The gay-teen movie Formula 17, Taiwan’s current “feel-good” offering from Strand Releasing, and the Singapore docudrama entitled 15, released earlier this spring from Picture This Entertainment, are just two examples of how Asia’s most economically progressive countries are coming to terms with their homophobia.

In 2003, the conservative city/state of Taiwan rescinded a list of long-standing taboos to appear more progressive to the Western world. That list included gum chewing, bungee jumping and homosexuality, sort of. Taiwan’s Senior Cabinet Minister, Goh Chok Tong, informed his constituents that the government would now openly employ gays and lesbians. He further urged each Taiwanese citizen to accept homosexuals as human beings.

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