The 3rd International Lesbian and Gay Association-Asia Regional Conference was held in Chiangmai, Thailand from 24th to 27th January 2008. Being a member of ILGA, a few of us from Sayoni Singapore travelled to participate and vote in the event.

At first, we were caught off guard by the sheer diversity of people who attended. The conference brought together about 160 delegates from a whole range of Asian countries, to name a few, China, HongKong, Macau, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Mongolia, Burma, Philippines, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kyrgystan, Armenia, etc etc.

The difficulty of initial communication and fruitful networking aside, seminar sessions were many and diverse in their content and quality. Of particular importance was the launching of the Yogyakarta Principles by Prof. Vitit Muntarbhorn.

Prof. Vitit Muntarbhorn (Thailand) is UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Democratic People�s Republic of Korea and professor of Law at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. He co-chaired the experts� meeting which drafted The Yogyakarta Principles, a set of principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. The Principles affirm binding international legal standards with which all States must comply.

http://www.yogyakartaprinciples.org/

Sayoni was able to help out by facilitating the women’s caucus on the first day and learned a lot from the women sharing about their views on various issues pertaining to the personal, community and the world at large. Subsequent days were followed by sessions on transgender issues, laws, rights, HIV, country focus issues, women issues, etc.

A gay pride parade was also held on the third day (Saturday) of the conference that marched from the Puttastan Buddhist Centre to the Night Bazaar / Pantip Plaza. The first in Chiangmai, it was greeted with curiosity from the locals, delight by tourists and participation by some who wanted to show their support.

Sayoni would like to thank Myo, Mira, Chiang Mai based LGBT groups, The Committee on Lesbigay Rights in Burma (CLRB) and M-Plus for organizing the conference on the ground.

I watched I Can’t Think Straight with high hopes and anticipation. The trailer was certainly enticing, and so was the possibility of watching Lisa Ray (whom I was drooling over, since her role in Water) in some girl-on-girl action.

I have to say, I wasn’t too disappointed. I Can’t Think Straight is precisely the kind of movie we need more – the ones that involve non-white people and happy endings, the lead characters being an Arab Christian (*gasp*, yes they exist) and a Muslim Indian (born and bred in Britain). It can quite easily be called a cross between Imagine Me and You, and Runaway Bride, with a Bend it Like Beckham-ish flavour. The plot is entirely predictable to a fault, and nothing really surprises the average viewer. But I am not complaining, because for years, I’ve been complaining that we do not have enough happy ending gay movies.

Lisa Ray and Sheetal Sheth are reasonably good actresses – though there are no Oscar-worthy moments, they are entirely believable in the chemistry between them. After all, one look from Lisa Ray’s smouldering green eyes could turn the straightest girl gay. The sex scenes between them are definitely hot – and as a plus, we get two of them!

The writing is average, and laugh-at-loud funny at many points – however, I am not sure whether it is due to the writing or direction, but at some times, the movie is just simply clunky. It might have something to do with the fact that this was a print-to-screen transference, where the fluidity of the script was lost on the cutting room floor.

Overall, the movie sends a very positive message. A friend of mine, while watching it, complained that there wasn’t enough character-development and building up of the chemistry, but I disagree. After all, it is TV. Harry and Sally didn’t spend months dating and talking before they got together (that we saw on TV), and neither did Ian and Maggie (they decided to get married after their first kiss, for god’s sake). The film does not win points for realism. In real life, the coming out to a Indian Muslim family, or an Arab Christian family for that matter, would be met by a hell of a lot more problems and backlash. But this is entirely fine in my opinion, because I am sure Harry and Sally did not live happily ever together anyway.

It is most definitely worth watching if you can get your hands on it.

We thank Regent Releasing for allowing us access to a screener of the movie for review purposes.

The New Straits Times Online carries an article “Why do you want to hurt me?” discussing homophobia in Malaysia. We are happy that this issue is being openly addressed in our sister country, particularly in the light of it being an Islamic country (according to its leaders, though not officially), and in the light of official homophobic positions (Anwar being prosecuted for sodomy, and official fatwas against the community)

Sayoni is proud of Anj Ho who gave the talk on homophobia in the Seksualiti Merdeka conference in August 2008. You can read more about what she shared on homophobia in the article.

So we all had high hopes. We all stayed glued to our screens, crying with joy about the best thing that ever happened to network television lesbian representation: Callie and Erica on Grey’s Anatomy.

But it was not to be. Season 5 started airing in September, and though yes, I have been too busy to give updates on the sexciting happenings on Grey’s [let's just drop the pretense we care about Meredith or Cristina or Bailey], I have been following the series along with that other show, Heroes [until the plotline started completely irritating me and I decided to give up].

Callie and Erica did eventually get it on after their hot kiss at the end of Season 4 – for detailed recaps on what happened, check AfterEllen. After the traditional gay panic, the even more traditional lets-take-it-slow dating which ended up in a fast beeline to the bed, Erica figuring out she is soooo gay, Callie figuring out she is bisexual, not lesbian by testing theories with Sloane… it all ended in a big what in the name of Sappho when Erica simply walked away from Callie over a silly argument over who got Denny’s heart and Grey Areas.

Devoted fans knew a week before the episode was released, that Brooke Smiths, who plays Erica was fired by ABC for some reason. No one knows why in the name of Sappho’s U-haul this happened, and why Brooke Smiths had to be fired, instead of them just breaking up and keeping the character of Erica on the show. Even GLAAD is taking Shonda’s side on this, and they are blaming it all on bad chemistry.

Pfft. It would be a little more believable had we not been hearing rumours that Melissa George was coming to the show as a bisexual intern, but that was quickly thrown in the can about the same time as Brooke Smiths was fired.

And here I was, so happy, so proud, that network television was going where no man (or woman) had gone before, in rather bravely portraying queer characters [remember last season? Remember the hot gay soldier kiss? Remember Joe the bartender? What happened to him anyway, after becoming a twin daddy?]. And here it is, all broken. *sobs*

Many queer folks who were already long-time fans of Grey’s, or those who jumped on the wagon after Callica [ie, the shipper term for Callie and Erica] have taken to boycotting the show. Jump off the wagon all you want, I’m riding this to the end to see what happens to Callie, at least. And not just because Sara Ramirez is hot [that gigawatt smile and the curves and the boobs... need I say more?]. And ABC, I love you, I love most of your other productions, but since you decided to stop giving us airtime, I will have to do the same for you on this space which was generously given to you, on the dime of the people who pay for the hosting of Sayoni.

Goodbye, Callica… we’ll miss you!