In a first for Asia, Taiwan's parliament approves same-sex marriage
Taiwan's legislature voted Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, a first in Asia and a boost for LGBT rights activists who had championed the cause for two decades. Lawmakers pressured by LGBT groups as well as church organizations opposed to the move approved most of a ...
In Taiwan, same-sex couples plan weddings even as they await decision on right to marry
At the cake shop they run in Taipei, Shane Lin and Marc Yuan are planning their upcoming wedding as they expectantly await Asia's first gay marriage law — but a last-minute push by conservatives could scupper their dreams. The pair, who met and fell in ...
Cuban gay rights activists held an unauthorized independent pride parade in Havana on Saturday despite the communist government warning against it and calling it subversive, an unprecedented show of civil society in the one-party state. More than a hundred Cubans chanting "long live a diverse ...
Concerns rise in Japan over growing number of LGBT people being outed
People having their sexual orientation or gender identity revealed without their consent has become a deepening problem in Japan, a country known for its culture in which the "nail that sticks out gets hammered down." In recent years, there have been a growing number of ...
LGBT couples speak of their suffering in lawsuit seeking marriage for all in Japan
Thirteen LGBT couples speak about the social stigma and discrimination affecting their lives and call on the government to recognize their right to marry.
Clues sought in brutal broad-daylight beating of Dallas transgender woman
Police canvassed a Dallas neighborhood during the weekend in search of anyone who may have witnessed the brutal beating of a transgender woman in an attack that happened in broad daylight in front of a crowd of people and that was caught on cellphone ...
Quarter of Japan's adults under 40 are virgins, at least when it comes to the opposite sex
About a quarter of people aged 18 to 39 in Japan were estimated to have had no experience of heterosexual intercourse as of 2015, higher than the 20 percent seen more than two decades ago, a team of Japanese and Swedish researchers said Monday. Researchers ...
When Cecile Eledge offered to carry a baby for her adult son and his husband, they thought she was kidding — and that her doctors in the family's Nebraska hometown would balk at a 61-year-old woman serving as a surrogate for a gay couple. But ...
Chicago elects gay black woman, Lori Lightfoot, as mayor in historic first
In a historic first, a gay black woman was elected mayor of America's third-largest city Tuesday as Chicago voters entrusted a political novice with tackling difficult problems of economic inequality and gun violence. Lori Lightfoot, a 56-year-old former federal prosecutor and practicing lawyer who has ...
Citing 'Eastern values,' Indonesia theme park covers up bare-breasted mermaids
A pair of bare-breasted mermaid statues have been given the family values treatment at an Indonesian amusement park where officials slipped golden tube tops over their chests. While the nude statues have been on display for years at Jakarta's Ancol Dreamland, a recent policy aimed ...
Tomomi Inada's uphill battle to 'promote understanding' of LGBT issues in Japan
Tomomi Inada isn't trying to get Japan to legalize same-sex marriage or ban discrimination against gay citizens. The conservative lawmaker just wants to "promote understanding" of LGBT issues. Even that seems too much. The former defense minister said she's unsure she'll be able to introduce new ...
Talent, not testosterone, powers intersex athletes, scientists say
Talent, not testosterone, is behind the success of intersex athletes such as Olympic champion Caster Semenya, scientists said on Wednesday, stepping into a toxic battle of the sexes over fairness in sport. Their editorial in the British Medical Journal flies counter to those who want ...
