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04/19/2007


Short Film Highlights Discrimination Against Gays in Hong Kong: VIDEO

Hongkong

A new short film highlights discrimination faced by LGBT employees in Hong Kong, Fridae reports:

The Pantry is based on true stories drawn from offices around Hong Kong. The film, which is the first in a series from AD Media, aims to raise awareness and hopes to inspire LGBT and LGBT-friendly citizens to break their silence and stand up for human rights.

Hong Kong continues to drag behind competition because the government chooses to ignore recent survey results* and bows before religious extremists instead, thereby denying equality rights to the very people whose taxes it relies on and, on the broader picture, ignoring calls from the United Nations Human Rights Commission to clean up its record.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Christians_hongkongThe release of the film comes after a weekend in which more than 5,000 anti-gay Christians rallied in Hong Kong against laws that would protect LGBT people from discrimination:

The Evangelical Free Church of China Yan Fook Church, which organised the event, estimated that up to 50,000 people joined the "Inclusive Love Praying Concert" at Tamar Park, Admiralty, to voice their disapproval through singing and praying. They said such a law would restrict their freedom of speech on gay rights. Police put the turnout at 5,000.

"If this becomes the law, those who oppose homosexuality will have their freedom of speech restricted," said the Reverend Jayson Tam, convenor of the "praying concert".

Continue reading "Short Film Highlights Discrimination Against Gays in Hong Kong: VIDEO" »


Hong Kong Billionaire Offers $65 Million to Any Man Who Successfully Woos His Lesbian Daughter

A Hong Kong billionaire has offered a $65 million bounty to any man that can woo and marry his lesbian daughter, Business Insider reports:

ChaoProperty magnate Cecil Chao Sze-tsung announced the HK$500 million reward this week after reports that his 33-year-old daughter Gigi Chao, a University of Manchester graduate, had married her long-term female partner in France.

"I don't mind whether he is rich or poor. The important thing is that he is generous and kind-hearted," Mr Chao told the South China Morning Post, describing reports about his daughter's marriage as "false"...

He told the South China Morning Post the prize money was "an inducement to attract someone who has the talent but not the capital to start his own business".

"Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work," he added.


Towleroad Guide To The Tube #1207

SCARE TACTICS: Camp Romney warns "China is beating us".

MAMA MIA: Trailer for Guillermo del Toro's new horror flick.

'MASS EXODUS': Extremist EW Jackson wants Christians to flee Democratic Party.

AT IT AGAIN: Todd Akin thinks President Obama apologized to Libyan protesters and dislikes America.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.


Mitt Romney On Buying Chinese Factories And The Importance Of Sharing: VIDEO

SpecialMitt

AFTER THE JUMP, see what appears to be a bootleg of Mitt Romney addressing a group of rich people at a fundraising dinner. Mitt doesn't actually appear in the video -- he's speaking off-camera -- but it doesn't matter, because the oratory's fascinating. (Really!)

In the vid, Mitt's talks about a long-ago visit to China -- "back in my private equity days" -- during which he visited a factory he thought Bain Capital might like to acquire. He notes that the working conditions were horrible. The factory was staffed almost entirely by young women earning what Mitt calls  a "pittance." They lived on-premises, a dozen women to a room, one bathroom per ten rooms, barbed wire and guard towers ringing the complex (to keep overeager job applicants out, Mitt says).

The moral of the story, according to Mitt, who sounds like he might be tearing up:

The Bain Partner I was with turned to me and said, you know, 95% of life is settled if you are born in America. This is, uh, this is an amazing land and what we have is unique. And fortunately it is so special we are sharing it with the world.

"Sharing it with the world" -- assuming Mitt's talking about China, a feat Bain accomplishes primarily via the "Bain Asia Fund," which supplies the Chinese Communist Party with the equipment it uses to spy on democratic dissidents and Tibetan monks. Mitt gets misty over the weirdest things.

(HT: Buzzfeed.)

Continue reading "Mitt Romney On Buying Chinese Factories And The Importance Of Sharing: VIDEO" »


NEWS: Villains, Vectors, Vladimir

Carl_panzram_1

Towleroad-roadicon From Carl Panzram to Holmes: " ... the truth is,  there will always be another loner with a grudge."

Towleroad-roadicon One girl's escape from sexual slavery:

Forced to use drugs and drink alcohol, Maria says she thought her life would soon end. She was horrified when she saw a very young girl brought into the house where she and others were being kept. She asked the girl how old she was. The answer: eight years old.

Maria says she attempted to escape once. She ran away and asked some police officers on the street for help. What she didn't know was that the officers were on the payroll of the pimp and took her right back into the brothel where she got another savage beating ...

Towleroad-roadicon All-girl Russian punk band faces seven years in prison for protesting Putin in a church. 

Towleroad-roadicon Australian Prime Minister halfway explains her opposition to marriage equality during a Google hangout; promises a conscience vote: 

One of the more challenging questions came from Shane Bazzi, a 25-year-old Sydneysider who topped the poll on the OurSay.org website with more than 12,700 votes.

He asked the Prime Minister to explain her opposition to gay marriage given she is as an atheist and leader of a "self-described socially progressive party".

"I don't think that heterosexual relationships are more valued than same-sex relationships," the Prime Minister replied.

"I think people who are in loving, commited relationships, all of those relationships should be valued. I think my relationship should be valued and I'm not married."

She said her view about gay marriage was based on its cultural status and differed from Mr Bazzi's.

"These are very individual personal perspectives on the world...This should be a conscience vote in Labor. We will have a vote on changing the marriage act by the end of the year."

Towleroad-roadicon Science shocker: Anal sex is a major vector for HIV transmission.

Towleroad-roadicon "NAACP develops HIV manual for black churches."

Towleroad-roadicon Following the Boy Scouts' vote to continue discriminating against gays, Major League Soccer announces it will cease partnering with the organization.

Towleroad-roadicon Proposed rule from the US Office of Personnel Management would grant benefits to the children of employees' same-sex spouses:

... children will be eligible for coverage if a parent is in a domestic same-sex relationship with a federal employee who receives coverage through federal programs. These children would be eligible for coverage — both under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and the Federal Employees Dental & Vision Program — regardless of whether or not they’ve been legally adopted by the federal employee.

Firewalk...  Emily Hecht-McGowan, the Family Equality Council’s public policy director, said the proposed rule is important because many LGBT families throughout the country live in states without legal protections.

“Most of the two million children raised by LGBT parents live in states where their parents cannot marry, cannot secure legal ties to their own kids and cannot get their children covered under a health insurance plan,” Hecht-McGowan said. “This rule change means that federal workers can now be assured that a high fever, broken arm or debilitating illness won’t jeopardize their child’s health or their family’s finances.”

Towleroad-roadicon Chinese dictionary writes gayness out of existence

Towleroad-roadicon Feet are burned in a botched Tony Robbins firewalk.

Towleroad-roadicon Gay wedding fatigue:

“The equality people will have a fit about this, but I’ll say it anyway: I have gay-wedding burnout,” Mr. Shields, 35, said one day this spring. “I spent my 20s going to weddings, being in weddings, shopping for weddings, helping to plan weddings. In my early 30s they finally started tapering off, and I was like, ‘Oh, thank God, we’re over the hump.’ ”

He paused for dramatic effect. “Nope. Here come the Gays.”


China Lifts Ban On Lesbian Blood, But MSM Still Prohibited

PlasmaChina's communist government quietly lifted its ban on lesbians giving blood this week. Men who are sexually active with other men, however, are still prohibited from donating life saving plasma.

Via CNN:

The Chinese Ministry of Health has lifted a 14-year-old ban on lesbians donating blood in effect as of July 1.

The ban still applies to men who are sexually active with other men, but celibate homosexuals are permitted to give blood, according to the Ministry of Health's website.

The original ban, enacted in 1998, barred homosexuals of both genders from donating blood out of a fear of spreading HIV and AIDS.

"It's scientific that the policy doesn't mention homosexual identity but only fences off some who have certain sex behaviors, because AIDS is not caused by one's homosexual identity but improper sexual behavior," [lesbian activist] Xian told the Global Times.

The United States, as we know, still bans men who have sex with men from giving blood.





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