Wednesday 17 August 2011
Malaysia's first openly gay pastor says to wed
| An undated handout photo released to Reuters in Kuala Lumpur August 15, 2011 shows Malaysia's first openly gay pastor Ouyang Wen Feng (R) posing with his American partner Phineas Newborn III. Credit: Reuters/Handout |
Ouyang Wen Feng co-founded a gay-friendly Christian church in the Southeast Asian nation's capital in 2007 that has been condemned by conservative religious groups. Homosexuality is punishable in Malaysia by caning and up to 20 years jail.
The 41-year-old Ouyang says he will tie the knot with his American partner, Broadway producer Phineas Newborn III, 47, in a ceremony in New York, which last month became the sixth U.S. state to legalize gay marriages.
"We plan to register the marriage on Malaysia's National Day on August 31, which means a lot to me," said Ouyang.
In Malaysia, neither civil nor Islamic laws, which run parallel to each other, recognize same sex unions and the subject remains deeply taboo.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is battling a criminal charge of sodomising a former male aide in a case which he says is a political plot to discredit his reputation among the country's Muslim majority.
Christians make up about 9 percent of the country's 28 million population.
Malaysia's Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Jamil Khir Baharom, who is in charge of Islamic affairs, recently described Ouyang's plans to wed as an example of "extreme freedom."
READ MORE AT: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/16/us-malaysia-gay-pastor-idUSTRE77F1SG20110816
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