[OutVoice] Singapore woos tourists but remains repressive + "TransAmerican Love Story" reality

[TWORadio at aol.com]

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                              THIS WAY OUT
              the international gay & lesbian radio magazine
                   Program #1,036, distributed 02/04/08
   (hosted this week by Greg Gordon and produced with Lucia Chappelle)
        Singapore wants tourists to overlook its anti-queer culture;
                Trans-love reality takes to the airwaves;
Spanish voters don't mind same-gender marriage, queer Czech couples are
   slow to embrace civil unions, Jamaican gays are attacked by a home-
 invading mob while Aussie activists rally against homophobic violence,
an Israeli M.P. calls homosexuality an "epidemic," and more global news

* In "NewsWrap": Because of overwhelming public support for it, Spain's 
two-year-old same-gender marriage law is a non-issue in national elections set for 
March 9th – but that doesn't stop the Roman Catholic Church from continuing to 
rail against them – while less than 500 gay and lesbian couples have 
registered their relationships since the Czech Republic established civil unions for 
them in mid-2005... there's been yet another horrific homophobic attack on gay 
men in Jamaica, while Sydney, Australia activists rally against escalating 
violence in their queer neighborhood... a parliamentary member of Israel's 
religious Shas Party calls homosexuality an "epidemic" and urges passage of a bill 
to ban LGBT Pride marches in Jerusalem, while Human Rights Watch reports that 
at least 14 cross-dressers have been arrested and physically abused in Kuwait 
for violating a new law that bans "imitating the appearance of the opposite 
sex"... and more LGBT news from around the world (written by GREG GORDON, and 
reported this week by CHRISTOPHER GAAL and DONNA ANN WARD).

* Until recently, it was illegal to chew gum in SINGAPORE.   So it's not 
surprising that this characteristically Asian country still has a number of 
serious penalties on the statue books that make life for ordinary LGBT people more 
challenging than it already is.   An attempt last year to repeal these laws 
failed.   Journalist CLAUDIA CRAGG, the author of a number of books on Asia, says 
that the days of Bugis Street, teaming with dazzling transgender darlings, 
are long gone.   But, she reports, the government is beginning to realize that 
Singapore might have to do something to change its image, or lose tourist 
dollars to more welcoming countries in the region like Thailand and Hong Kong (with 
comments by ALEX AU, founder of the Singapore LGBT group People Like Us, and 
Dr. Gillian Koh, Senior Research Fellow at Singapore's Institute of Policy 
Studies). 

* On February 11th the U.S. queer LOGO cable channel debuts "TRANSAMERICAN 
LOVE STORY".   This groundbreaking elimination dating show features transgender 
bachelorette CALPERNIA ADDAMS being wooed by eight dashing men.   With the 
help of her trans best friend ANDREA JAMES and a parade of challenges and 
matchmaking dates, Calpernia whittles down her group of eligibles in hopes of finding 
her Prince Charming.   And unlike a widely condemned "reality TV" 
predecessor, the suitors on this show know that she’s a male-to-female transsexual.   
This Way Out's STEVE PRIDE sits down with Calpernia and Andrea to get the 411 on 
the show, the perks of reality TV, and dating in Los Angeles 
[www.PrideOnScreen.com;  www.logoonline.com; www.calpernia.com; www.andreajames.com; 
www.deepstealth.com].
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