Chandler poses for a quick picture while waiting at a red light in Taiwan. (Courtesy of Chandler)

Living in Taiwan, Chou Kuan Ting remembers watching American movies. He dreamed of studying abroad, laughing with American students and walking through campus in the sunshine. These were experiences he thought were only possible in the movies.

“But when I actually got here and I actually seen that and the feeling is something that I cannot describe but just that I am into the movie,” he said.

Chou Kuan Ting is a gay international student from Taiwan. At 23, he moved to America to take part in Kent State University’s English as a Second Language program. Chou Kuan Ting has been attending KSU for the past five months. His friends call him Chandler, after his favorite character from the TV show Friends.

When Chandler first moved to Campus Pointe with three other roommates, his sexual orientation stood out.

“The one say he not even meet me yet, but when we talk first time on the phone he knew I’m gay,” Chandler said.

This never proved to be an issue, though, with any of his roommates.

“I feel very curious about that you don’t mind living with gay people? I mean maybe someday you lie on the sofa on the living room maybe I will kiss you. You don’t afraid that? [My friend] said, ‘No, I don’t afraid that.’”

Living at home in Taiwan, though, Chandler did not feel the same understanding from his parents. Although he has been out for five years, he has never told his mother or father. He felt added pressure, he said, because he is the only male child to carry on the family name.

“I always feel that they always try to warn me that, ‘That’s wrong. That’s not right. You cannot be gay,’ and I feel very nervous of course, and then I tell them, ‘No, of course I am not. Why you keep saying that? I’m not.’ Because I think really easy to feel they don’t want me to be gay, so I don’t going to tell them anyway.”

Even though he has not told them, Chandler does wonder at times if his parents don’t already know. One evening, they saw the replay of a show their son had attended, where its host prompted Chandler to kiss another boy. He complied.

Upon watching the program, Chandler’s parents confronted him. He did not even formulate a response before his father could rationalize an explanation. The kiss was scripted, the father said. The show told his son what to do, what to say, and that was that.

“Yes, and my mother took that. Sometime I will feel maybe my family already know I’m gay, but they just so afraid to accept the truth. I don’t think they ever will.”

Despite the fact that he refuses tell his parents, Chandler said he thinks it is much easier to be gay in Taiwan than in America.

“Before I came here people always say, ‘Oh my gosh, America is so open-minded. You definitely can get so much boyfriend in United States.’”

Chandler agreed with his friends at the time, but changed his mind when he got to America. Although he is openly gay with many U.S. friends, he is more hesitant to be open with the general public.

“I think telling people that I’m gay here is more difficult because the United State, men should really be men and very strongly and very manly,” he said. “I can feel that maybe if I tell them that I’m gay, maybe they will don’t want to make friend with me anymore or even punch me.”

Such masculine standards are not the same case in Taiwan, though. Chandler said it is easier for him to meet other gays and lesbians in Taiwan. Gay men are easily distinguished by their chosen attire—skinny jeans and brightly colored, fitted shirts—the same outfit Chandler likes to wear.

“The gaydar I have in my country is really not working in the United States. I cannot tell who’s gay and who’s not.”

Chandler’s straight friends in Taiwan picked up on his style, which made his sexual orientation obvious.

“When I tell my friend the first time, they feel very shocked,” Chandler said. “But next second they say right away, ‘I knew it!’ I never really met someone that really hate a gay. I think I can tell them, and if they cannot accept, then it’s okay because at least I’ve got another friend.”

Aside from trying to fine-tune his American gaydar, Chandler said he likes sharing Taiwanese and Chinese movies with his new friends. What he enjoys most, though, is sharing his culture through cooking.

“Cooking dinner for American friend and also international student because I can sharing with them about the food in my country about the tastes because every time they get so excited,” Chandler said. “Also, when after they eat my food they also will feel ‘Oh my God, Chandler, you are the best chef ever!’”

Chandler remembered receiving a culture shock of his own when he first came to America. Unlike the Taiwanese, he said, Americans are more outgoing and personable with strangers.

“People will always love to have a conversation with you,” he said.

Connections and friendships Chandler has made in America have allowed him to visit Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, Cleveland and Amish country. After a minute of silence, he reflected on the Amish community.

“My country also have that kind of people that don’t rely for outside of world,” Chandler said. “I think is really good for global warming. Yes.”

After arriving in America five months ago and attending Kent State since, Chandler realized there was something he missed about home life.

“I think I start to feel homesick now because my teeth is really painful. I no see doctor, especially dentist, will be extremely expensive, and also because I don’t have the healthy insures.”

When he looked ahead, though, a more serious answer disclosed what he will miss after leaving America.

“My friends. I want to have job in United State, and I want to feel myself is a United States citizen, yes.” Chandler said. “And I want that I can contain the friendship with my friend just like the friendship I have at my country because I don’t want to feel that I am only international student. I want to feel that I am also American. I think the thing I will most miss is that I am foreigner and I make friend with America.”

Pending acceptance into the master’s program for hospitality management, Chandler hopes to return to America in the fall, prepared to both gain an education and fine-tune his gaydar.

Emily Inverso is a freshmen magazine journalism major and a Web reporter for ThatGayMagazine.com.

Chely Wright released her eighth studio album Tuesday. (courtesy of ontopmag.com)

Country singer Chely Wright came out in a recent interview with People Magazine.

“Early in my life I went through what I think a lot of gay people go through, thinking that I could change and pray it away,” Wright told People. “Nothing in my life has been more magical than the moment I decided to come out.”

According to On Top Magazine, Wright is the first openly gay major country artist.

The Academy of Country Music named Wright, now 39, Best New Female vocalist in 1994. She has released seven studio albums throughout her career. Her 1999 #1 single release Single White Female won her her greatest recognition. Broken, her new single, was released last month.

To read more on this story, visit On Top Magazine.

Nickie Antonio won the Ohio District 13 Democratic primary Tuesday. (courtesy of advocate.com)

As reported by Advocate.com:

“Lakewood city councilwoman Nickie Antonio won the Democratic primary for District 13 in the Ohio state house Tuesday. The openly lesbian legislator is poised to become the first out state lawmaker in Ohio after the general election this fall.

District 13 incorporates Lakewood and parts of Cleveland. In November, Antonio is expected to defeat independent candidate Jeremy Caldwell, who filed for the race Monday.

The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which endorsed Antonio, reports on the win.”

Egypt's Music Union decided not to allow Elton John to perform at its concert. (courtesy of 365gay.com)

Elton John will not perform at an Egyptian concert due to a ban from Egypt’s Music Union.

According to the foreign news agency DPA, Mounir al-Wasimi, head of the Music Union, said he could not sanction an event from “a homosexual who wants to ban religions, claimed that the prophet Issa (Jesus) was gay and calls for Middle Eastern countries to allow gays to have sexual freedom.”

Some months ago, John had said, “I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems,” he told Parade in February. “On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don’t know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East — you’re as good as dead.”

To read more on this story, visit 365gay.com.

Updated policies allow for the reinstatment of a gay Atlanta pastor. (courtesy of stlawrenceparish.org)

After forcing a gay pastor’s removal in 2007, an Atlanta Evangelical Lutheran Church will reinstate the man and his pastor to the clergy.

Rev. Bradley Schmeling and the Rev. Darin Easler have been approved for reinstatement. Tuesday, according to 365gay.com.

The church revised policy documents last month, making it possible for “eligible Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships” to serve as clergy.

Easler was removed from the clergy in 2006, and his partner was removed in 2007 for being in a relationship with Easler.

To read more on this story, visit 365gay.com.

BBs hit the face of a gay man who was the target of a hate crime. (courtesy of 365gay.com)

Three men in their 20s face sentencing for shooting a gay man in the face with a BB gun.

A video camera in the men’s car showed them targeting other potential gays in San Francisco. Despite the evidence, the men could not be charged for these crimes because none of the victims came forward.

“Normally the charge would be a misdemeanor, but with the hate-crime allegation, it becomes a felony,” Brian Buckelew of the District Attorney’s Office told the Oakland Tribune. “That’s why (the allegation) is important.”

These men face up to six months in jail, 400 hours community service and three years probation.

To read more on this story, visit 365gay.com.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen are the leaders spearheading this proposition.

“Our military must be afforded the opportunity to inform us of their concerns, insights and suggestions if we are to carry out this change successfully,” Gates and Mullen wrote to the panel’s chairman, Missouri Democrat Ike Skelton.

This letter provides undecided Democrats to suspend their decision until after the year’s midterm elections.

Gates supports the lifting of the ban but wants to make sure the troops are prepared for such actions first.

If Congress acts before then, “it would send a very damaging message to our men and women in uniform that in essence their views, concerns and perspectives do not matter,” he and Mullen wrote to Skelton.

To read more on this story, visit 365gay.com.

April 23 marked Jamaica's first ever gay pride march. (courtesy of southfloridagaynews.com)

Jamaica had its first, though unorganized, gay pride march Friday.

For Jamaica Gay Pride 2010, LGBT individuals crowded Emancipation Park wearing boas and pride t-shirts. They kissed and danced for hours before dispersing for safety reasons.

According to South Florida Gay News, there was no sign or sponsor for this event, but the act itself was a daring one, for Jamaica is a nation where actions like these could get one killed.

The group faced insults and shouts, and passers-by went out of their ways to avoid the area and any possible connection to the scene.

According to an anonymous source in an interview with South Florida Gay News, “There is so much more that must be done. They need condoms and HIV testing. They need cell phones to keep in touch with each other and plan for safety in their community. But this was an amazing and liberating experience for them. I think of myself as an educator and I try to teach the LGBT community in Jamaica about who they are and how to take care of themselves but it’s hard when they don’t have some basic needs being met.”

To read more on this story, visit South Florida Gay News.

Ireland is home to the newest organization of gay and lesbian doctors. (courtesy of 12travel.com)

A new organization will help LGBT doctors in Ireland.

While similar organizations exist in the UK, Europe and United States, Ireland just set up Gay Doctors Ireland this past December. The group will hold its first meeting next month.

“I think in general LGBT professionals face similar issues across the board which they encounter in college and the workplace,” said founder Dr. Conor Malone. “For LGBT doctors, medicine has traditionally been a very conservative working environment, particularly in the hospitals. Medicine is so racially diverse, people are so integrated in other ways . . . it seems the last bastion of the old medical hierarchy is for LGBT doctors to be accepted. It is happening, very slowly but surely.”

The group presently has 40 members from its website, and there are others involved who have not yet joined.

To read more on this story, visit the Irish Times.

The Equality Forum seeks to raise support for international gay rights. (courtesy of k41.pbase.com)

Philadelphia’s 18^th annual Equality Forum, is expected to draw more than 50,000 participants in support of international gay rights.

According to Philly.com, the Equality Forum, which started in 1993 as PrideFest Philadelphia, has expanded from a weekend event with 15 participating organizations to a weeklong GLBT summit featuring more than 50 panels, parties and performances.

“It’s the global GLBT summit,” said executive director Malcolm Lazin to Philly.com. “There’s really no larger event. I think [Philadelphia] is a logical site because it’s where the original gay and lesbian movements began. We are the civil rights movement du jour, as much as the civil rights movement of the ‘60s and into the ‘70s was certainly the African American movement. Civil rights movements go nowhere unless they enlist the support of the mainstream.”

To read more on this story, visit Philly.com.