Really, AXN?

Holy shit, they do look dangerous!

It seems the sight of two men in a long-term relationship holding hands is simply too much for Asian cable network AXN to handle.

On Monday, October 1st, episode 1 of season 21 of The Amazing Race was aired across Asia on AXN.  One of the team of racers was Josh and Brent, a couple who own and operate a goat farm in upstate New York.  Josh and Brent have been in a monogamous relationship for 14 years, and are currently engaged to be married.

But of course, AXN didn't want anyone to know or see that.

When I watched the episode, I was a little curious why Josh and Brent's intro segment was so short.  The other teams (consisting of sibling pairs, best friends, (hetero) dating couples, and (hetero) married couples), all had longer intros, showing their backgrounds, their lives, and, if they're a couple, their love for each other.

Interesting News Bites from Asia

TAIWAN:  TAPCPR, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, has announced that it will deliver a same-sex partnership bill to the Legislative Yuan (the Taiwanese legislature) in July of 2012.  TAPCPR has been advocating for a change in the current civil law since 2009.  Its bill will be three-pronged, covering a partnership system, legalization of same-sex marriage, and modernization of the current family code.

A same-sex marriage bill has been proposed before in Taiwan, but it met a major hurdle.  This because, according to Taiwanese law, family members of one spouse are automatically bound by law to become relatives of the other spouse's family.  The subsequent conflict over the implementation of family inheritance laws has effectively stalled that bill since 2003.