POLICIES

On Monday morning, my friend Michael in Melbourne woke up and looked out the window to check the weather. Instead, what caught his eye was a poster on the street that had been put up overnight. It screamed at him, “STOP THE FAGS,” and contained a string of ludicrous allegations of child abuse by gay parents. My friend, who is gay, closed his curtain. It was a bad start to the week for him. For the first time in his life, he felt a campaign targeted him because of his sexual orientation.

Japanese companies are making greater efforts to accommodate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees in their workplaces. In May, the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) formulated its first guidelines on this subject, indicating points to be noted in such areas as operating personnel systems and recruiting new employees. It also called for companies to work to eliminate discrimination against LGBT persons.

IAN Thorpe and his partner Ryan Channing have released a new video urging Australians to vote in next month’s postal plebiscite on whether to legalise gay marriage. The Olympic swimming champ is making a last-ditch effort to get Australians to update their electoral roll details before the list is finalised this Thursday ahead of the postal ballot.