Writing wrong

Writing wrong

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE

What's hot and what's not in the LGBTI communities in Asia and around the globe during the past month

#RIPJKRowling

Best-selling author of Harry Potter books J.K. Rowling never ceases to disappoint her fans around the world. Following her transphobic comments and tweets earlier, now it seems the literary world is shaken once again with Rowling's cross-dressing serial killer character, which she puts in her new novel Troubled Blood.

Published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, Troubled Blood follows the case of a woman, missing since 1974, who was thought to be a victim of a serial killer. What's problematic is that the serial killer character is a man who dresses as a woman in order to abduct and kill a woman as portrayed in one scene in Rowling's new book.

Trans advocates have criticised such a character as "deliberately enforcing an awful trope about transgender people". And fans of the Harry Potter book series were also among people who expressed their anger towards such an offensive movement.

One fan even wrote on Twitter: "The hardest part of being a Harry Potter fan is J.K. Rowling herself."

Despite such a hot debate in the literary world, all versions of Troubled Blood -- be they hardback, audiobook or Kindle -- have ranked in the top five in Amazon's best sellers' list.

Daniel Radcliffe -- who played Harry Potter -- earlier criticised Rowling's anti-transgender tweets. He wrote in a blog post for the Trevor Project, an LGBTI youth suicide prevention group: "Transgender women are women."

At pretty much the same time, Eddie Redmayne who stars Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts franchise also spoke out against Rowling's transphobic movements. He said in a statement: "I disagree with Jo's comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid."

King & King. King & King

Education Ministry brought to book

Now closer to Thailand, Taiwan's literary world has been full of anger from readers this month following protests by Taiwanese parents over a gay-themed children's book.

Titled King & King, the book -- originally published in Dutch and since been published in 10 languages -- tells the story of a young prince who faces pressure by his mother to marry a princess. However, it turns out that the prince falls in love with another prince.

The Chinese version of King & King was added to a list of books that the Taiwanese government distributed to students aged six and seven years old. This sparked uproar among parents who protested outside the Education Ministry earlier this month.

This movement is however quite an irony in Taiwan, the first place in Asia to allow same-sex marriage.

While some of the protesters claimed that the book was brainwashing kids and that the government is trying to undermine the values of heterosexual marriages, the Education Ministry defended the decision on social media, stating that the book would help children to "recognise and respect differences" and promote a diverse society.

Gay marriage rights still going backward

And while same-sex marriage is possible in Taiwan, earlier this month in Hong Kong, a court refused to recognise same-sex marriage conducted abroad.

It all began with Jimmy Sham, a local district councillor, who married his male partner in New York in 2013. Sham demanded that Hong Kong recognise all gay marriages registered overseas. He said that the refusal to recognise such a marriage is highly unfair and discriminatory.

The High Court in Hong Kong, however, said Sham's request was "unsustainable as a matter of law".

"The applicant's attempt in the present case to achieve complete parity of legal recognition of foreign same-sex marriages and foreign opposite-sex marriages is too ambitious," judge Anderson Chow wrote in his judgement.

A lot of LGBTI couples are still facing struggles and challenges with regard to their tying the knot in Hong Kong, where a ban on same-sex civil partnerships was upheld last year. Hong Kong, however, decriminalised homosexuality in 1991, and hosts a Pride parade annually.

Not funny anymore

The Ellen DeGeneres Show has been a staple of daytime television since 2003, but in recent months DeGeneres has faced allegations of a toxic and hostile workplace culture under her watch.

So last week the 62-year-old long-time comedian, actor and host opened the 18th season of her talk show with an apology that addressed the allegations. This was considered the first time the television programme openly spoke about the controversy.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show has been criticised as having a working environment where sexual misconduct, racism and intimidation from the show's management took place.

In July, WarnerMedia started an investigation into the workplace environment of The Ellen DeGeneres Show where current and former staff members were interviewed about their experiences on the programme.

The following month, DeGeneres sent an emotional message to the staff saying she was taking steps to improve the culture on set. In mid-August, three of the programme's high-level producers were let go.

DeGeneres is one of the wealthiest performers in television. In 1997, she came out as a lesbian and since 2004, she has been in a relationship with Australian-American businesswoman Portia de Rossi.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT