Gay Month

You can say that the stars are shinning on the GLBT society this month.

In Asia, Japanese lesbian politician Kanako Otsuji is set to wed her partner at Nagoya Park on June 3. According to the 32-year-old former Osaka Prefectural Assembly member, who came out in August 2005 in her autobiography, decided o hold her wedding ceremony at a park so that anybody could attend it. Kanako Otsuji's contribution to the GLTB society in Japan include bringing about a legislative change that allows same-sex couples to rent housing from the Osaka Prefectural Housing Corporation, which was previously limited to only married couples. Kanako Otsuji is set to run in the House of Councilors election in July. If elected, she would become the first openly gay politician!

*Kudos to this magnificent lady! As I understand, although homosexual act is not illegal in Japan but it still is frowned upon by the older generation, so her holding an open wedding ceremony in a park? W-O-W! Go girl! Sure hope she gets elected and becomes the first gay politician.

Despite Australia's strict equal-opportunity law, which prevents discrimination on grounds of sexuality, The Peel Hotel, in Melbourne, recently won a landmark case imposing a ban to all straight men and women from entering their nightclub. According to a patron of The Peel, "the general issues with women tend to be that they put their handbags on the dance floor while dancing, try to pick up gay men and make comments like 'what a waste'. There are also reported to be straight men that go to The Peel because it is reputed to have available straight women. There is some view that straight men drink and become aggressive and are more likely to be overtly negative towards gay men that they perceive as competition."

*In my experience, straight men do get all weird and more aggressive when they're under the influence of alcohol. Yes, gay men do get drunk and all weird out as well when they're drunk. But you don't see us going around bashing straight guys up. As for the women, I have heard of comments such as 'what a waste' and all that. To be honest? I beg to differ. Although what The Peel is doing seem kinda discriminative to the Heterosexuals but as the owner of The Peel puts it: ""Heterosexuals have other places to go; homosexuals do not."

Finally, in Illinois, two girls were held in custody after caught distributing anti-gay fliers, which depicted a male student kissing another boy, along with a hateful statement about gays, at the Crystal Lake South High School parking lot early May. Arrested and held in juvenile detention since May 11, the two girls were released yesterday and are now under home detention until their scheduled hearing on June 26.

*Serves them right! I guess the reason why the GLBT society keeps getting picked on is because there is no law protecting us. In the States, there is still the hate crime laws which include gender and sexual orientation as protected groups, but I doubt that we have that in Malaysia. Growing up, I was the target of bullies: picked on, beaten up, called names... someone even smeared cow dung on my school uniform while I was out for PE class! As kids, the parents can claim that this is part of growing up, but what will become of those bullies when they grow up? Shouldn't somebody be keeping an eye on them so they don't become gay bashers in the future? The girls deserve what they are getting. If it has to start somewhere, I really do hope that the girls will be punished for what they did to set an example for the rest.

- jessism © 31052007 -