Nepal urged to curb harassment of gays


NEW DELHI, Sept 29 - Delhi Declaration on Men having Sex with Men (MSM) produced by International Consultation on MSM called upon governments, international donors, multilateral institutions and civil society for urgent and coordinated responses to deal with HIV epidemics among MSM and transgender persons that is rapidly increasing in the region.

"Nepal will have to give special attention to police and military harassment to the MSM, which has made it difficult to carry out outreach programs," said Shivananda Khan, chief executive of the Naz Foundation Internationals, working on MSM, while making the declaration public.

Stigmatized by society and criminalized by law in many countries in the region including Nepal, it is difficult for MSMs to access information and services that they need to protect themselves from HIV, said K. Sujatha Rao, additional secretary and director general of National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, government of India.


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Vietnam may allow sexual transformation operation


    HANOI, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will, under a draft decree, permit transgender people to undergo sexual transformation operation, from next January, according to local newspaper Saigon Liberation on Monday.

    Under the draft decree recently submitted to the government by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, transgender people, whose psychological self differs from the social expectations for the physical sex they were born with (for example, a female with a masculine gender identity or who identifies as a man), and people having unclear gender identity, can undergo the operation. After the operation, they will have new gender identity.



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'Gay students more depressed than peers'

Gay university students in Taiwan are three times more likely to suffer from depression and think about suicide than their heterosexual peers, a study showed on Monday.

According to a survey of 2 600 university students commissioned by the education ministry, gay university students are nearly three times more likely to suffer from depression (12,9 per cent) compared with straight students (4,8 per cent).


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Michigan Judge's Nomination to Federal Bench Halted Over Gay Marriage Ceremony 



The nomination of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet Neff to the federal bench is on hold because she helped lead a commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple four years ago, reports the Grand Rapids Press.