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.

This week on Orange Ribbon

This week we will be presenting an interview that Allan recorded in Hong Kong three weeks ago, with Chung To, the Founder and CEO of the Chi Heng Foundation. Complete details and background to this interview can be found in Allan's earlier post to this blog dated March 6th, 2009.

Chung To is a most interesting, yet quietly-spoken, person, with a passion to provide living and education expenses for poor children in China who have been affected by the Aids epidemic. His organization now provides financial support for around 7,000 children in China, and the fundraising required for this support is substantial. Chung has given up his banking career for the past 5 years in order to provide volunteer support for his Foundation, and the children it supports.

Listen in to Orange Ribbon at 7pm on JOY 94.9 (Melbourne, Australia) this coming Wednesday evening (25th March) to hear this amazing story of a very dedicated and passionate human being.

DJ Beaker

Mel, known as DJ Beaker was born in Australia to Chinese parents, although her mother came from Papua new guinea.

Described by some as an Asian Grace Jones, Mel is a self declared bogasian and many members of her family are gay and bisexual. Mel confess not speaking Mandarin and when she tries she often gets the tones embarrassingly wrong.

She moved from Sydney to Melbourne just over 12mths ago. Promoter and Co-founder of Miss Concubine, Beaker, has been spinning in the Sydney G&L scene for over 10 years and has played at various parties including Mardi Gras, Sleaze Ball....

More at 7pm tomorrow...

Allan reports from Hong Kong (again...)

Yes, I know that I seem to have spent a lot of time up here in Hong Kong, but I do love the place, and I have many great friends up here as well. My partner, Pete, and I flew up here just two weeks ago for our umpteenth visit. However, Pete flew out of Hong Kong earlier this morning on his way back home to Melbourne, in order to attend the Daylesford Chill-Out Festival this coming weekend, and then he is off to Sydney and then Brisbane for a few days. In the meantime, I will remain on here in Hong Kong for the next 10 days. We will both meet up back at home (in Melbourne) gain on Monday 16th when I return from Hong Kong.

I have lost count of my visits here to Hong Kong, in particular over the past two years, but it is proba

bly 10-11 visits, totaling probably 6-7 months. Goodness...! I suddenly realized that this means I have spent upwards of 25% of my time here in just the last two years, ignoring various other visits I made here prior to the last two years.

Regular listeners to Orange Ribbon will know that we occasionally chat with Reggie Ho here in Hong Kong, and who gives us an update on what's been happening for the gay & lesbian scene here. Reggie was last on Orange Ribbon on 17th January. (If you missed it, you can click on the "Podcasts" tab on the JOY website, search for "Orange Ribbon" program, click on "Previous episodes...", then search for the program edition for 17th January.) Well, I hope to catch up with Reggie next week sometime for lunch/dinner and no doubt I will get some more local news I can report on when I return.

However, last Monday I caught up with Chung To, the Founder and Chairperson of the Chi Heng Foundation (www.chihengfoundation.com). Although born in Hong Kong, Chung moved with his family to the U.S.A. when he was 15. He subsequently went to college (university), obtained a Graduate and Masters degree in business finance, and then worked in merchant banking in New York for several years. At the age of 27 years he was then transferred to Hong Kong with his banking employer to take up a senior role here. But as will be revealed in an upcoming interview, Chung got involved in helping Aids-affected children in Hong Kong, and more extensively in mainland China. He started the Chi Heng Foundation which (among many other activities) now provides financial support for living and schooling expenses for around 7,000 Aids-affected children in Mainland China.

His work with Chi Heng Foundation became a full-time role, and so a few years ago he gave up his banking career and now works full-time as the volunteer Chairperson for his Chi Heng Foundation. But he hopes to be able to get back to some (personal) income-producing activities at some stage as he can't live forever with no income to support himself.

Chung To is an amazing Chinese gay and Aids activist, with a deep concern and interest in the welfare of mainland Chinese children who have been affected in some way by Aids... either by having parents or siblings living with (or have died of) Aids, or who themselves are living with HIV.

Chung is a very busy man, and travels a lot through mainland China keeping touch with the work that the Chi Heng Foundation undertakes. However, he set aside an hour for me last Monday afternoon to record an interview which I will be presenting on Orange Ribbon after I return to Melbourne... most probably it will be the program for 25th March.

So please stay tuned for updates, and the most likely date of 25th March when I will present to you my interview with this deeply driven and concerned local who has set aside his own career (and stable income...) in order to start the Chi Heng Foundation and to assist so many children in mainland China.

I will be returning to Melbourne on 16th March, almost immediately to the Melbourne Queer Film Festival which I shall be attending for most sessions, so I probably won't be on Orange Ribbon until the 25th March when I will present to you my recent chat with Chung To. Looking forward to talking to you all then.

Allan Smales in Hong Kong

Yasmin

This Wednesday on Orange Ribbon, Yasmin will be joining us to chat about her truly multicultural background. Born in Australia but of Serbian, German, Austrian and Chinese descent, Yasmin will tell us about going to a Chinese school in Australia, discovering the Serbian underground scene only a few months ago, being busted by her mum kissing a girl, studying engineering and much much more...

Gay partner immigration (18th Feb. 2009)

The Gay & Lesbian Immigration Task Force, better known as GLITF, provides assistance to gay & lesbian Australian/overseas partners where one partner needs to apply for Permanent Residency in order to live with his or her partner here in Australia. (www.glitfvic.org.au)

Every couple of years or so, Orange Ribbon invites GLITF back again (a) to remind newer listeners about the work and services of GLITF, and (b) to outline any recent legislative changes that may have changed the rules by which your overseas partner can apply for Permanent Residency.

So... it is time to catch up with GLITF again. If you are in a relationship with an overseas partner, or you have friends in that situation, then make sure you listen in to Orange Ribbon this week for the latest details. And you can send in your questions (ONLY while the program is actually going "live" to air... i.e. 7:00-8:00pm Wednesday) by emailing onair@joy.org.au or SMS 0427 JOY 949.

Also in this program, we will be chatting with Hans and Lantry about their relationship, and the immigration process they are currently going through. Hans already lives in Australia, and Lantry is American and hopes to gain his PR early next year. And we will hear a little about this transcontinental love story that is holding the two of them together.

So... if you just have a casual interest in gay & lesbian partner immigration, or you have a direct and current interest in this topic, listen in to Orange Ribbon this coming Wednesday, 18th February, at 7:00pm, this week with Allan and Ka Fam as your presenters.

A New Yorker tells his story

Coming up this week on Orange Ribbon is a discussion with Colin, who comes from the United States.

Colin is from New York, and grew up as a member of the Y generation. He will discuss what it is like to be a gay man growing up in America in his generation, and his subsequent move to The Big Apple. He will also share his views on what it is like being a gay man in the New York scene.

So join the Orange Ribbon team this coming Wednesday (11th February) at 7:00pm for another interesting story with an international angle.

This weeks' program (4th Feb. 2009)

Sydney based Sveta is widely known around Australia for her unforgettable and explosive sets at Sydney’s annual Mardi Gras dance party. Sveta is amongst the few underground DJs that have crossed-over to a diverse audience of straight, gay, young, old, queer and fetish audiences.

Sveta is also Russian born and will be with us on Orange Ribbon this Wednesday to talk about her life, her career and music.

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.

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And finally...

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

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So to our Cantonese speakers, Kung Hei Fat Choi.

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

Hong Kong update - 21st January, 2009

Reggie Ho was first introduced to Orange Ribbon listeners way back on the 19th December, 2002. On an earlier visit Allan made to Hong Kong in November, 2002, he first met up with Reggie, and Vivian So, who were both volunteers with the Horizons gay & lesbian (or tongzhi) phone counselling service.

Reggie Ho is a Hong Kong based journalist, and long-time gay activist, and has been a contributor to Orange Ribbon on a number of occasions since that first meeting in 2002... always providing a unique slant on Hong Kong gay & lesbian activities, news, and general issues.

However, we have recently realised that it is actually quite some time since we last chatted with Reggie about what is happening in Hong Kong. So this week we decided that we would devote the entire program to Reggie and to Hong Kong GLBT news and issues.

Given his long-standing involvement in the gay scene , and his journalistic experience, Reggie is always able to provide an intriguing and concise "insiders" view on what is happening. So... coming up on Orange Ribbon this week is a complete update on GLBT issues in Hong Kong. Topics that Reggie says he will cover include the following:

• After a few previous smaller attempts over several years, a few weeks ago Hong Kong held its first significant Pride March, with over 1,000 people taking part. Reggie was there, and can tell us a little of this important event.


• There has been a recent review of the Obscene and Indecent Tribunal Ordinance, and Reggie says that there have been some totally ridiculous views and submissions made, that would be laughable if they were not serious.
  
• Gays spread AIDS and abuse children..!!! That's just SOME of the outlandish claims made by some of the 60 religious groups that turned up to a Domestic Violence Ordinance hearing. Reggie says "They have gone nuts and sometimes even comical". He will tell us a little about this.


• Reggie also believes that he can see a rising anti-gay movement beginning to grow in Hong Kong, even though homosexuality was decrimilised way back in 1991. He will tell us why.

All of this will be covered in this weeks Orange Ribbon. So join Aline, Hugh and Allan on Wednesday evening at 7:00pm to hear some of the news from Hong Kong, as well as some of Reggie's views and thoughts on these topics.

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.

Tonight on Orange Ribbon - 7th January, 2009

On tonight's program we talk to Adam, who was born in Poland to German/Polish and Polish/Belarus parents.

Adam's family was involved in the SOLIDARITY political movement in Poland, and so had to leave the country and take refuge in Sweden where he grew up.

In Sweden he was branded the Swedish equivalent of a wog. He had a religious education, and was sent to Polish bible camps.

He dressed differently, ate differently, and generally felt different from everyone else. Then he started to go back to Poland often where they were called "the people from Sweden": so an identity crisis followed!!

On the top of being part of a political and Christian family (his uncles are in the parliament) he also realised he was gay.

Adam later took up drama school, and then came out on a talk show on national television. He backpacked around Asia, moved to Dublin, and then got to university in Melbourne. He met his boyfriend here.

Adam is a big Eurovision fan, and 2 years ago decided to make the annual eurotrash party "ladies only" party and dressed up as a shy polish housewife: Samantha Stretch was born!! Heaps of photos were taken and put them on MySpace and it became a MySpace phenomena, with followings all over the world, and with a fan club in Switzerland.

What a fascinatiung story... and you can hear all about it on Orange Ribbon tonight with Aline, Hugh and Allan... 7:00pm on JOY 94.9FM. Or listen "live" over the internet by going to http://www.joy.org.au/ and click on the "Listen Live" icon at the top of the page.

2008 Retrospective - 31st December, 2008

Yes.. another year has passed, during which Orange Ribbon celebrated our 10th anniversary.

The program was originally started by Kim Benton and Shanton Change around July, 1998, and they were joined by Allan Smales a year later in 1999. Allan is still with the team, but both Kim and Shanton have long since moved on.

But 2008 not only saw the programs' 10th anniversary, but we also had 52 wonderful programs, covering a myriad of topics, people, cultures, nationalities, religions, and sexualities. (Gay, lesbian, bisexula, and transgendered.)

On this weeks program we look back at the year that was, and Allan & Hugh will present some edited highlights from interviews we have done during the year. The program will be spilt up into four major topic areas.
These will be:

1. Religion: How our guests have been influenced, affected, indoctrinated, and otherwise been forced to question their sexuality because of the stringent rules of various religions.


2. War and civil unrest: Some of our guests were not brought up in peaceful civil environments such as we have here in Australia. So we will include a couple of brief excerpts of our guests stories about living in a war zone, or in a country enfdangered by civil unrest.


3. Some funny moments: We are not always serious on Orange Ribbon, and there have been a myriad of funny moments during the year. In this section we will present some funny moments extrtacted from the various 2008 interviews.
   
4. Miscellaneous: This will cover a variety of topics from a guest who had a gangster father, an intercultural couple who have a surrogate son as part of their family, and an HIV Positive chinese guy who has first diagnosed in 1987 at the tender age of 19... plus other topics as well, depending upon how we go for time.

So please join Allan and Hugh this New Years Eve (31st December) from 7pm to hear some of the interview segments you heard (or missed...) earlier in 2008.

And from the Orange Ribbon team... we wish you a happy, peaceful, and prosperous 2009. We thank you for your support during 2008, and hope that you will stay with us during the coming year.

A Canadian white Christmas..? (24th December, 2008)

Yes... a Canadian White Christmas. For most of us here in Australia the entire idea of a white Christmas is more than a little foreign to us, even though we have had the images foisted on us over the years by means of Christmas cards, movies, picture books, Christmas carols etc.

However, on this weeks program (24th December, 2008) Hugh and Allan will be having a discussion with Michael, who is Canadian, and who will be able to describe to we mere mortals what it is really like to be brought up with white Christmases as being a normal part of life.

But the talk won't ALL be about a white Christmas. Michael will also tell us a little about his life in Canada, his family life, parents divorce when he was just two years old, what it was subsequently like growing up in a single-parent family, and why he decided to move to Australia.

Join Hugh and Allan this coming Wednesday evening (yes... it's Christmas Eve...) at 7:00pm to hear Michael's story... on Orange Ribbon... JOY's only multicultural gay & lesbian radio program.

This weeks program - 17th December, 2008

With the recent departure of Ash from the team, and with both Ka Fam and Aline away for the next few weeks on holidays, Allan and Hugh will be running the program for the next three weeks.

And a reminder to all Orange Ribbon listeners... over the past few years we have used the last program of the year to present a retrospective and recap of the years discussions and interviews. For this year, the Orange Ribbon retrospective will be presented on New Years Eve, 31st December. So put it in your diary now... and join Allan and Hugh New on Years Eve (before you go out and celebrate...) for our 2008 retrospective

However, for the more immediate, this coming weeks program (17th December). Allan and Hugh be talking to Somesh who originally comes from India. They will discuss his home life in India and his school-boy dream of moving to Australia to live. He will talk about that ultimate ultimate move, love, happiness, and then getting depressed to the point of almost returning home to India.

So join the team from Orange Ribbon at 7:00pm this coming Wednesday evening (17th December) for another interesting life story.

On tonight's program (10th December, 2008)

Earlier this evening Aline, Hugh and Allan had a phone chat with Dom Agius in London, who recently won a photographic competition run by Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) intended to celebrate Positive Living on World Aids Day earlier this month. Dom is a photographer, DJ, and music producer. He was born in England but spentsome of his childhood in Tanzania, among other places.

He has also spent some time in Melbourne and involved in some exhibitions and DJ work here.





Here is the resulting GSK promotion highlighting Dom's photograph, the subject in the photo being his real-life husband, and partner of 17 years.








In the second half of the program Aline, Hugh and Allan discuss multiculturalism, Orange Ribbon background, history and objectives, and why they are each involved in presenting a weekly gay & lesbian multicultural program. In this segment, suggestions were also invited from listeners for possible future topics of discussion, possible interview candidates, and with the recenty moving on of Ash from the team, even a possible oin-air candidate to assist in putting together the program each week.

If you have suggestions, comments, or other topic ideas, please send them to the team at orangeribbon@joy.org.au

Farewell to Ash

Some sad news... we are losing Ash.

Ash(ish) joined the Orange Ribbon team in 2006 after the program had been in recesss for a year. Both he and Ka Fam were initially trained by Allan, and introduced to program presentation on JOY with a 3-month stint on a Sunday-morning international music program called Launchpad, which ran from June to August, 2006. During this time Allan also introduced Ash to studio panel operations and he soon became a competent studio panel operator as well.

Then at the end of August, 2006, a revamped Orange Ribbon hit the airwaves again, and Ash has been a membert of the team since that date.

However, while Ash has been taking a recent break due to a visit from India by his family, he has now decided to take a break from Orange Ribbon altogether, so we will no longer have him working with us.

Thanks Ash for your work, and good luck for your future plans and activities. We will miss you.

A former Singaporean science teacher this week - 3rd Dec. 2008

In September, 2007, a very popular Singaporean science teacher rocketed to public prominence as a result of him "outing" himself via his internet blog. The furore generated in Singapore as a result of that public outing resulted in him taking down his blog again almost immediately, followed by he and his school being placed under immense stress as the various bigots and religious zealots vented their anger and annoyance.

Otto Fong had been a very popular, yet somewhat unusual, science teacher for another reason. Apart from his fascination with science from a very young age, he was also an extremely competent artist and cartoonist. During his teaching years he started using comics in the classroom to help him in teaching science, and to help make science more interesting and easier to learn for his students. As a result he has published books of comics, and books that teach science using his comic art.

And of course he still maintains his blog, and you can check out his blog for a fascinating read, and to see innumerable examples of his cartooning capabilities.

This week on Orange Ribbon we will be chatting with this wonderfully fascinating former science teacher, who has now taken up comics as a full-time career. Please join Hugh and Allan as they chat with Otto Fong, this coming Wednesday (3rd December) between 7:00-8:00pm on JOY 94.9FM

HIV+ Chinese man on this weeks program (19th Nov. 2008)

Regular listeners to Orange Ribbon will know that I have just spent another month in Hong Kong, having just returned to Melbourne early last week. In fact over the past 21 months I seem to have spent a LOT of time up there (upwards of 6 months spread over about 8-9 visits...), because I love the place, and I also have many wonderful friends who live there, both ex-pats as well as local Chinese.

One of my very good Chinese friends in Hong Kong is Marc. I have been speaking with him for almost a year now (over several of my recent visits...) with a view to having him as a guest on Orange Ribbon. For reasons that will shortly become obvious, I was keen to interview Marc, but I was obviously well aware of the sensitivity of a subject that I wished to discuss with him in any interview I might conduct with him.

After careful consideration over many months, Marc finally sat down with me in Hong Kong last Sunday week to record the interview that I will present on Orange Ribbon this week. I sincerely thank Marc for having the gumption and openness to be interviewed, because he has a story that will provide hope for many others in the same position as himself, and particularly for other Asians who might be in the same position.

Marc is a Hong Kong-born Chinese, from a somewhat unusual family structure, his mother having been married and then divorced in China. She then made the decision to start a new life for herself, so moved south to Hong Kong, re-married, then had Marc and four more siblings, in addition to five half-siblings that had earlier been born in mainland China.

However... at the tender age of 18 years Marc discovered that he was HIV Positive. That was in 1987... which means that he has been living with the virus 21 years now. He openly discusses how this affected his younger adult years, and how his attitude to life changed as time progressed and he realised that perhaps he did not have a "death sentence" after all.

So please join me this coming Wednesday evening (19th November), at 7pm, for this weeks edition of Orange Ribbon. I also hope to include a few music tracks of some recent albums that I picked up in Hong Kong while I was there on this most recent visit.

Allan Smales

This week on Orange Ribbon (12th November, 2008)

On this weeks program we have John with us, an Australian of Greek background. He will share with us a little about being Greek and the Greek culture. And the United We Dance Party is on this coming Sunday and John has all the information about this exciting annual event. That’s not all, he will also be with us to talk about the support and social group, Greek and Gay.