Do you take this man...

Now that gay civil unions and marriages are becoming more prevalent (in some countries more than others, ahem ahem), here are the top 10 rules for the big day!

1) On the day of a gay wedding, it's bad luck for the two grooms to see each other at the gym.
2) Superstition suggests that, for good luck, the couple should have: Something bold, something flirty, something trashy, something dirty.
3) It's customary at gay and lesbian nuptials for the parents to have an open bar during the ceremony.
4) Gay wedding tradition dictates that both grooms refrain from eating any of the wedding cake because it's all carbs and sugar.
5) It's considered bad luck for either of the grooms to have dated the priest.
6) During the first dance, it's considered unlucky to use glow sticks, flags, whistles or hand held lasers.
7) For good luck at the union of a drag queen, the bouquet is always thrown in the face of a hated rival.
8) the reception hall must have a disco ball and at least one go-go dancer.
9) the wedding singer is not allowed to play/sing Let's Hear It For the Boy, It's Raining Men or I Will Survive.
10) the father of the Bottom has to pay for everything!

Haha, but all joking aside, the UK soap Emmerdale will be making headlines next week as the first primetime soap gay wedding takes place. And one of the grooms-to-be is half-Indian actor Matthew Bose's character, Paul Lambert! Bose, who is gay in real life, says "I'm proud it's Emmerdale that got there first. Shows like ours have a great responsibility to show things as they change and be cutting edge." The wedding, however, is considered a desperate attempt to keep the gay relationship together, as the character Paul has recently had a steamy one-night stand with a straight married man, creating an interesting gay love triangle.

I'm proud we'll have the first primetime gay soap wedding

Punjabi girl, 25, 5'6", slim, seeks alliance with well educated, fair, Punjabi bride

Gay or straight, Shaadi.com has been become a household URL in recent years for the South Asian community. More and more families are beginning to entrust the Internet with the duties of a matchmaker. To no one's surprise, these matrimonial doors remain shut for a great majority of the queer community.

Recently, however, there have been some rumblings on this front. The"no gays allowed" attitude of Shaadi.com has been challenged (via a hilarious repartee) by a writer of Desiclub.com. While no real resolution was made in the end, this all makes one think of the matchmaking opportunities out there for South Asian queers.

In a culture where marriage and unions between families are so highly regarded, it is naive to think gay South Asians would not adopt similar values. So what exactly is out there for us? Where do we go when we've exhausted Craigslist, Manhunt, Lesbotronic, & Gay.com? Where do we go to find a nice South Asian queer to bring home to Maa?

Well, you got a few options. While a matrimonial site aimed at our community may be a while a way, you can check out some new gay dating sites just for South Asians. Unfortunately, most of these sites are heavily saturated with men; but women & trans seekers, don't be discouraged, more are joining day by day.

Indus Gay -- easy format, fast growing, inclusive of men, women, & trans. but after a month, you have to pay to view profiles
Gay Date -- a little more racy than Indusgay, but only for men
GayDia -- cute site, nice format, but not trans inclusive

If you know of any more, help a brother/sister out and let us know!

Nipple Nepal, Land of High Peaks, Opens Bosom for LGBTs

Blue Diamond Society (BDS), the only LGBT human rights group in Nepal, recently scored a victory against the haters, winning a case against a private petitioner (read: jerkass with nothing better to do) who claimed that the BDS was trying to legalize homosexuality. LGBT groups promoting homosexuality? What a novel idea!

Said private petitioner did not name BDS, recipient of £25,000 from Elton John (hey private petitioner! I bet Elton John doesn't care about YOU!), as the defendant of the case, but rather attempted to ban all homosexual acts in Nepal and made BDS implicit in the illegality of it all. Nepali laws against bestiality were used in his case, but on February 6th, the court deemed it irrelevant and stated that personal sexual activities did not fall under criminal law.

Not that I'm anywhere near understanding legalese, let alone Nepalegalese, but of concern is the fact that the court only ruled that homosexual acts are not of criminal law concern. These issues could possibly still be tried under civil law or in different forms. Moreover, the private petitioner (ok ok his name is Achut Prasad Kharel) also cited an existing law that prohibits homosexual activities.

Gays Without Borders

"most homosexuals...choose certain occupations like hairdressing, fashion designing and modelling."

An article in the Sri Lankan newspaper, The Island, has caused an uproar in the LGBT community. At first glance, you may think the stereotyping of homosexuality, although wrong, is no major cause for concern. However, take into consideration the LGBT community's delicate balance between freedom and imprisonment (homosexual acts are punishable by law, but the law has not been enforced for decades), and you will realize just how every little bit of propaganda is fuel for a fire that may start burning at any moment.

The Dutch vs. Islam, part II

Pakistan has blocked YouTube, because of the concern surrounding a short 10-minute film that is going to be released in the near future.

Why the concern?

An anti-Islamic film, by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, will be portraying the Quran as a fascist book.

What's so queer about it?

The film is said to touch on how Islam is supposedly prone to inciting violence against women and homosexuals. After the violence that the cartoons of Muhammad caused last year, I'm not counting on it being a very peaceful March :(

2.26.2008 update: Looks like the ban's been lifted.

Don't you love it when straight men play gay?

"As an actor I play roles based on reality. Sexual orientation is a natural and personal choice. I see no reason for it to affect my decision to accept a project," says Rang de Basanti actor Siddharth Suryanarayan in a Hindustan Times article.

Definitely another step in the right direction, but I'm going to need a little convincing that he would actually play gay when opportunity arises. Actions speak louder than words, and I want to see a whole lot of action from this cutie!

Yo. Who do you think You are?