Where falling in love can be a fatal mistake

OneWorld UK

By Nury Vittachi, a journalist and author based in China

Birds do it. Bees do it. Falling in love may be the most natural thing in the world but it can be punishable by life in prison or death if you live in Asia and happen to be gay.
The tension is particularly prominent at the moment in Singapore and Hong Kong, which promote themselves as modern, sophisticated cities. Singapores Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, claims the government is not homophobic. Yet it is hard to interpret its actions in any other way. All homosexual acts are illegal, gay parades are prohibited and attempts to register gay societies are routinely rejected. Gay groups are particularly upset that a large annual gay and lesbian party has been banned in Singapore this year, although it has been held peacefully in the city for the past four years. Organisers are moving the event to tsunami-hit Phuket in Thailand, which is delighted by the extra business.

In Hong Kong, homosexuality was decriminalised in 1991, but remained illegal under the age of 21. That law has suddenly became shaky after a 20-year-old gay man persuaded a court in August this year that the law contravened the Bill of Rights. The Hong Kong government is appealing to the citys higher courts against the ruling. Jailed homosexuals are carefully watching the outcome.

Gay websites have been set up in Malaysia, a strict society where accusations of participating in gay acts took Anwar Ibrahim from the top of society - he was Prime Minister- in-waiting when the claims were made in 1998 - to the lowest of the low, as a jailbird deprived of all rights. (His conviction for sodomy was overturned in 2004.)

Other Asian societies in which gay acts attract severe punishment, including life imprisonment or execution, include less-developed countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan.

But the cutting edge of the battle at the moment is in the more modern cities of East Asia. The hostility towards same-sex relationships in the region often veers towards the farcical. In 1997 Singapores Court of Appeal ruled that oral sex was a crime, unless it was followed by penile-vaginal sex. Equally bizarre was a case heard in a Tokyo court that same year. A youth hostel banned a gay group from staying overnight on the basis that hostel rules specified that men and women sleep in separate rooms. The banned group was all male. The absurdity was clear, and in 2000, Tokyo became the first Asia city to bring in laws banning discrimination against gays.

But Tokyo remains the exception. Other governments in the region use the argument that Asian societies are traditionally hostile to homosexuality, so they are merely following suit.

Asian gay rights groups claim that these are false arguments, and point to liberal attitudes in Asian history, tradition and even in some of the most iconic ancient writings.

In Hindu mythology members of the pantheon of gods regularly change gender to take part in homoerotic acts. In the Kama Sutra, homosexual acts are specifically defined as acceptable in some castes.

There is ambiguity even in Muslim thought. Although the Quran forbids same-sex intercourse, it is not considered abnormal in traditional Muslim societies for a man to be attracted to beautiful youths of either sex. In traditional Balinese keckhek dance dramas, the male lead is always played by a delicate and heavily made up young woman. Buddhists have no specific teaching on homosexuality, but the Dalai Lama has openly campaigned for equal rights for gays, and several gay-Buddhist Internet communities are flourishing.

Gay activists in East Asia are hoping that the court battle running in Hong Kong will force other governments to take a more liberal stance. They believe the fact that the main government-controlled newspaper in Singapore failed to report the case may be an indication of its significance.

Roddy Shaw, a spokesman for gay activists in Hong Kong, said he was thrilled that one key anti-gay law in Asia was finally being struck down. Sixty-three men were arrested, some prosecuted and convicted under that law between 1998 and 2003, he said. These men are barred from working as teachers, social workers, in health care and other caring professions. As the law is unjust and repealed, the criminal records of these men should be eliminated.

The developments are set to be discussed at length at Asias largest gay party, organised by the team who run the gay-focused fridae.com website, which will run from November 4 to 6 at Phuket.