Every so often I check out Fridae which is the best source for LGBTQ news from around Asia. I thought some of the news might be of interest and so here are some of the high (and low) lights from the past month or so.
Today I focus in on three countries, New Zealand and their troubling rates of HIV rates in the gay population, Hong Kong in which gays are surveyed about being gay in Hong Kong, and then Singapore in which political parties were sent a questionaire about their policies towards gay issues.
For more information and the whole articles I provide the link above.
1) New Zealand:
2010 was the worst year on record for HIV diagnoses in the gay community.
Based of the numbers, Shaun Robinson, the newly appointed NZAF Executive Director says 2010 could be "the worst year on record for our gay men’s communities."
"Not even in the early days of AIDS in the 1980s were rates of infection this bad in New Zealand," Robinson said in a statement released on March 7, 2011 on the New Zealand AIDS Foundation website. The best estimate of the number of people living with HIV in New Zealand in 2010 is 1800. The majority of these will be gay and bisexual men, according to NZAF.
2) Hong Kong
Survey results show that 46% of gay Hong Kong residents are comfortable living an out gay life in Hong Kong. Homosexuality is legal in Hong Kong, however there are only limited anti-discrimination laws.
46% prepared to say they felt “proud, comfortable, or very free” living as a gay man in Hong Kong. This is a result that perhaps stems from the reach of the survey, which was, by nature of its means, more to men who are social and out, rather than isolated and closeted. Some 28% of respondents claimed to be “publicly open about their orientation”, a level much higher, from experience, than for the whole gay population. But in the survey, the darker side does show through. 10% of respondents felt embarrassed by their lives, 9% felt them a burden, and 64% had suffered some form of discrimination.
It should be noted that there is an obvious potential of survey bias here, in which those most comfortable with their sexuality would answer the survey, however later questions found that 62% were not open at work and the survey as a whole found an attitude of "Private towards their orientation, positive in their outwork towards life"
3) Singapore (In which oral and anal sex between male/female and female/female is legal, but illegal for male/male)
Political parties in Singapore for the first time respond to a joint letter sent by seven members of the LGBT community in Singapore requesting a clarification of their position on selected issues of interest to LGBT Singaporeans.
The answers were not complete with only 3 of the 7 parties responding with an outline of their stances on GLBTQ issues.
National Solidarity Party: Family is a heterosexual institution and as such the party respects these core values; thus it is against 'equal promotion of the homosexual lifestyle' although it does advocate equal job opportunities for all, regardless of orientation.
Reform Party: Committed to working towards the decriminalization of homosexuality and their central tenets believe in equality for all, regardless of gender, race, age, religion and sexual orientation.
Singapore Democratic Party: Supports decriminalization of homosexuality.