Gay Friendly Asia – Nomadic Boys

Gay Friendly Asia - The Nomadic Boys

We spent 2 years travelling around Asia and completely fell in love with the continent. It offers so much in terms of cultural experiences, food and landscapes, with some of the most humble people you’ll ever meet.

But when it comes to LGBTQ rights, Asia has some serious work to do! In quite a lot of countries in Asia, being gay is either illegal or an arrestable offence, like in Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, the Maldives, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. If it’s not illegal, then it’s such a strong taboo that you have to stay in the closet to avoid jeopardising your job prospects and embarrassing your family like in China, Russia and Indonesia.

Despite this, there are a number of countries in Asia that are paving the way forward in relation to LGBTQ rights. We’ve selected the top 10 most gay friendly countries in Asia, which we’ve based on the following criteria:

  • Where are they at with same sex marriage legislation, along with other LGBTQ laws?
  • What is the gay scene like and do they have any notable annual LGBTQ festivals?
  • Our personal experience travelling there as a gay couple, with reference to the most recent Spartacus Gay Travel Index.

We have taken it as a given that homosexuality is legal in the countries we’ve selected, which is why we haven’t included Singapore despite it having quite a vibrant gay scene and a famous LGBTQ PinkDot festival in June/July.

We have also included two “places” (Taiwan and Hong Kong) rather than “countries”, because although they’re not officially recognised “countries”, they can still be regarded as a “country” given they have their own flag, currency, national anthem, set of laws etc.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Asia Gay Travel Resources

Penis Park in South Korea – Gay Star News

Penis Park - Gay Star News

Located in Sinnam, South Korea, this penis-themed park is a NSFW tourist destination.
Formally called Haesindang Park, the theme of the park is based on an old legend.

What’s the legend?

In the Legend of Auebawi and Haesindang, a woman was left by a man on a rock in the sea while he worked. Due to a storm, the man was unable to retrieve her, and the woman ended up drowning.

After this incident, the people of the village were unable to catch fish. They blamed this on the dead woman. Then, one day, a fisherman ejaculated into the sea and suddenly was able to catch fish again. It was thought that exposing the deceased virgin woman to male genitalia pleased her, and thus allowed them to catch fish.
To honor the dead virgin and to ensure the fish would remain, the people of the village built wooden phallic-shaped effigies in her honor and held religious ceremonies on her behalf.

By Rafaella Gunz – Full Story at Gay Star News