Positive World Media, 142 W 109th St, New York, NY (2020)

05/31/2019

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

What if the Holocaust was livestreamed?

05/28/2019

Vietnamese Short Awarded Illy Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2019 | Saigoneer

Director's Fortnight is an independent event running parallel to the main Cannes Film Festival, organized by the French Directors Guild starting in 1969. ...

04/11/2019

Every Major Female “Star Trek” Character, Ranked By Lesbianism

Our continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new lesbian life and new bisexual civilizations, and to boldly go where this franchise often vehemently refused to go before!

04/06/2019

The long journey out of the closet for Lithuania’s gay community

After decades of repression under the Soviet Union, the LGBT+ community in the Baltic state feels that it is finally becoming more accepted, but knows there is still work to be done

04/06/2019

Fotos: Lithuania fights for LGBT+ rights, in photos

The Baltic Republic, where gay marriage is illegal, is slowly opening up a political and social space for the LGBT+ community. Here are some of the people, gay and straight, who are driving that change

04/01/2019

Every Major Female “Star Trek” Character, Ranked By Lesbianism

Our continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new lesbian life and new bisexual civilizations, and to boldly go where this franchise often vehemently refused to go before!

04/01/2019

Gay people exist everywhere - so what’s the point lying to kids about it?

OPINION: Just because they're not visible, we must not forget that LGBTI people exist in every culture and in every country

03/03/2019

Banned lesbian love story wins award

Africa's largest film festival awards Samantha Mugatsia for her banned depiction of a lesbian character.

02/26/2019

Invisible: A Lighthouse Vietnam Photo-Voice Exhibition - MPact Global Action

By Omar Banos, Sr. Technical Advisor After walking a flight of stairs to the second floor of a rented hall in mid-December 2018, I strolled around the large room appreciating a photo-voice exhibition of photographs, each accompanied by a unique story. The photos were set on easels, spread around the...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47203976#

02/22/2019

Drag queen story hour in the US Bible Belt

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47203976#

Events where drag queens read to children are established in liberal cities, but they are moving to rural conservative America.

02/06/2019

The AIDS Memorial on Instagram Ensures That Stories of Love and Loss Are Never Forgotten

The page's founder opens up about why he created the page and why it's important now more than ever

01/31/2019

LGBTQ+ inclusion in Vietnamese reality TV: A great leap forward or a marketing ploy?

The use of the LGBTQ+ community in Vietnamese pop culture was always been obscured, but recently it seems like change could be on the horizon. Potentially. Last year saw a huge surge in the number of

01/31/2019

Asian LGBT activists strike at colonial era attitudes

Civic awards reflect changing society in Asia

01/24/2019

A Raw, Romantic Campaign Paints a New Narrative of HIV In Vietnam

We talked to the people behind the campaign's two honest and beautiful short films.

12/25/2018

Tribes Inspiring Workplaces

Empathy ✨

We're so much more when we help each other!

12/23/2018

The Queer Muslim Project

The film ‘I AM GAY AND MUSLIM’ focuses on the subject of gay rights in the Islamic world. This intimate documentary follows a number of young gay Moroccan men in their exploration of their religious and sexual identity.

Triggered by the current political situation in which homosexuality and Islam seem irreconcilable, director Chris Belloni spent the major part of 2011 traveling in Morocco to interview gay Muslims.

The men portrayed in the film openly share their personal experiences and talk about the ambiguity and secretiveness of the life they feel condemned to live, although some have openly acknowledged their sexual orientation.

Description: From the website of ‘I Am Gay And Muslim’

#gaymuslim #morocco #islam #homosexuality #muslimworld #faith #sexualorientation #identity #lgbt #muslim #queermuslims #documentary

12/15/2018

Tackling Aids in the age of Instagram

From anonymous social media accounts to films that finally portray HIV-positive people as more than just the sum of their syndrome, we look at how our view of Aids has moved beyond the obvious

12/04/2018

TED

"We own our emotions, they don't own us."

Watch Susan David's TED Talk on how to control your emotions in a healthy way: http://t.ted.com/kZ3eEcm

12/03/2018

Hanoi Pride

Cùng nhìn lại những hình ảnh đầy tự hào của sự kiện Diễu hành và Lễ hội Hanoi Pride 2018 nhé!
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Come have a look at our amazing moments at Hanoi Pride's Parade and Festival this year!

12/02/2018

Beautiful News South Africa

This activist is fighting discrimination one T-shirt at a time.

11/23/2018

Blossom

9 tricks advertisers use to make food look delicious!

11/13/2018

Hanoi students oi! Modern Asia Film Screening Hanoi TODAY 14/11, 5th floor screening room, 1:30-6pm. We will be having the Modern Asia Film Screening including films from Contemporary Approaches and Modern Asia classes for the last 3 semesters. All Hanoi students and film-lovers invited to attend our afternoon of screening short films. See you there! Bryan Urbsaitis: Modern Asia Film Screening Curator/Organizer

11/13/2018

School of Communication & Design - RMIT Vietnam

Hanoi students oi! Modern Asia Film Screening Hanoi TODAY 14/11, 5th floor screening room, 1:30-6pm. We will be having the Modern Asia Film Screening including films from Contemporary Approaches and Modern Asia classes for the last 3 semesters. All Hanoi students and film-lovers invited to attend our afternoon of screening short films. See you there! Bryan Urbsaitis: Modern Asia Film Screening Curator/Organizer

11/08/2018

LGBT Việt Nam

Vì tôi yêu bản thân, bạn tình và sự an tâm nên tôi đã xét nghiệm HIV.
Click để tự đánh giá nguy cơ lây nhiễm của bạn ngay! http://bit.ly/vitoiyeu

11/07/2018

AIDS Ride South Africa 9.0 has registered 11 cyclists in the Telkom 947 Cycle Challenge on 18 November 2018...cycle on brus!! And everyone else please donate: www.arsa.org.za/donate.php We are cycling to reduce stigma around HIV & AIDS. We are cycling because there are more ways to protect ourselves sexually than ever before. We are cycling because PrEP is great but is underutilized. We are short of our goal to support our cyclists with a.lot.of.bike.parts really like tires, brakes, chains, cables, helmets, saddles, etc. please donate we have just under two short weeks until the ride...and cycle on!

Happy Vietnam is a part of this important initiative

11/02/2018

Thirteen countries from Asia and the Pacific plan scale-up of PrEP and HIV self-testing

Happy Vietnam is a part of this important initiative

BANGKOK, 31st October 2018 – Representatives from 13 countries across Asia and the Pacific gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, from 29 to 31 October to develop road maps to implement and expand pre-expo…

Academics at an Australian university’s overseas branch campus have scoffed at claims that its courses are as good as th...

10/30/2018

Times Higher Education

Academics at an Australian university’s overseas branch campus have scoffed at claims that its courses are as good as those back home, saying that workload inequities make it impossible for them to deliver degrees of the same quality.

Staff at RMIT Vietnam insist that they are given far less time than their counterparts in Melbourne, home of RMIT University’s main campus, to do far more teaching.

This inevitably detracts from the learning experience and makes a mockery of the university’s claim that “the learning outcomes and assessments for courses taught in Vietnam are equivalent to those delivered at RMIT Melbourne”.

Staff in Vietnam have about half as much time as their Melbourne peers for lesson preparation, marking and student feedback, according to a petition signed by several dozen academics at RMIT’s Hanoi and Saigon South campuses.

Making matters worse, their face-to-face teaching load is 25 per cent greater and they are required to teach for nine more weeks a year. They also have no time allocated for course coordination and little or none for research, and they are obliged to spend up to eight times as many hours in service roles and meetings, the petition says.

“We lodge this petition in the spirit of upholding the academic integrity of RMIT University’s degree programmes being delivered globally,” the document says. “If equivalency is expected…sufficient time allocation, support and resources [should] be given to academic faculty members at RMIT University Vietnam as…at RMIT University Australia.”

RMIT Vietnam president Gael McDonald said academic workload arrangements in Vietnam were reviewed every two years. She said a review was under way, with staff participation.

“We have recently undertaken some functional changes across RMIT that are designed to create greater alignment between RMIT Vietnam and Melbourne,” Professor McDonald added. “These changes are a visible demonstration of a deeper commitment to RMIT Vietnam as we seek to build it as a hub for our regional activity.”

She said the institution was undergoing “a period of transition” which staff in both Australia and Vietnam would find disruptive.

“We will continue to work in consultation with our staff, our colleagues in Melbourne and in line with the relevant local labour laws as we seek to continue delivering high quality teaching, learning and research outcomes in the region,” Professor McDonald said.

The dispute illustrates the challenges universities face operating in countries with different labour laws, pay scales and funding models. But Melissa Slee, Victorian secretary of Australia’s National Tertiary Education Union, said RMIT administrators had been “profiting” from rules that stymied collective action.

“[They] get away with a lot more than they ever would at the Melbourne campus,” she said. “The workload models we develop here at RMIT Melbourne should at least be a foundation for what happens in Vietnam. If they want equivalence, they need to resource it at the equivalent level.”

Dr Slee, a former union branch president at RMIT, said the academics had taken a big risk in putting their names to the petition. “They’re on fixed-term contracts, and the people who determine whether their contracts are renewed are the same people they’re petitioning. If they don’t get their contracts renewed, they’re expected to leave the country.”

Academics at RMIT University Vietnam have scoffed at claims that its courses are as good as those at RMIT University, saying that workload inequities make it impossible for them to deliver degrees of the same quality

10/23/2018

Brooklyn Community Pride Center

#WontBeErased

10/07/2018

Tokyo Passes Law Banning LGBTQ Discrimination

The law was passed ahead of the city hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics, and allows it to meet inclusion standards.

10/01/2018

Life’s no drag for the Queens of Hà Nội

Men dressing in women’s clothing is relatively new to Hà Nội’s entertainment scene but it’s becoming increasingly popular.

09/29/2018

Romania's top court decides gay couples should have equal rights

Groundbreaking.

09/22/2018

Triangle Project

"Kenyan cinemagoers will be able to see a critically acclaimed film banned in the country for promoting lesbianism, but only for seven days a judge has ruled.

The decision makes Rafiki, meaning “friend” in Swahili, eligible to be entered for a foreign language Oscar, delighting the filmmakers but angering Kenya’s censor."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/21/judge-rules-banned-kenyan-gay-film-rafiki-can-be-screened-for-seven-days?CMP=share_btn_wa

09/21/2018

Ricardo

My first foray into mainstream VN media was terrifying being so vulnerable, sharing so much and not knowing what the response would be. (and as its in Vietnamese I can't read it for myself!)

However, the message was important and above my personal fears, Thank you to VNEXPRESS and Hanh for the beautifully written article (As my Vietnamese friends say).

Bring more light to the little Queers so they don't have to face the darkness we had to.

09/19/2018

Hong Kong to recognise same-sex partnerships in visa applications

Government announces policy switch after review prompted by case of married British lesbian denied spousal status

09/18/2018

Drag queens posing -- with themselves

Léon Hendrickx's intimate, humorous photographs depict drag queens alongside their everyday selves.

09/14/2018

GenderFunk

This series of 13 paintings (with more to come) highlights the performers of GenderFunk. These paintings depict the performances but also the preparation and the interpersonal relationships between GenderFunk members.

The Paintings and prints are available to buy. Message Mariano Di G for more information

09/12/2018

Marijuana Legalization Listening Sessions Begin In New York

The Cuomo administration is holding public listening sessions across the state on the legalization of marijuana. WAMC’s Southern Adirondack Bureau Chief

09/12/2018

Manhattan DA to dismiss more than 3,000 marijuana cases

More than 3,000 cases of marijuana smoking and possession were dismissed Wednesday in Manhattan, the latest example of New York City officials relaxing the marijuana enforcement policy.

09/06/2018

India's top court decriminalizes gay sex in landmark ruling

India's Supreme Court has struck down a colonial-era law criminalizing consensual gay sex, overturning more than 150 years of anti-LGBT legislation.

09/06/2018

CBS News

THEY JUST DID IT: Nike released the full Colin Kaepernick ad and it's got the internet abuzz https://cbsn.ws/2wJ27Pb

08/27/2018

TV host Karl Schmid talks about his mission to end HIV stigma

Karl Schmid, host of “On The Red Carpet,” revealed on Facebook in March 2018 that he has been HIV positive for 10 years. Schmid talks about the day that he found out he was HIV positive saying his immediate emotion was, “Oh my gosh, I’ve let my parents down.” Now Schmid, who was initially ...

08/27/2018

'Conversion therapy' hits the big screen while laws play out in states

The practice of "conversion therapy" is getting some attention on the big screen in new movies: "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" and "Boy Erased."

08/26/2018

Drew Binsky

This is a video I've been wanting to make since I moved to Thailand. It's all about the ladyboy culture.

Ladyboys, or transgenders, are extremely common in Thailand and you will see them everywhere — on the streets, on the metro, in restaurants and especially in nightlife areas. Many times, you won't even notice it's a ladyboy, since they look like beautiful women.

The reason I made this video is to A) educate you about the ladyboy culture in Thailand and B) tell you how accepting Thailand is to treat them like normal members of society. It's remarkable.

As you and I both know, dozens and dozens of countries in today's world are moving in the opposite direction towards acceptance of those in the LGBTQ community — so this video can be a lesson to the world.

They are just people — let them live their lives.

What are you thoughts on ladyboys? Would love to get your opinions. Thank you

Follow Drew Binsky for daily travel videos, and come say hi on Insta @drewbinsky. Special thanks to my friend Dan about Thailand for showing me around.

P.S. - I apologize for my hoarse voice — I picked up some infection and it went straight to my throat!

Music: Epidemic Sound