Gay Talk

Just as Malaysian-born gay pastor Ngeo Boon Lin or rather Pastor Ou Yang Wen Feng courted controversy by tying the knot with his  Broadway musical producer African-American boyfriend, Phineas Newborn III and then holding a Chinese wedding reception in his native conservative Malaysia, there is another report of yet another gay marriage in Taoyuan, Taiwan where Fish Huang and You Ya-ting, both donning the white bridal gown, exchanged vows and prayer beads in front of a Buddha statue in what is touted to be Taiwan's first same-sex Buddhist wedding. It is now not a question of what a Buddhist wedding is - While the pastor's marriage had drawn flukes from both Muslim and Christian leaders alike, it is a wonder that the couple in Taiwan had their wedding presided by a female Buddhist master, Shih Chao-hui. Nearly 300 Buddhists had also chanted sutras to seek blessings for the newly weds. Presently, it is more a question of whether Buddhism permits same-sex marriage.