Multicultural alphabet soup... this week

Allan has just spent the past few days in Sydney, and while there he caught up with Ty and Min Chuan. Ty is the Australian owner and operator of the popular Sydney gay sauna located right next door to China Town, and Min Chuan is his Malaysian partner who has come to Sydney as a university student from Kuala Lumpur.

Here is a real story of opposites, and a good example of the multicultural soup that your Orange Ribbon team serves up each week on JOY. Here we have:

• an interacial relationship (Australian & Malaysian)
• a beefy/beary build Aussie vs. steretypical tall slim Asian guy
• an Aussie partner more than twice the age of his partner
• HIV+ partner living with an HIV- partner
• a working Aussie with a student partner

We get to discuss the various aspects of their lives, how they met (and this is certainly an interesting little story...), moving in together after two years of getting to know each other, living and sharing a life where one is HIV+ and how this disclosure came about, the often-assumed (but totally incorrect...) "sugar daddy" arrangement and how they deal with it, and a large number of other life topics.

This weeks story is a very typical multicultural alphabet soup story which your Orange Ribbon team has been trying to serve up over the past 11 years. And this week is JOY's annual radiothon, so we encourage all of our listeners (regular and occasional...) to continue to support JOY by becoming a member, or renewing your membership, or even adding an additional donation to your renewal.

Many thanks for your support of Orange Ribbon over the years, and please do join Allan on Wednesday night (17th June) to hear this great story about Ty and Min Chuan.

Tony Yap on this weeks program

PULSE is an exclusive short season of site-specific multimedia performances on the breath-taking JOY 94.9 CBD rooftop. The next season is coming up this coming Friday and Saturday (3rd & 4th April) featuring dance pieces by Yumi Umiamare and Tony Yap.

Tony and Umi have been collaborating through their unique styles over 14 years here in Australia, in Europe and in Eastern Asia. And this coming weekend is a further enhancement to that unique collaboratiuon. As a dancer Tony is influenced by his research into Asian sharmanistic trance dance and Butoh.

Tony Yap is Malaysian-born, but now well-established here in Australia on the contemporary dance scene. And he will be our special guest on Orange Ribbon this week (1st April). Tony will not only be talking about his upcoming event on thee JOY rooftop this coming weekend, but he will also talk about his life, from childhood in Malaysia, to his life in dance here in Australia,and all things in between.

So join the Orange Ribbon team at 7:00pm this coming Wednesday to hear about the life of this amazing artist, including some personal revelations of living in today's queer world.

A gay Muslim tells his story (28th January, 2009)

Our guest on Orange Ribbon this week is Shah, who was born and raised in Negeri Sembilan in southern Malaysia, as a member of a typical middle-class Muslim family. His father was a school headmaster and his mother was involved in womens politics.

Shah realised by his teenage years that he had feminine traits, and experienced a very difficult time as a result during his first three years of his secondary education at a boarding school, having to deal with criticism and derogatory comments from his peers. His early teenage years were a very unhappy time, resulting in him being moved to another school in order for him to complete his secondary education.

He later studied civil engineering, and then began working in that field, but very quickly realised it was "too butch" a career for him. He will tell us of his decision to change careers, and take out yet another degree, which was the trigger for his move to Melbourne where he completed a computer science degree, and gained some freedom.

But the family pressure was always there into his late 20's regarding an obvious lack of a girlfriend and prospective wife. He will tell us how his Mum offered to help locate a suitable girl, which resulted in a rather interesting scenario. But after another two years he finally decided to "come out" to his family. After the initial tears, his mother decided he needed to be "cured". So she called in a traditional healer, who offered a rather intriguing solution and "cure" for his gayness, which (surprise, surprise...!) did not convert Shah back into a good little straight boy again.

And there is so much more to this story, which Shah will tell us about this coming Wednesday evening (28th January).

Please join Allan at 7:00pm this Wednesday night to hear Shah's story... on this weeks edition of Orange Ribbon.

..

And finally...

..

To our Chinese friends both here in Australia, and around the world, we wish you all a great and prosperous Year of the Ox.

..

So to our Cantonese speakers, Kung Hei Fat Choi.

..

Or for our Mandarin speakers...Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Orange Ribbon - Wednesday 14th January

This week on the show we talk to Eng Kim, who originally comes from Johor Bahru in southern Malaysia, which is approximately 30 minutes drive from Singapore.

Eng Kim will tell us about his early life in Malaysia and talk about his education in a Chinese school, religion, and growing up in a middle to upper class family.

Eng Kim came to Australia in his late 20's and immediately started to study. He will talk us through all the different subjects he studied, where and what he studied in Australia and overseas.

He will also talk about when he discovered he was gay, the Sydney and Melbourne gay scene, and how he has not told his family he is gay, even though they all know and accept it.

To hear Eng Kim's story, tune in to Orange Ribbon on Joy 94.9 on Wednesday 14th January at 7.00pm.