China dating app helps gay men banish the blues - and AIDS

BEIJING -- Hua Ruobin started using Blued two years ago to meet other gay men in China, setting up weekend dinners or dates in karaoke bars.

The gay dating app has been a godsend for Hua, allowing the university student in the southern city of Guangzhou to privately contact Chinese men seeking same-sex companionship.

Homosexuality is not illegal in China, but remains a taboo subject in the world's most populous country.

"I found nine (gay friends) through the app," said Hua, 22, who felt he could never talk to his heterosexual friends about being gay. "Now I have a group of friends just like me to whom I can open my mind."

Blued is the brainchild of Ma Baoli, 36, a former policeman who quit his job to play Cupid to millions of gay men in China.

The free Chinese-language app uses the GPS capability of users' smartphones to identify nearby members. As with other dating apps, users can scan profiles, chat privately with the potential Mr Right or hang out in a group chatroom.

Blued quickly found favor with gay people, adding 15 million users in two years. There is scope for expansion, with Ma's company raising $30 million last year from a US venture capital firm. Its long-term goal is to list on the Nasdaq.

"That would be an even better way to show off China's development than a big advertisement in Times Square," said Ma, referring to New York's most famous intersection.

Not just a dating app

LGBT activists in China say Blued has helped gay men develop a positive self-image and fight social prejudices that force homosexuals to stay anonymous.

"It is not only a hook-up app any more, but also spreading knowledge about the community," said Raymond Phang, an organizer of the annual Shanghai Pride celebrations.

Ma's efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS have found support from a government eager to promote safe sex among gay Chinese.

At the Beijing headquarters of Ma's firm, app users can take free HIV tests, administered only by gay members of a staff of more than 50, so as to minimize any potential embarrassment.

A red ribbon icon on the app gives Blued users easy access to information on condom use and AIDS. It offers authorities a way to reach out to gay men, a group the World Health Organization says is at high risk of catching the disease.

"On the street, it is difficult for researchers to find gay groups," said Ma. "We could help the government to help the people that it can't reach."

source: interaksyon.com

‘Lumayo Ka Man’ singer Rodel Naval died of AIDS, sisters confess

Rodel Naval — the handsome and enigmatic singer behind the hit ballads “Muli” and “Lumayo Ka Man” — succumbed to AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) 17 years ago, two of his siblings revealed on Saturday, World AIDS Day.

The singer’s sudden and mysterious death in Toronto, Canada on June 11, 1995 at age 42 was officially ascribed to pneumonia, but rumors soon reached Manila that he had in fact died of complications from AIDS.

His sisters Rosalie and Delia acknowledged the rumor as fact in an interview with Cristy Fermin on “Ang Latest” on Saturday, ahead of the release of a new commemorative album of Rodel’s best-known songs.

Delia said Rodel had confessed to his family in Toronto that he was HIV-positive in 1993, two years before his death. “Kalmado niya kaming kinausap. Sabi niya meron nga siyang sakit na genital,” she said.

Rosalie said their brother faced his impending death peacefully. “Kalmado siya kasi bumalik siya sa Diyos, at binigyan siya ng forgiveness and peace,” she said.

Despite his illness, Rodel managed a one-year stint with the cast of the Toronto production of “Miss Saigon” in 1994. He also performed two concerts in April of that year, one in Toronto and another in Los Angeles.

According to his official website, Rodel had begun his showbiz career in 1975 as an actor. But he left in 1979 when he felt his career wasn’t going anywhere and joined his immigrant family in Canada.

When he returned to the Philippines in 1990, he was already an accomplished singer who had performed in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and other cities in North America.

He finally found success at home with the songs “Muli” and “Lumayo Ka Man”. However, he left for Canada again in 1993 when he contracted HIV.

Besides the commemorative album, which will be released by Alpha Records this week, his sisters said a biography of Rodel is also in the works.

source: interaksyon.com