Tag Archives: China

CNN has more: Beijing is set to become the first city to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics after it was chosen to stage the 2022 Winter Games. International Olympic President Thomas Bach confirmed Beijing, which hosted the Summer Games in 2008, had been chosen ahead of Almaty in Kazakshtan at the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur, …

Via the Los Angeles Times: For seven Chinese gay couples, a trip to California offered something that wasn’t legal at home: marriage certificates. The couples were among hundreds who entered a high-profile online contest offering an all-expenses-paid American dream wedding. On Tuesday, they wed at the West Hollywood Library — the same place where, two summers ago, gay couples married …

Buzzfeed reporter Matt Stopera, whom I’ve met a couple times, had his cell phone stolen in an East Village bar in January 2014. What followed is probably the craziest and most amazing story about social media that you’ll read this year. You might want to hit the link before watching the trailer as the many photos there set up the …

Millions of Chinese gay men are believed to be in opposite sex marriages and some of their “homowives,” as they are known in China, have begun to advocate for gay rights and same-sex marriage in a campaign to stop these loveless unions. Quartz reports: “Homowives” and their supporters are getting more vocal about their own situations, and the need for …

Via Time Magazine: The video, Coming Home, tells the story of a young man who summons the courage to talk to his mom about being gay, only to be criticized and cast out. After a long period of heartache and estrangement, his mother comes around, tearfully welcoming him home. As the credits roll, real mothers speak directly to the camera, …

Via Shanghaist: Last October, a video showing the Nanshan police dealing with a dispute between two gay males in the street went viral on the web (see below). A speech made by one of the men wearing a “little red hat” in the video turned into an internet meme, and it further inspired multiple music videos and imitation videos online. …

In the first-ever such ruling in Chinese history, a court has ordered an “ex-gay” torture clinic to pay compensation to one of its victims. Via the Wall Street Journal: “We’re incredibly happy,” said Yang Teng, the plaintiff in the case. Mr. Yang earlier told China Real Time (which previously quoted him using the pseudonym Xiao Zhen) that staff at a …

Via the Wall Street Journal: No puns, please. This is China. That’s the message from the country’s media regulators, who on Thursday derided the use of wordplay in advertisements and broadcasts, saying they were “contradictory in spirit to the promotion and continuance of excellent, traditional Chinese culture.” Examples cited by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, …

Via the Washington Post: Swelling crowds of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong on Monday plunged Asia’s normally staid financial hub into a tense standoff with Beijing that strikes directly at China’s expanding political grip in the former British colony. The rapidly escalating demonstrations are aimed at forcing Beijing’s Communist leaders to abandon newly declared powers to weed out any candidates …

From Britain’s always bombastic Daily Mail: Wearing matching slippers and bow ties, Brian Davidson, 55, Britain’s consul-general in Shanghai, married his 33-year-old American boyfriend Scott Chang on the lawn of the home of Ambassador Sir Sebastian Wood. New rules mean that British nationals in homosexual relationships can marry in British consulates in 24 countries around the world as the land …

Via the Associated Press: A gay Chinese man said Thursday he was suing a psychological clinic for carrying out electric shocks intended to turn him straight, as well as the search engine giant Baidu for advertising the center. The Beijing LGBT Center, which campaigns for gay rights, said it was the first court case involving so-called conversion therapy in China. …

A gay man has filed suit against China’s largest search engine company for directing him to an “ex-gay” therapist that tortured him with electroshock therapy. Via Gay Star News: A court in Beijing will decide in the next few days whether to proceed with the lawsuit against Baidu and Chongqing-based Xin Yu Piao Xiang (XYPX). Baidu, the fifth most frequently …

CNN has a breaking report: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was hundreds of miles off course, traveling in the opposite direction from its original destination and had stopped sending identifying transponder codes before it disappeared, a senior Malaysian Air Force official told CNN Tuesday. If correct, these are ominous signs that could call into question whether someone in the cockpit might …

Via New York Daily News: Two men who used stolen travel documents to board the Malaysia Airlines jet that vanished Saturday were caught by surveillance cameras and were not Asian in appearance, a Malaysian official said Monday, conflicting earlier reports about what the pair looked like. “We confirmed now they are not Asian-looking males,” Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation chief, …

Debris from the aircraft may have been found. Vietnamese aircraft spotted what they suspected was one of the doors belonging to the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on Sunday, as troubling questions emerged about how two passengers managed to board the Boeing 777 using stolen passports. The discovery comes as officials consider the possibility that the plane disintegrated mid-flight, a …

Via Gothamist: Kazillionaire Chen Guangbiao, one of the top 400 richest people in China, recently announced his intentions to buy the NY Times with his gajillions of moneys. While the Times thus far has respectfully declined his requests for a meeting to discuss such an investment of gobagillions, if they got a better look at his business card, they might …

Big news out of Switzerland tonight. The United States, France, Germany, China, Russia, Great Britain, and the European Union have brokered a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. Via New York Times: The United States and five other world powers announced a landmark accord Sunday morning that would temporarily freeze Iran’s nuclear program and lay the foundation for a …

Gay Star News reports on Hong Kong’s fifth pride parade: Today’s Hong Kong Pride showed the LGBT community there are more visible than ever before. The head of Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunity Commission Dr York Chow addressed the crowd, as did member of the legislative council Cyd Ho. This year, the fifth Hong Kong Pride, saw more corporate sponsorship with …

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has helped NSA leaker Edward Snowden get out of Hong Kong.  But he apparently won’t be in Moscow for very long: Edward Snowden left for Moscow on Sunday and his final destination may be Cuba, Ecuador, Iceland or Venezuela, according to various reports. The move is bound to infuriate Washington, wherever he ends up. “It’s a …