This Week on Orange Ribbon Wed. 16 Sept., 2009

Here are some questions for you:

1. Have you ever used a sex worker for sex?
2. An Asian sex worker?
3. Do you know a sex worker?
4. Do you have a friend who is a sex worker?
5. Is your partner a sex worker?
6. How would you react to your partner being a sex worker?

On Orange Ribbon this week our guests are two very nice and genuine guys, Christian is a part-time sex worker and Douglas is his partner. On this week's program Christian will talk about his early life with his Fillipino family, leaving home at 16 years old and in his own words 'spent a lot of time on Flinders Street Station steps with the streeties and buskers and hung out with the roughnecks'

Douglas will talk a little about himself, how he met Christian and what he thinks about his partner being a sex worker.

Tonight's program will make you see sex workers in a different light. We are sure you will definitely admire and warm to Christian before the end of the program.

This is a show you should not miss. You can also listen to the podcast which should be available from the JOY website from later on Wednesday night.

A belated note about our Aline

In case listeners haven't actually noticed, our esteemed French lesbian component of the Orange Ribbon team has had to reluctantly withdraw from the team, at least for the short-to-medium term. At the time of her return from holidays back to France earlier this year, she was promoted at her work, and then immediately posted to a project where it was impossible for her to be available on Wednesday nights to take part in Orange Ribbon.

So it is (hopefully...) a temporary farewell to Aline, and we all wish her well in her new work role. However, we are also hoping that when her work circumstances change that she will be able to return to the airwaves again on Orange Ribbon.

Many thyanks for the 15 months contribution you have made to Orange Ribbon, and we DO hope to see you back among us again sometime soon.

Vous parlez français?

Can a French person not feel French enough in France? Julien does!
Come join us and listen in as Julien chats with us openly about being a writer, Paris, dog piss to religion. You might even change your romantic views about Paris!

Orange Ribbon - Wednesday 9th September at 7:00pm on JOY 94.9

A previous guest returns for another chat

When I was in Hong Kong around this time last year I recorded an interview with Chung Yiu, a Hong Kong chinese guy who told me about growing up in a strict christian family, and then much later going to bible college to become a christian minister. Unfortunately for Chung Yiu, three weeks before he was due to graduate, he was "forced out of the closet" by his bible college room-mate. This resulted in his immediate dismissal from the college and the destruction of his dream to become a christian minister.

Last year, just before I recorded that interview with Chung Yiu, he had just done his first bungee jump from the Macau Tower, and he told me that one day he intended to do a second jump from that tower, but that next time he would do it backwards instead. Well, things have moved on for Chung Yiu, and three weeks ago while I was back in Hong Kong I recorded another interview with him. Since my previous chat with him last year, he has now reached the official "middle age" milestone. And yes... he DID do that second backwards bungee jump off the Macau Tower only just a few weeks ago, taken as a birthday gift from some of his friends.

But when I sat down three weeks ago to record our latest interview, the main topic we discussed was his trip to the U.S. in June in order to act as a "roadie" for the annual "Aids Life Cycle Ride to end Aids". (http://www.aidslifecycle.org/) It's a bike ride undertaken over 6 days by a huge number of participants, riding from San Francisco to Los Angeles over an interesting and picturesque route. Chung Yiu tells me about the background to this annual ride, why he decided to go over and become a "roadie", what the roadie activities involve, the number of people involved (including all the various support teams...), and what he got out of the experience. He was so impressed that he intends to go back for the 2010 ride, but not as a roadie next time, but as a rider.

This interesting recorded chat will be coming up on Orange Ribbon this coming Wednesday evening on JOY 94.9 at 7:00pm. So please join me this coming Wednesday evening to hear the latest from this energetic, enthusiastic, and committed Hong Kong chinese guy.

Allan Smales

This Week on Orange Ribbon Wednesday 26 August

On Orange Ribbon this week we have a young guy from America who is here in Melbourne to study education.

He will talk about his early life in a dangerous black suburb of LA with his twin brother and mother, how his mother decided to move the family to a safer area but eventually had to move back.

He has a love of Radio and TV work and will takes us on a journey of what he got involved in and how his religion helped him along the way.

To hear Eric's story, tune into Orange Ribbon on Wednesday at 7.00pm on Joy 94.9.

This Week on Orange Ribbon Wednesday 12 August 2009

This week on Orange Ribbon we will be speaking to Ravi Lulla who originally comes from Mumbai in India and is from a Sindhi Hindu background.

Ravi will talk about growing up in Mumbai and being confused with regards to his sexuality. we will also hear about moving to Hong Kong, working with UNHCR, meeting his partner and having to go back to studying so he could stay in Hong Kong.

Ravi now works in Melbourne as a counsellor and is involved in running workshops consultancy and community development. He is also interested in intercultural communication, same sex relationships and supporting individuals and groups who need support coming out or questioning their sexuality and mental health.

He wrote two articles for MCV, one on Same Sex Relationships and recently one on the historic milestone for the LGBT community in India when the High Court repealed Section 377.

To hear the full story or ask Ravi a question, listen to Orange Ribbon on Joy 94.9 on Wednesday 12 August at 7.00pm.

This Week on Orange Ribbon Wednesday 5th August 2009

This week on Orange Ribbon we have a Joy presenter from a non-traditional Australian background.

Anita and her family moved to Australia by ship in the 1950's and except for her mother's persistence, nearly did not end up in Melbourne.

We hear about the family's struggles in those early days in a migrant hostel, family health issues and later finding her life partner when she was engaged to be married.

Anita's story is not to be missed and will help you realise that life is to be lived, the way you want to live it.

Man of many hats...29th July, 7pm,

We have with us Tony Pitman. Tony wears many hats. Very well travelled, fathered a child to a Mexican lesbian couple and has a mexican boyfriend. Fluent in several languages. He comes to talk about the Equal Love protest that's going to be held on Saturday, the 1st of August. He also comes to challenge our views of the world around us. Do join us on Orange Ribbon on Joy 94.9 at 7pm on the 29th July 2009.

This Week on Orange Ribbon Wed 22 July 2009

This week on Orange Ribbon we will be talking to a young guy from Canada.

Dave will tell us about his life in Canada, his schooling in a different language and what part religion had in his life.

He will talk about coming to terms with his sexuality, coming out to friends and family and who was the hardest to tell and why.

His story is interesting, informative and different as he will tell us how he decided to not meet anyone of the same sex until after he told every one he was gay.

All rounder

Tony Pitman, father to a son to a lesbian couple in Mexico. A film maker. Travelled the world. GLBTIQ and human rights activist. A self-confessed skeptic. Starting his own show on Joy 94.9 soon. Do join us and get to know this all arounder on Joy 94.9 on Wedsnesday, 15th July 2009.

Postscript: Unfortunately Tony fell ill just prior to this weeks program so we had to make a last-minute switch, and our esteemed co-presenter, Hugh McKenna, stood in as our replacement "Scottish guest".

HIV and MSM's in S.E. Asia

Rob Sutherland works for ACON (Aids Council of NSW) in Sydney, where he has recently returned from a 12-month placement within the UNAIDS Regional Support Team in Bangkok looking at the incidence of HIV among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM's), and the types of education and support programs in place.


Since his return Rob ran a report-back session to interested parties in Sydney last month. This session included:

1. The context of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM's) and the HIV epidemic in the Asia Pacific region
2. The organisational response occurring at a regional level
3. The ACON and Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand partnership and the collaborative work developed through this placement.

During his term in Bangkok Rob worked closely with various HIV support programs both in Thailand, as well as the Mekong delta regions of Laos and Vietnam.

And Rob discusses his findings with Allan on Orange Ribbon this week. He will talk about the 10-year epidemic projections for the Asian region if nothing is done vs. those same projections if "best practice" HIV programs are implemented.

But we also get to find out just a little about Rob himself, which provides an insight as to how and why he came to be involved in ACON and HIV-related activities in Sydney.

Join Allan and Rob for this somewhat different Orange Ribbon discussion this week on JOY 94.9 at 7:00pm.

This Week on Orange Ribbon Wednesday 1 July

This week we will be speaking to a Joy 94.9 presenter about his early life in Malaysia and moving to Australia.

David will talk about his Christian religion in Malaysia, coming to Australia and finding his relatives here had different ideas about their religion. He will tell us why he and his family moved to Melbourne and what they wanted to escape in Perth.

David's story is very interesting and he will tell you what happened when he decided to come out to friends, family and his parents.

This is a show you should not miss on Joy 94.9

This week... Interracial relationships

This week Hugh and Allan will be speaking with two current on-air JOY program presenters about their respective relationships.

Jade is Australian-born and lives with her American partner. And Alex is Scottish, and lives here in Melbourne with his Hong Kong Chinese partner.

The discussions will cover everything from the first meeting, parents and in-laws, moving in together, contact with families back home, sharing of household chores, cultural differences and adjusting to same, together with a number of other issues.

Many gays and lesbians in Melbourne, and around the world, live in interracial relationships and there are always some adjustments that need to be made on both sides when such relationships develope and mature.

Hear how Jade and Alex have addressed these issues during the development of their respective relationships. Join Hugh & Allan, with Jade & Alex... this Wednesday (24th June) at 7:00pm om JOY 94.9FM.

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.

Our international alphabet soup

JOY's annual Radiothon is NOW ON.

The Orange Ribbon team strongly encourages all JOY listeners, and particularly regular Orange Ribbon listeners, to support the station during the Radiothon so that we can continue to bring you an interesting mix of interviews and discussions that cover the multicultural alphabet soup.

All of us at Orange Ribbon are volunteers, and are just a very small part of the much larger volunteer base that holds JOY together each week, who look after the technical, production, presentation, back office, website management, podcasts, blogs, and the innumerable other activities that are necessary to keep a community radio station on air 24/7. This huge volunteer base saves JOY millions of dollars in labour costs each year.

HOWEVER... even allowing for the huge volunteer labour base, there are still additional huge fixed costs necessary to keep JOY on air. Phone calls, rent, equipment maintenance, insurances, stationery, postage, printing, ISDN line costs, equipment replacements and upgrades etc. etc.

So we encourage all of our listeners to phone and and sign up as a new member during the course of our Radiothon. If you are already a member then we sincerely thank you, but why not renew during our Radiothon and your membership will be extended from its current expiry accordingly.

With thanks to our many business, and other, supporters there will be many thankyou gifts and prizes available to be won for every new/renewal membership. Keep tuned to JOY each day during this 10-day Radiothon and hear about the daily prizes.

And if you can make an additional donation as well as your new or renewed membership, then that would be absolutely fabulous.

Aline, Ka Fam, Hugh and Allan strongly encourage your support during JOY's current Radiothon, and that support will help keep Orange Ribbon, and all your other favourite JOY programs, on air at JOY...your favourite multicultural alphabet soup community radio station.

Oh... and in next weeks program we have a fascinating interview coming up which will be representative of some of the multicultural alphabet soup that Aline, Allan, Hugh and Ka Fam serve up for you each Wednesday night. (More details later.)

Italy... Yes, it's Italy again.

Three weeks ago we chatted to Cinzia (from Arcilesbica) and the The flag Sisters (Le Sorelle Bandiera) in the leadup to the major Italian GLBTIQ fund-raising social event.

Well, we're going back to Italy again this week because Cinzia's brother, Serafino, will be joining us in the studio for a chat. While brought up and educated in Australia, Serafino decided to return to Italy after completing university studies here, and has lived there ever since. But he tries to get back to Australia to visit the family on a semi-regular basis.

Serafino is back in town at the moment, but returns to Rome at the weekend. He runs two Pilates gymnasiums there, and also travels to various parts of the world training and lecturing on Pilates and general wellness issues. And we will hear about some of the celebrities who have used his services over the past few years.

Serafino knew he was gay well before he left Australia after completing university here, and says that he came out before his sister (Cinzia) did. Yes, a gay brother and gay sister in the one family!

Another really interesting chat coming up on Orange Ribbon this week. Let's talk about being gay, being Italian, comparison of living in Australia vs. Italy, and of course Pilates will get a going over as well.

Orange Ribbon... 7:00pm Wednesday 3rd June, on JOY 94.9

A Vietnamese heritage

He comes from a Vietnamese heritage, where his parents were Vietnamese boat people of the 1980's although they did not meet until after their respective arrivals in Australia. His parents later divorced, his gransparents later moved to Australia when they were in their 60's and did not then speak English. His grandparents were actually like parents to him.

He knew he must be gay from an early age, started listening to JOY when he was 16, and accepted that he was gay at 18. And he is a voice (and name...) that should be somewhat familiar to JOY listeners.

Who is he...? Listen in to Orange Ribbon this week and you will hear the full story.

Orange Ribbon... 7:00pm this Wednesday, 27th May, 2009.

Hong Kong update, and a familiar voice...

It's 4 months since we last chatted with Reggie Ho in Hong Kong. So this week, Hugh and Allan will get another update from Reggie about things that affect the tongzhi (queer) community in that metropolis. Topics to be covered include Idaho (International Day Against Homophobia) Day last Sunday, progress (or otherwise...?) on the promised anti discrimination legislation, and an embarassing reversal of totally unnecessary censorship at one of Hong Kong's universities.

Also this week... a voice from the past. Long-time Orange Ribbon listeners will be delighted to hear a familiar voice from the past... someone who was involved in the Orange Ribbon program for the first 7 years.
Who is it?


Well... you're going to have to listen in this Wednesday (20th May, 2009) between 7:00-8:00pm.

Orange Ribbon program on JOY 94.9FM

Arcilesbica, The Italian Lesbian group and The flag Sisters, Le Sorelle Bandiera

This week, we have Cinzia and Francesca from the Italian Lesbian group. They are looking forward to share with us what the group has done to break down barriers between community groups.

Arcilesbica is the organizer of the annual Italian GLBTIQ dance event. This year they are very excited to have the Flag Sisters, celebrities in Italy in the seventies, appeared in prime-time television. They will be joining us live in Joy94.9 studio. Below are two links to give you some idea of who the Flag Sisters are. Do join us on Wednesday, 13th of May, 7pm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTj5aq92nGM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5TrbcNLlhk

This Week on Orange Ribbon Wednesday 6th May 2009

Earlier this year, Hugh returned to his home country, Scotland, for several weeks of catching up with family and friends. While he was there, he recorded two interviews for Orange Ribbon.

This week Hugh presents the second of those two recorded interviews with Shelly from Livingston, a town outside of Edinburgh.

Shelly is 20 years old and decided to come out to her family so she did not have to hide the fact she is a lesbian. Shelly talks about living in a small town in Scotland, the reaction by her family when she came out and how easy it is when everyone knows.

Hugh also speaks to Shelly's mother about how she reacted to the news that her daughter is a lesbian. She also talks about how she thinks other parents should react to their child being gay and how she could have done more to help Shelly.