Sports and Culture

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Hong Kong: One territory, two attitudes on equality

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Even in Asia, where the level of LGBT acceptance can vary and change with alarming regularity, Hong Kong is a contradictory beast. In 1991, the territory finally ditched British anti-buggery laws that still dog former colonies like Singapore and Malaysia. Today, Asia’s “world city” embraces its queer celebrities and supports a sizable calendar of LGBT events.

Privately many Hong Kongers face enormous pressure to conform. It’s a common dilemma in Northeast Asia, one that in Hong Kong skews the queer bar scene heavily toward ex-pats and visitors. Despite the 1991 reform, an equal age of consent was not established until 2006, and anti-discrimination laws remain a matter of interpretation rather than being absolute. In this deeply traditional society, less than a third of the population supports the legalization of same-sex marriage. In 2012, property developer Cecil Chao offered 500 million Hong Kong dollars ($75 million Canadian) to any man who could woo his lesbian daughter into marriage, and while mere financial mortals may not be throwing around that kind of offer, the underlying attitude is a common one.

Yet three quarters of Hong Kongers also say they support equal rights for same-sex couples, and most are very accepting of LGBT media personalities. While same-sex unions are still not recognized, transgender citizens were finally granted the right to marry an opposite-sex partner in 2013. It seems that in the land of “one country, two systems,” it’s a case of “one territory, two attitudes” on equality. Read More

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US: A Diplomatic Approach to the Mexican LGBT Community in the USA

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In the past few years, the Mexican diplomatic and consular network in the United States, following its long tradition of innovation and dynamism, has began actively engaging with an important segment of its immigrant diaspora: the LGBT community. 

There are approximately 11 million people of Mexican origin living in the U.S., creating a unique environment that is permeated by distinct historical, cultural, economic, social and political realities. Consequently, Mexican consulates have gone beyond the traditional services and practices, evolving into dynamic centers that provide wide-ranging services, programs and activities. Those programs engage a wide and specialized network of partners to address issues ranging from immigration, criminal and civil rights, to labor rights, and now represent key allies to maximize our ability to reach out to LGBT communities.

In September of 2014 the webinar “An overview of HRC and Understanding Ways to Better Protect LGBT Immigrant Families and Individuals” was presented to consular staff with specific material to take into account the particular characteristics of Mexican consulates. The presentation addressed what it means to be LGBT, statistics about LGBT immigrants, their ethnicities, immigration and civil status, and the benefits that were available to same sex-couples at the time. Read More

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South Korea: This man’s story explains the emergence of South Korea’s anti-LGBT movement

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Jonah Lee, a round-faced 63-year-old with a swoop of graying hair, once spent his days running gay bars and drag clubs in Korea and Japan in the ’70s and ’80s. His flagship, Hot Love, was a hit in both Seoul and Tokyo. Today, Lee is known for something else entirely. He claims, through a ministry he started in the Korean capital in 1994, to have counseled more than 1,200 people seeking to “escape homosexuality.”

Lee’s story — from gay entertainment pioneer to the leading spokesperson for Korea’s ex-gay movement — was made possible by the trajectory of many of South Korea’s Christian churches, which have grown exponentially since Lee first became a Christian almost 40 years ago. Today, many of Korea’s most important Christian leaders have come to preach homosexuality as an existential threat. These churches believe their movement is doing more than just saving people from sin; they believe they are saving the nation itself.

Lee’s path to ex-gay leader is a story in miniature of how homosexuality rapidly went from an almost invisible issue in South Korea to one that is now bringing tens of thousands of shouting protesters to the streets. Read More 

Israeli drag queens show off in new flight safety video

Israeli art student tasked with branding an airline, so she decides to create Priscilla Airlines for the Trans community.

Flight safety videos, the ones you watch before takeoff, have turned into amusing works of art in recent years. So much so, that people all over the world watch the successful videos on YouTube, which garner millions of views. Now forget everything you have seen, and watch the flight safety video for "Priscilla Airlines". 

OK, so maybe it's not a real airline, but we are in fact talking about a final project by a visual communications student named Elia Chechick, from the Bezalel arts school in Jerusalem. Read More

Omar Sharif Jr. Featured on Arabic TV News

The interview is being hailed as the first time many people in the Arab world have heard directly from a gay person

“I think the best thing that I could do in life is to live openly and authentically and happily, and if I'm doing that, I know I'm making them happy because that’s all they would want for me," actor and activist Omar Sharif Jr. recently said on an Arabic TV news program. "They would want me to be happy. That’s what grandparents should want for their grandchildren.”

The interview took place on presenter Jaafar Abdul Karim Arabic news program Shabab Talk, and Sharif Jr. tells Out that he was impressed by how the program turned out. Read More 

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How La Nogalera came to be Torremolinos’ gay hot-spot

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THE year was 1962. Spain was bowed in submission under the oppressive rule of General Franco. Freedom was a rare commodity, homosexuality a crime that dared not speak its name. Across the country, gay men and women were being thrown into prison and publicly lambasted for their sexuality.

But one corner of the Costa del Sol didn’t buy into the dictator’s harsh regime.

Sticking two fingers up to Fascism, Torremolinos offered Europeans the chance to live the free life they desired. Read More

"The Rejected," first US televised documentary about homosexuality from 1961

Introduced by KQED's General Manager James Day, The Rejected is generally acknowledged as being the first ever U.S. televised documentary about homosexuality, broadcast on September 11th 1961. Originally titled 'The Gay Ones', The Rejected was filmed mostly in the KQED studio. Several sources - including co-producer Irving Saraf - confirm that at least one scene was shot on location at the Black Cat Bar in San Francisco (710 Montgomery Street). However, those scenes and others were cut from the film before it aired.

Production correspondence written from March to July 1961 between KQED's Program Manager Jonathan Rice and NET's Director of TV Programming Donley F. Feddersen outline this process whereby The Rejected was edited down from it's original 120 minutes, to 89 minutes, then 74 minutes and finally the 59 minute version which aired. You can now view an original draft script for The Rejected in DIVA, scenes from which never aired. Watch and read more

 

Indian sprinter Dutee Chand wins major victory for intersex and gender inclusion

A major victory for inclusion in sport came down from the Court of Arbitration in Sport this week as testosterone levels in female athletes was struck down as a key determining factor for participation in women's sports. The decision involves an Indian sprinter - Dutee Chand - who won a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash at the 2013 Asian Championships.

Katrina Karkazisis a cultural and medical anthropologist and bioethicist at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, Stanford University School of Medicine, who has worked extensively on intersex issues. She was part of the team that brought forward the ruling.

Karkazis told Outsports:

"I'm absolutely thrilled with this decision, but also very surprised by it. I knew we had a strong case, but there are so many culturally entrenched ideas about testosterone—that it is a "male hormone," that it doesn't belong in women—I knew we were up against those ideas too, and I wasn't sure that we could overcome them. Read More 

Malaysia: A gorgeous, stirring cartoon about the status of trans people

When cartoonist Kazimir Lee Iskander learned that 17 Malaysian trans women had been arrested by the Islamic police in June 2014 for the crime of “impersonating women,” he was both riveted by the case and inspired to write about it. He wanted to show how trans people are harassed in Malaysia but also how effective LGBTQ organizing can be. Read More 

Europe’s biggest LGBT sporting event EuroGames 2015 begins

Today marks the start of EuroGames 2015 – one of the world’s largest LGBT – sports events. Over 5000 athletes from 71 nations are to gather in Stockholm to compete in 27 different sporting events.


“Sport is not as far ahead as the rest of society when it comes to LGBT issues. We hope to improve and change that through these competitions”, says Jakob Jansson, President of this year’s event. EuroGames Stockholm 2015 will begin today (August 5) with an open event allowing visitors to try out some of sports that will feature in the four day event – with wheelchair basketball, running and boxing all available. Read More