
The arrest of four gays in Uttar Pradesh is beginning to snowball into a major controversy, with rights activists from India and abroad calling for their release and renewing the demand for repeal of a law that makes homosexuality an offence.
Read more..
UN, Rights Group Calls For Lifting Ban On Homosexuality
Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, India, January 13, 2006
Kolkata - The United Nations and Human Rights Watch (HRW), the world's biggest network of human rights activists have come forward in support of the four homosexual men, arrested by the Lucknow police.
Read more..
Cases Against Homosexuals Were Fabricated, Says Report
Hindu - Chennai, India, January 13, 2006
New Delhi - The National Campaign for Sexual Rights (NCSR) has found that cases registered against four homosexual men in Lucknow were fabricated.
Read more..
Non-Profit Group Gets Grant To Promote 'Healthy Gender Identity'
Channel News Asia - Singapore, January 13, 2006
Singapore - Focus groups to help gays and lesbians understand their sexual identity are just one of the things that newly set up Liberty League plans to put in place.
Read more..
Nepal Accused Of 'Sexual Cleansing'
365Gay.com - USA, January 13, 2006
(New York City) An international human rights organization has joined local LGBT activists in accusing the government of Nepal of trying to wipe out gays and transsexuals.
Read more..
Gay Sex Work On The Rise In The City Of Joy
Daily News and Analysis - India, January 13, 2006
Kolkata - As homosexuals and bisexuals in India slowly come out of the closet, there seems to be a rise in gay sex work in Kolkata. The joints are same as those used for the flesh trade three to four years back.
Read more..
Ignoring Outcry, UP Refuses To Free Gays
Timesofindia.indiatimes.com - Lucknow, India, January 12, 2006
The arrest of four men for allegedly running an online gay club has galvanized opinion among NGOs, who have asserted the right to sexual choice and slammed the 'high-handed' police action.
Read more..
Protests Mount In India Over Arrest Of Gay Men
Reuters - New Delhi, India, January 12, 2006
Gay activists held a rare and noisy protest in the Indian capital on Thursday demanding the release of four men arrested for homosexuality and running an online gay club.
Read more..
Act Against Clients To End Sexual Exploitation: Study
Webindia123 - India, January 12, 2006
Authorities should crack down hard on clients patronizing prostitutes if the commercial sexual exploitation at brothels in India has to end, says a path-breaking study.
Read more..
Letter to Nepal's Minister of Justice and Minister of Home Affairs
ReliefWeb - Geneva, Switzerland, January 12, 2006
Human Rights Watch is gravely concerned by a continuing pattern of arbitrary arrest and police violence against metis (men by birth who identify as women, and might in different cultural circumstances be called transgender people), men who have sex with men, and activists for sexual rights in Kathmandu.
Read more..
India Feels Heat Over Gay Rights
PlanetOut - San Francisco, USA, January 12, 2006
Human rights groups and the United Nations are warning India that its recent treatment of lesbians and gay men could obstruct its fight against HIV/AIDS, and urge the country to lift its ban on homosexuality.
Read more..
India: Repeal Colonial-Era Sodomy Law
Reuters AlertNet - London, UK, January 11, 2006
New arrests of gay men in Lucknow, India-the scene of a case in 2001 that drew worldwide protests-show that India's colonial-era sodomy law continues to threaten human rights and encourage the spread of HIV, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Read more..
Condoms Can Lead To Promiscuity?
Hindustantimes.com - Lucknow, India, January 9, 2006
After the whole furor of promoting condom usage, another problem that has surfaced is that contraceptives will encourage promiscuous behaviour.
Read more..
UK Rights Group Flays Arrest Of Gays In India
Webindia123 - India, January 6, 2006
A gay rights group in the UK has reacted strongly to the arrest of four men on charges of indulging in homosexuality at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on January 3.
Read more..
Gender Bender
Times of India - India, January 5, 2006
People today get to choose their sex, thanks to medicine and mass media. But what does it take to make that big leap?
Read more..
Perception On Sex Education Needs To Be Changed
Bernama - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, January 4, 2006
The perception of Malaysian society on sexuality and reproductive health issues which are considered taboo and against the culture and religious norms, should be changed to give way to open-minded discussions.
Read more..
The Place of Lesbian Activism in the People's Movement
Bulatlat - Quezon City, Philippines, January 1, 2006
We at Lesbond, Lesbians in Baguio for National Democracy, like to ask two key questions: first, 'Why are lesbians discriminated against', and second, 'What can we do to eliminate this discrimination?' In our efforts to find the answers to these questions, we have realized that we cannot take our lesbianism outside of its social, historical, and cultural context.
Read more..
