US Ambassador Becomes Face of Vietnam's LGBT Evolution

   
Ambassador Ted Osius

                         

By Nick Kim Sexton

Vietnam hosted its 4th LGBT Pride celebration this year in Hanoi, the capital of the nation and its second largest city. Among the revelers was Ted Osius, the US Ambassador to Vietnam. Despite persistent rain on the fourth and final day of the festivities, Osius, who is openly gay, rode through the streets of Hanoi with over 300 other cyclists to support LGBT rights in Vietnam.  

Since assuming his post late last year, Osius and his husband, Clayton Bond, have become public figures in the LGBT advocacy community in Vietnam, where same-sex activity is already legal, but cultural norms in some regions are still catching up to the country's policies.

Many Southeast Asian countries still have laws criminalizing homosexual sex, including Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, as well as some Indonesian provinces. A 2015 report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association found that Brunei, a small Southeast Asian nation bordering Malaysia, is planning to phase in a Shariah Penal Code Order by the end of 2016 "at which point the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual behavior is due to apply." 

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Source: NBC News