Gay News Around Asia-Pacific/Late 07...亚洲同志新闻/10 07....アジアゲイのニュース/10 07..

Taiwan's Annual Pride Parade, also Asia's largest Gay Pride Parade, was held on the 13 Oct with over 10,000 participants (15,000 by the organiser's estimates) estimated to have attended by the police. The theme this year was ' Rainbow Power' and as usual had a wide variety of marchers in different colourful costumes or lack of clothing..hehe...the guys in the short low- waist white briefs were soo sexy i was so oogling at them...i just love men in white tight spandex briefs, so sexy no??

Here's a video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eggZ2pCFMH4

This year, the first 'Rainbow Ambassador' was also chosen being Taiwanese pop singer A-Mei whom performed a few songs for her gay fans and showed her support for the gay movement.

Taiwan Gay Pride Parade Article (English): http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/10/14/2003383075

Taiwan Gay Pride 2007:

http://twpride.net/

張惠妹大炳小炳　同志游行晚會演出 2007年10月13日

（中央社記者馮昭臺北十三日電）第五屆臺灣同志游行「彩虹有夠力」今天熱鬧上路﹐上萬名同志和支持者走上街頭為同志爭平等與人權。知名兄弟檔藝人大炳和小炳﹐女裝打扮在晚會中熱舞﹐華語歌壇天後張惠妹受邀擔任彩虹大使﹐在同志觀眾熱情歡呼下﹐演唱一再加碼﹐足足唱了四十分鐘﹐讓同志游行宛如歡樂嘉年華會。
活動最高潮應屬封街舉辦的晚會﹐晚會舞臺搭在臺北市政府後方馬路上﹐觀眾席地而坐﹐小炳﹑大炳先後亮相﹐頭戴長發﹑身穿緊身衣﹐雌雄莫辨的裝扮讓觀眾歡呼聲不斷。
大炳表示﹐這是第三次參加同志游行活動﹐卻是第一次在這個場合扮女裝。他幽默指著頭上金黃色的假發說﹐沒有選黑色是因為戴了黑假發很像「動力火車」。
張惠妹（阿妹）于晚上六時現身﹐在演唱曾被同志族群當成結婚歌曲的「姊妹」時﹐觀眾的反應不止是隨著節拍熱情搖擺﹐還有同志感動到流淚。
除了預先准備的三首歌﹐阿妹展現超級的友善度﹐由于主持人極力向同志朋友推荐將同志婚禮場景納入MV的「愛是唯一」﹐在沒有伴奏的情況下﹐阿妹當場清唱了一段﹐甚至下了舞臺後﹐阿妹又被震耳的安可聲呼喚回來﹐阿莎力地加了兩首安可曲。
張惠妹除受邀擔任第一屆彩虹大使﹐又當場捐出戴在手上的星星飾品﹐當作支持同志游行活動的義賣品。她也響應真情擁抱愛滋運動﹐擁抱兩名愛滋患者。
張惠妹表示﹐從踏入歌壇以來﹐一直有一群同志死忠歌迷﹐身邊也有不少朋友是同志﹐她認為﹐大家只要了解﹐就知道大家都是一樣的。張惠妹說﹐很希望能多參加公益活動﹐去年同志團體就邀她出席﹐可惜正好與巡回演唱會時間沖突﹐因此今年才出席活動。
臺灣同志游行下午從國父紀念館出發﹐眾人揮舞著彩虹旗﹐有人打扮成護士﹑有人穿著水手服﹐以嘉年華會的型態和造型﹐參加這一次的同志游行。
這場同志游行活動從上午熱身﹑下午游行到晚上的晚會﹐熱力持續一整天﹐主辦單位臺灣同志游行聯盟估計﹐參與者約一萬五千人。
除了張惠妹﹑大炳和小炳以參加晚會演出力挺﹐知名電臺DJ黎明柔也來參與﹐在臺北市長任內編列預算支持同志公民運動的中國國民黨籍總統參選人馬英九提前在上午到游行集合處﹐向同志們致意。

Below: A Human 'Rainbow' was formed for 30 Seconds on the busiest downtown shopping avenue called ZhongXiao East Road.
Above: A-Mei hugs Two HIV-Positive Gay Men holding red posters advocating the 'Free Hugs for HIV Positive People' Campaign aimed at breaking down prejudice and fear against HIV-Infected People.
Below: Cute Gay Men in white spandex low-cut briefs with the numbers 07.

Its images like the ones above that have helped boost Taiwan's image and tourism amongst gay and lesbians overseas with at least 6-7 bloggers whom are homosexual that i know of whom have visited Taiwan in the past year. Images of these glbt people in their thousands being involved annually in the Gay Pride shown repeatedly on Taiwan's News Channels as well as passerbys on the streets have helped to shore up the visibility of Taiwanese gay men and women. Another thing to be proud of about Taiwan as a Taiwanese:)

Other News Around the Asia-Pacific Region:

Recently, a gay organisation voted for the top 25 most influential publicly gay people in Australia...it was very informative for me to know as I wasn't aware that many people I had heard of on TV were gay!! Savage Garden lead singer is gay as well as the High Court judge Justice M.Kirby (i knew about him already given his sexuality has been pretty well-known). But, the biggest surprises came from the political field with Greens Leader Bob Brown being gay and Labor MP Penny Wong being a lesbian. I am particularly proud of Penny given that she is the first Asian woman to be voted into parliament and further the first publicly gay woman in parliament. And more importantly, she is born in Malaysia!! So its a Malaysian-born Lesbian Woman in parliament...what a great success story for liberalism, given that she is a triple minority, being Asian, female, and gay, but still being able to get into parliament:) I'm proud of her achievement.

Christianity and Homosexuality:

Sundance Documentary: For the Bible Tells Me So

http://www.forthebibletellsmeso.org/background.htm

This documentary seeks to move the 'movable middle' of America whom are Christians and condemn homosexuality as a sin against the Bible's teachings. It shows five deeply faithful religious Christian families whom have a gay child and follows their journeys towards accepting the homosexuality of their child and reconciling their faith with this acceptance. It showcases many renowned Christian pastors and theologians whom seek to give audiences a different, more progressive reading of the Bible and includes such famous figures like the ex-Bishop Desmond Tutu of S. Africa and other names.

Islam and Homosexuality
A Jihad For Love

http://www.ajihadforlove.com/home.htm

I am very excited about this docu and highly anticipate watching it!!! This documentary deals with the extremely taboo subject of gay Muslims and how they reconcile their religion and their gay sexuality. The director interviews gay and lesbian Muslims from across the Muslim world and invites us into a peek at gay lives in the Islamic world and how religion and sexuality is reconciled for these interviewees. Highly anticipated!!!

Lastly, Singaporean Resources which i found (I've been experiencing a spike in my gay interest recently..haha..so i went surfing online and found two items i would recommend: http://www.safesingapore.blogspot.com/ (Founded by a Penang mother of Two Gay Sons ( 2! I know!!) now living in Singapore)

SQ21 Queer Singaporeans in the 21st Century ( A Book I Really Really Want to Have..)

Ok, I've been getting alot of feedback from some readers about my gay content and it seems i have a significant segment of readers whom are not comfortable with homosexuality...well, my advice is...TOUGH...given that i write widely on issues like women to world war 2, there is no need to read all my posts...just skip it if you really really can't stand it, but who knows, you just might come to see and understand another side of GLBT people from my occasional very gay and very happy posts:):)