Yours truly at the White House.

Say, Malaysians, when are you going to speak up?

On the 1st of August 2009, I was amongst thousands of supporters at the National Day of Action for Same Sex Marriage rally in Fed Square, Melbourne.

This day of action is part of a nationwide campaign, Equal Love, which is in its fifth year of pressuring the government into legalising same sex marriages. In 2008, the federal government amended over 100 laws to allow same sex couples (domestic partners) the same financial and work-related entitlements as heterosexual couples.

Marriage, however, is still illegal for same sex couples. Many participants of the rally were dressed in wedding outfits, and later on, a total of 65 couples were (illegally) married, exchanging vows on the steps of the city’s registry office.

Besides wedding outfits, rainbow colours were of course also a popular feature:

And political t-shirts, button badges, face paint, and eye-grabbing outfits:

(how gorgeous is that guy on the right, seriously)

The rally started with a gathering and some speeches at Fed Square, before taking to the streets. If you’re so inclined, here’s a video of the walk (“hey hey, ho ho, homophobia’s got to go!”)

Here are some photos from the walk:

For the rest of my pictures, take a look around this Flickr set: Equal Love.

Also, watch some videos from the same campaign, of “Mr Government” trying unsuccessfully to schmoooze “Ms Equality”

It was a very positive experience for me, to be around all these people. The parade had thousands of participants, many people in love, with their partners — all they want is to be able to marry each other. Straight people fighting for equal rights. Queer people fighting for their rights. In the end, it’s all just an effort to get love and equality recognised: why should anyone be allowed to police relationships between consenting adults?

As for police at the rally — sure there were police around…they were making sure everyone was safe, and that traffic was still going smoothly, letting the parade through first.

Of course, I came home that day to news that my friends were being tear-gassed, water cannoned, and abused by our FRU and police force in Malaysia, for taking a stand against the ISA. What can I say? The difference was stark.

I love Malaysia, but it breaks my heart when I read about the horrible things our government is capable of.

As for those in KL, Seksualiti Merdeka is now into its second year, and happening soon: 12th-16th August, at The Annexe, Central Market. I hope you attend, and find the event as edifying and rejuvenating as I found this rally.

Flickr: Equal Love (by Tilted World)

The Age: Big crowds turn out in support of gay marriage

Official website: Equal love

Picture taken from Queerty.com

From the Guardian.

SINGAPORE (AP) — The gay community in tightly controlled Singapore held its first-ever rally Saturday, taking advantage of looser laws on public gatherings to call for equality.

About 2,500 participants wore pink clothing, played music and sang songs at a park known as Speaker’s Corner, said organizer Pink Dot, which represents Singapore’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.

“This is a great opportunity for us to make our pitch for the equal treatment of the LGBT community in Singapore,” said Roy Tan, a Pink Dot spokesman.

Singapore’s government has become more tolerant toward gays and lesbians in recent years, but sodomy is still illegal, Tan said.

Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told the state-owned New Paper on Friday that gay people “have a place in our society” but warned they must “not assert themselves stridently as gay groups do in the West.”

The government eased a ban on public demonstrations last year, encouraging Singaporeans to air grievances at Speaker’s Corner as long as they don’t discuss race, language or religion. The government says public discussion of those subjects could enflame passions and create instability in the multiethnic city-state.

Last year, Singaporean investors met at the park after losing money on structured notes issued by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, a prominent theorist who is often cited as one of the founders of queer theory, died on April 12. She was 58.

Sedgwick was reportedly diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991, prompting her book A Dialogue on Love. Sedgwick taught English at several institutions including Boston University; the University of California, Berkeley; and Duke University, where she was a Newman Ivey White Professor of English.

According to friend Cathy Davidson, who wrote about Sedgwick’s death on Monday, she died by her partner Hal’s side.

“Eve was a practicing Buddhist and blessings were said in Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies all over the world to help with her passage to the next life, a passage that, I know, brings the loving connections she made to the next life,” Davidson wrote. “She leaves those connections behind, to those of us fortunate to have known her or been touched by her writings. We love you, Eve.”

Sedgwick has written many books on gender and sexual orientation, including Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire; Epistemology of the Closet; and Tendencies.

This is the flyer, designed by Jun Kit (who was also stylist for the show).

In conjunction with Art For Grabs Xmas Special, The Annexe Gallery presents TOMBOYS & ANGELS, a fashion show extravaganza that celebrates gender diversity and outrageous individual expressions of style. The fashion show will feature clothes, accessories and works of art from over forty Art For Grabs arts & crafts stalls, with styling and make up by a team of some of KL’s most vibrant emerging style-meisters led by Jun Kit and Ooi Ying Nee. The catwalk will be an installation that mixes politics and irreverence designed by Lainie Yeoh. From the Tomboys & Angels Fashion show Facebook event page

This is the first post of a series to show you how the show came about (I couldn’t take pictures *during* the event since I was backstage). Some photographs of the preparations before we bumped in our gear to The Annexe were taken. All pics below courtesy of Johnny Mcgeorge, taken during one of the nights we were making accessories, and trying them on for size.

Making accessories. These colourful letters were cut out to assemble into HUGE necklaces. I have a “TOMBOY” one hanging in my room now, and I love it. And now, more photos of the organisers and friends dressing up with stuff designed for the show:
Jerome Kugan, organiser. Works at The Annexe Gallery. Generally awesome and fabulous.

Winnie Ooi (or, Ying Nee, whichever moniker you know her by), who worked very hard co-organising so the show would be a success, but fell sick a few days before the actual event. My ex-colleague for a veeeery brief time in The Nut Graph.

Lainie Yeoh, er, that’ll be me. Am I the only one who finds it awkward to caption / pimp out myself?

Zedeck Siew was there, and subjected to our various fancies of dressing him up with these accessories and taking photographs. Zedeck is currently my colleague at The Nut Graph (and ex-Kakiseni-colleague, and ex-housemate in Bangsar).

That’s the first run of photographs — more to come soon, of the models, make-up artists, runway  and whatever else I can find. Meanwhile, you can read the interview on Fridae.com (a website you should be familiar with): Fashion show to celebrate gender diversity in Kuala Lumpur, Dec 20

Yuki suggested we follow up by attending the “lesbian fashion show” at Club 69, in Asian Heritage Row. It seemed like a good suggestion – after all, what are the chances of two gender-bending fashion shows being organised in Kuala Lumpur, in a night?

I didn’t know anything else, but the little information I’d been given seemed plausible enough. I will freely believe anyone who says a lesbian-related event is being organised at Club 69 (especially when said informant actually organises such events there).

One of the models from the fashion show.

When I arrived, persons who in all likelihood do not subscribe to heteronormative standards were on duty as front-of-house. This might have turned out to as “some women, who kinda looked like lezzies, were manning the booth as doorbitches”, but that was before I found out who the organisers are.

When I stepped upstairs, I noticed the crowd was largely female. This seems best illustrated by the event’s description of the cover charge:

Cover charge for womyn : RM 30 (plus one drink)
man : RM 40 (plus one drink)

Cause I really think that besides those working there, there really was only one man at the event (though I can’t say I was looking too keenly). Poles lined the floor, for dancing. I spotted some familiar faces from the queer-scene. The fashion show began.

One of the organisers, Pam, gave a speech. Apparently her team was so anxious to have her step up to the mic they even wrote it for her.

The models for tonight were volunteers (I thought they did a good job strutting onstage). And now, some more photos:

After each collection, the fashion designers did a brief Q&A, explaining their designs, and what their stores had to offer.

Prizes were given out, via lucky draw. There were also some belly dancing performances that night:

After the show, I met the organisers, and had a bit of a surprise.

Though quite a lot of people are under the impression that Womyn Like Us (WLU) is a People Like Us (PLU) group, they do not consider themselves as such. The organisers I spoke to, Philo and Pam, clarify that they are a womens’ group. As in, “not gay women”, but “women in general”.

That being said, WLU events are popular with certain segments of the lesbian community, to the extent that their events may look somewhat lesbian-centric. With regards to the queer-community, I think quite a few have staked this event as one of their own. So womens’ group, PLU group, whichever it is, this post is going up.

I found out (belatedly) that the fashion show was a charity event, to raise funds for building a home for differently-abled women (womyn, if you will).

You can find out more about Womyn Like Us from their website. To find out more about the event, Fashion with Passion, read these posts:

Tres Chic! (event promo and flyer)

Fashion with Passion (charity details)

Facebook event page

Stay tuned, people. I will be updating soon on the Tomboy & Angels Fashion show!

[Update]

Note: I just realised some of the people participating that I called “fashion designers” may be owners of businesses that sell fashion apparel they sourced from other locations, without necessarily having designed them.

Voice Comment: (206) 338-ONG-9

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Duration: 26:18 | 24.5 MB | Stereo |

Along with over 300 people, I attended the Kansas City’s own Fight the H8 rally. I chatted with many people and asking them why was it important that they are out there in the cold to be in this rally.

This will be one of the top issues of my life to fight for the right that was taken away from me simply because I’m gay. Yes, this is personal. You won’t stop hearing from me.

Listen to the audio podcast by clicking “play” on the audio player above.

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Pecah Lobang: Muslim transsexual sex workers in Malaysia from Poh Si Teng on Vimeo.

 ”Pecah Lobang” was directed by Poh Si Teng (http://www.pohsi.com), one of the winners of the Freedom Film Fest 2008.

“Pecah Lobang”, which means “busted”, explores what it’s like to be a Muslim transsexual sex worker in Malaysia.

Shot in the Chow Kit red light district, the documentary revolves around Natasha, a Muslim Mak Nyah, who refuses to live life as a man. Unable to secure employment because of discrimination, Natasha turns to sex work and lives in constant fear of the police and religious authorities.

Crossdressing is a crime under Syariah law for Muslims and the penalties are severe. But it wasn’t always so. How did Malaysia become so heavy-handed on the transsexual community?

A religious scholar, a physician who conducted sex change surgeries, a sociologist, three attorneys and an outreach worker explain how it all came to be.

Screenings will be held at the following venues on the following dates:

First Gay Parade in Indonesia. Now, do you think you will ever see this in Malaysia? I wonder what is Pakatan Rakyat’s stand on this. I am sure there will be a million conflicting views.

 May 17 was International Day Against Homophobia. Our Indonesia sisters and brothers took to the streets in Jakarta to say No against homophobia, lesbophobia and tranphobia, as these prejudices can be so thick that those holding them become irrational towards the gay community. 

Are you homophobic, lesbophobic or transphobic? Go on reading.

Gay rights are human rights. If you believe in freedom of religion and belief, if you believe in human rights, you would allow them their place on earth.

 In Indonesia, the Ardhanary Institute (Women LBT Reserch, Publishes and Advocacy Centre) and the Indonesian Coalition of Women LGBT Rights are formost in raising this controversial issue at the national and international level.

It would be interesting to see the day when even men come out in support of gay women rights in Malaysia.