Korean Actor loses jobs after COMING OUT
Korean actor Sok-chon Hong publicly came out of the closet Sept. 21 after being outed on Sept. 17 by the newspaper Daily Sports.
He was quickly fired from his job as host of the children's TV show "Po Po Po" and his job on the radio sitcom "Nobody Can Deal with My Family." A planned appearance on the TV program "Sexy Night" also was cancelled by the producers.
Hong, 29, is the first Korean celebrity to acknowledge being gay.
"I really tried to live properly, but I've failed," he told viewers of the TV program Midnight Entertainment Live. "I'm sorry. If you find that you don't like me anymore, I don't know what I'll do. I'm so emotionally worn out. I'm so sorry to the audience, who trusted me and feel betrayed."
In a later interview, Hong seemed less self-loathing.
"I came out because I didn't deceive myself, and I knew I'm not wrong," he said. "That's it. I knew I would have much disadvantage after coming out and mess up my career I have worked for, but I could not help it. Every day is a struggle after coming out. A struggle with myself and everything. I didn't mean to be a warrior, but it seems that I already am."
Several organizations have protested Hong's dismissal from the broadcast programs, including the gay men's group Chingusai, the Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Federation, the Seoul Queer Film Festival Organizing Committee, the gay magazine Buddy, the Sarangbang Group for Human Rights, and the Citizens Network for the Cultural Revolution.
"We are going to fight until the violence, discrimination, prejudices and brutal fascism of this society is stopped," they said in a statement.
Foreign supporters can lend their name to the campaign on Hong's behalf by visiting the Web site
http://board13.free.cgiserver.net/CrazyWWWBoard.cgi?db=qlib0002b
SAO PAULO VOTES
FOR GAY-RIGHTS
SUPPORTER
The most ardent supporter of gay equality in Brazil's congress, Congresswoman Marta Suplicy, received the most votes in Sao Paulo's mayoral primary election Oct. 1.
She is expected to easily win the runoff Oct. 19.
Suplicy is a former TV personality known for her frank talk about sex. She is the sponsor of a gay partnership law currently stalled in the Chamber of Deputies.
MORE TORIES
TARGETED
Using a free e-mail address and Web page, an anonymous organization called Tories Against Hypocrisy ( TAH ) claimed to "out" six more British Members of Parliament on Oct. 2 and 3.
Joining Tory MP Nigel Evans on the group's list are Tory MPs Ann Widdecombe, David Ruffley, Nick Gibb, Alan Duncan, Gerald Howarth and Michael Fabricant.
TAH did not present any evidence for their detailed and graphic accusations, and did not respond to a reporter's e-mailed requests for additional information.
None of the MPs have commented publicly on the accusations.
TAH is threatening to out numerous other Tory MPs and high- ranking Tory officials.
"Our aim is to rid the Conservative Party of hypocrisy and homophobia, and to ensure that the public see us as a party of honesty, consistency and integrity," they said.
The Web site can be found at
members.tripod.co.uk/gaytories. The group's e-mail address is toriesagainsthypocrisy@hotmail.com .
GAYS MARRY ON
BBC TV SHOW
Two gay characters will marry each other on the BBC TV hospital drama Casualty on Oct. 14 and 15.
It will be the first gay wedding shown on UK television.
HIV-positive nurse Adam will wed his dancer boyfriend Reuben. The characters reportedly will not appear in future episodes of the program.
GAY TOWN
FIGHTS BACK
Protesters blocked the streets of Tabalosos, Peru, Oct. 5 with trucks and boulders after Lima's America TV-Channel 4 reported that there is something in the town's drinking water that makes all the male residents gay.
The remote town of 14,000 is in the northeast of the country.
"Our men are really manly men," one group of women protesters chanted.
Mayor Francisco Cueva has demanded a retraction and threatened a lawsuit.
"It's slander," he said. "We have always been tough and hardworking."
The protesters told reporters there likely are some gay people in Tabalosos—and that's not a problem.
CHARGES LAID IN 'PUSSY PALACE' RAID
Toronto police say they have filed charges stemming from their Sept. 15 raid of a women's "Pussy Palace" night at the gay-male Club Baths.
But they are not saying what the charges are. Earlier, police officials had said bathhouse patrons were drinking alcohol in areas of the club that were not covered by the organizers' special-event liquor license, and that disorderly conduct charges might be filed.
Meanwhile, gays and lesbians protesting the raid marched on police headquarters Sept. 21 chanting, "Hey hey, ho ho, Julian Fantino's got to go" and "Pussies fight back."
Fantino is Toronto's police chief. He had a bad relationship with gays in his previous job as police chief of London, Ontario.
