It would be good to see more calls for action on legal representation for men who have sex with men accused of 'crimes' and more action on the HIV epidemic.
The first article in the last paragraph labels men who have sex with men as 'gay'. The second of the two stories on the web has a photo of what appears to be transgendered people at Thingyan who are mistakenly labelled as 'gay'. Whose pride is this anyway?
[him] moderator
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A pride with no parade for Burma's first gay festival
BBC
17 May 2012 Last updated at 13:47 ET
Hundreds of people in Burma have attended the country's first public gay pride event.
The festival reflects a new climate of political reform that has led to the election of a civilian government, ending 50 years of military rule.
Gay relationships are still a crime in Burma, but the law is not strictly enforced.
However activists say discrimination is rife and they want the law to be repealed.
Burma is a conservative, mainly Buddhist country where many gay men and women feel they cannot come out.
As such organisers decided against hosting a street parade, which is a traditional feature of gay pride events around the world.
Instead, around 400 people attended an evening of music and talks held in the ballroom of a hotel in Rangoon.
Other Burmese cities also took part in the event, which marks the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia.
"In the past we didn't dare do this. We've been preparing to hold this event for a long time… and today, finally it happened," gay make-up artist Min-Min told the AFP news agency.
Social taboos concerning sexuality have also had an impact on Burma's sexual health.
A United Nations report published two years ago said that 29% of gay men in some Burmese cities were HIV-positive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18106018
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Myanmar holds first gay pride celebrations
AsiaOne news
Thursday, May 17, 2012
YANGON - Myanmar held its first gay pride celebrations Thursday, organisers said, in a sign of liberalising social attitudes paralleling political reforms in the formerly army-ruled nation.
Around 400 people packed into the ballroom of a Yangon hotel late Thursday for an evening of performances, speeches and music to mark the International Day against Homophobia and Trans-phobia, an AFP reporter said.
"I'm very happy to be with the same group of people," gay make-up artist Min-Min told AFP. "In the past we didn't dare to do this. We've been preparing to hold this event for a long time... and today, finally it happens."
Same-sex relations are criminalised under the nation's colonial penal code, and although it is not strictly enforced, activists say the law is still used by authorities to discriminate and extort.
Celebrations were due to take place in four cities across Myanmar, said Aung Myo Min, an organiser from the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma.
Unlike gay pride events in more liberal countries, there will be no parade.
Instead, music, plays, documentaries and talks by authors were set to mark the occasions in Yangon, Mandalay, Kyaukpadaung and Monywa, Aung Myo Min said, adding that the events had been officially sanctioned.
"In the past a crowd of people at this kind of event would be assumed to be against the government - taking part in something like a protest," he said.
"Now LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender) society has courage... and they dare to reveal their sexual orientation."
Totalitarian politics along with conservative religious and social values have conspired to encourage many gay people to keep their sexuality hidden in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Attitudes contrast markedly from neighbouring Thailand, where a lively gay and transsexual scene is a largely accepted part of society, which - like Myanmar - is mainly Buddhist.
But dramatic political change since the reformist government of President Thein Sein came to power last year is rippling out to wider society.
Calling on the government to repeal laws criminalising gay sex, Aung Myo Min said taking part in an international event would empower Myanmar's gay population.
"They will have more courage to reveal their sexuality," he said.
"If we don't discriminate against them and respect that diversity, the world will be more beautiful than now."
The past taboo on homosexuality in Myanmar has restricted awareness of sexual health among the gay population.
In some areas, including Yangon and Mandalay, as many as 29 percent of men having sex with men are HIV positive, according to a 2010 report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120517-346615.html
