In Vietnam, an Unlikely Haven For Gays - and a Lucrative Market
Reuters - Hanoi, Vietnam, 2/29/2016
If it had been in business a decade ago, Nguyen Anh Thuan's restaurant would have been a target for late-night police raids to arrest lawbreakers and stamp out ‘social evils’. But Comga Cafe, in the heart of Vietnam's capital, is no gambling den, after-hours bar or front for dealing drugs. It is an enterprise friendly to people of all sexual preferences in a one-party state where conservative values are strong. While transgender, gay and lesbian people are persecuted and even jailed in many Asian countries, Vietnam has quietly become a trailblazer, with laws to decriminalise gay marriage and co-habitation and recognise sex changes on identity documents.
Aligarh Row: Congress Spokesperson Manish Tewari Says Homosexuality is as Legitimate as Conventional Sexuality
Daily News and Analysis - New Delhi, India, 2/28/2016
Amid the ban called in Aligarh over the Manoj Bajpayee starrer 'Aligarh', Congress leader Manish Tewari said that it was unfortunate that some 'bigots' were not able to deal with the theme of the movie and asserted that homosexuality is as legitimate an orientation as conventional sexuality. Stating that it was not right to ban a movie due to personal choice, he said that it was against the freedom of 'listening, speaking and seeing'.
Advocacy Group Bats for Child Protection
The Manila Times - Manila, Philippines, 2/28/2016
Advocates of an international organisation in the Philippines expressed hope that the next government would engage in more decisive actions to stump out child sex trafficking in the country. There are no exact figures for minors forced to work as sex workers owing to the difficulty in tracking them down. Evidence of how rampant child sex trafficking is in at least five cities in Metro Manila was disclosed in a study conducted by International Justice Mission - Philippines (IJM-Philippines) in 2015.
Instant Noodles Can Make Babies Gay, Claims Indonesia Mayor
Daily News and Analysis, Indonesia, 2/27/2016
Arief R Wismansyah, the mayor of Indonesia's Tangerang city has reportedly claimed that babies can become gay by consuming instant noodles and milk formula. Wismansyah’s controversial statement is not the first anti-gay rhetoric in the Southeast Asian country. Indonesia’s defence minister said the LGBT movement was more dangerous than nuclear warfare, reported the Daily Mail. In January 2016, Indonesia's minister of research and technology, urged for LGBT students to be banned from universities.
Maneka Gandhi: Will Reward Schoolboys for Behaving Good with Girls
Mid Day - Haryana, India, 2/26/2016
Addressing a programme at Manav Rachna University in Surajkund, Women and Child Development Minister, Maneka Gandhi, said the government is formulating a plan where schoolboys will be rewarded if they behave well with girls. The Minister also said that a plan is being worked out to include an alarm button on mobile phones which will be help women to seek assistance from police in emergency situations. Gandhi said that girl students and women are being roped in to stop domestic violence.
Indonesia Orders Re-Arrest of International School Teachers Charged with Sex Abuse
Reuters - Jakarta, Indonesia, 2/25/2016
Indonesia's Supreme Court overturned the acquittal of two teachers from Canada and Indonesia on charges of sexually abusing kindergarten children at an international school in Jakarta, extended their jail sentences and ordered their re-arrest. The case, which critics say was fraught with irregularities, has brought the country's justice system under scrutiny and raises doubts about legal certainty in South-east Asia's biggest economy.
Welcome to Mirabel: The First Centre Supporting Rape Survivors in Nigeria
The Guardian - Lagos, Nigeria, 2/25/2016
In a country of 170 million where sexual assault is described as ‘endemic’, a small facility in Lagos is helping women where the law and authorities fail. The first in the country, the Mirabel Centre in Lagos, was set up in 2013. Since then, a former Miss Nigeria winner established the Eight Foundation Centre, which also offers crisis support for women.
Indonesia Plans to Shut Red-light Districts
Khmer Times, Indonesia, 2/24/2016
Indonesia plans to close all red-light districts in the country by 2019, an official said on 23 February, 2016, stepping up a campaign against prostitution after a controversial push to clear up a brothel area of Jakarta. The government will instruct local authorities to shut down an estimated 100 red-light districts across the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, said Sonny Manalu, a senior official at the social affairs ministry. ‘We believe that red-light districts will affect children who live nearby negatively,’ he told AFP. ‘Prostitution can never be erased from the Earth but we must try to stop it corrupting our youth.’
Anonymity Helps Hyderabadis Talk Sexual, Mental Health
The Times of India - Hyderabad, India, 2/23/2016
While sexual and mental health issues remain taboo even today, the anonymity that online forums offer these days comes as a life saver for many living in Hyderabad. An affirmation of this can be found in a six-city survey carried out by Lybrate, an online medical consultation platform - that shows a whopping 56% of interactions by city users are in relation to mental and intimate problems. The survey revealed that queries from the city regarding sexual health stood at 36% and mental health at 20% over the past one year.
Human Rights Activists Warn Against Statements Condemning LGBT People
The Jakarta Post, Indonesia, 2/22/2016
Human rights activists have warned that recent statements made by public officials and religious leaders who want to limit the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are ill-informed and may trigger discrimination. Human rights advocacy group Setara Institute said the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)’s statement calling for legal measures against LGBT community-related activities was an act of discrimination that threatened civil liberties.
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