Gay Today: World

Unfinished Handwritten Play
by Oscar Wilde Found

Gay South Koreans
Stage First Theatrical Show

Council of Europe Welcomes
Armenia, Azerbaijan

By Rex Wockner
International News Report

Unfinished Handwritten Play
by Oscar Wilde Found

An unfinished handwritten play by Oscar Wilde has been found in the library of the University of California by Wilde fan Neil Kydd.

"A Wife's Tragedy" portrays a man who betrays his wife with another woman. It was written in 1892 when the gay Wilde's marriage to his wife Constance was in serious trouble.

Oscar Wilde

"Things were really building to a head in 1892 when he was completely besotted with Lord Alfred Douglas," Kydd told the BBC.

Several days after the discovery, Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland, told Reuters the play was not previously unknown.

"Wilde scholars have known about this for years," Holland said. "It certainly has not been dug out of a deep and dusty vault. ... People are forever discovering new things about Wilde -- supposedly."

Gay Koreans Stage First Theatrical Show

Gays, transvestites and transsexuals in Seoul have created South Korea's first gay show, for an audience of mostly straight people and tourists.

The nightly Hahahoho Show at the restaurant of the same name features nine gay men and nine trannies.

"This is Korea's first gay show ever," founder Kim Jyung-kon told the Korea Herald. "That should tell you how far behind we are in social maturity. All the other countries, like the U.S., England, Japan and Thailand, have long since recognized the talent of gay members of their communities and used them to help build successful tourism industries."

In between the show's two acts, the transsexuals spend half an hour answering audience questions about their lives.

Photos of the show can be viewed at www.haho.co.kr.

Council of Europe Welcomes Armenia, Azerbaijan

The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly voted in July to support the membership applications of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the condition that they decriminalize sex between men.

In fact, Azerbaijan legalized male-male sex in May and the legislation will take effect in September.

"We are extremely pleased with these developments," said Nico Beger of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA). "Eighteen months of lobbying paid off when the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Assembly insisted that the Assembly stand up for the rights of gay people in these countries."

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Taiwan Government Plans Gay Forum

Russia: The Dictatorship of the Homophobes?

Related Sites:
Hahahoho Show

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In the whole of Europe only Armenia, the Bosnian Serb Republika Srpska and Russia's Chechen Republic still ban gay sex outright, ILGA said.

Founded following World War II, the Council of Europe aims to strengthen democracy, human rights and the rule of law in its 41 member states. The European Convention on Human Rights is the most important of its many human-rights treaties.

Violations of the convention are settled by the European Court of Human Rights. The Council is governed by the foreign ministers of its member states (the Committee of Ministers) and by representatives from national parliaments (the Parliamentary Assembly).