Watch Live the 2nd VietPride - Hanoi của sống Telecast!

VietPride - Hanoi's Live Telecast! According to the website the live broadcast will begin at 5pm Hanoi. click here to see the time differential worldwide, for instance it's minus 12 hours where I live in Dallas. So in Dallas I will need to get up at 5am Sunday to watch.

Local Time in Hanoi:

While its wonderful to see our LGB community making such advancements in Viet Nam it's heartbreaking to know its only gotten worse for transgender people in country.

While the government is seeking the international community to recognize its human rights record it remains “Oppressive.” “Brutal.” “Terrible and worsening.” According to Time  these were some of the fierce editorial lightning bolts to scorch Vietnam’s human-rights reputation last week, hurled in the wake of a surprise 75-minute White House audience for the country’s President Truong Tan Sang. But in Hanoi, capital of the single-party communist state, a silver lining could come from an unlikely source: gay pride. Rainbows will be out in full force for the nation’s second ever Viet Pride festival on Sunday, when a 200-strong bicycle parade will cruise down streets still decorated with hammer-and-sickle billboards, passing landmarks like the resting place of national hero Ho Chi Minh and a statue of Lenin.

Radio ABC Australia paints a even bleak portrait of trans rights pointing out transgender people are being left behind as gay rights surge forward. According to ABC Vietnamese trans people who dare to live authentically are regulated to the most menial low paying jobs and constant harassment. Some left with no options dance at weddings where they are subject to the most demeaning, dehumanizing treatment.

A step backwards....

Two years ago amongst much fanfare Pham Le Quynh Tram joyously became the first Vietnamese transsexual to allowed to change her official documents only to have that revoked January 2013

inching forward...

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon for transgender Vietnamese citizens with the publishing of the first ever in country biography of a trans person:

Video: Transgender Student Ashton Lee delivers 5700 signature petition urging Gov Brown to sign AB1266

Lee explains why he is so committed to AB 1266 "The School Success and Opportunity Act": "This will make it easier for us to graduate, to be accepted and understood."

Source Sacramento Bee:

His mom, Catherine Lee, said her son's struggle to assert his gender identity in school had an immediate negative effect on him. She was hopeful that his petition would receive a warm welcome from the governor.

"I've followed Jerry Brown for a long time, ever since I was a little kid and the first time he was governor," she said. "I have faith in him."

Carolyn Laub, executive director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, said Brown's signature would send a far-reaching message to transgender students.

"It says that we care about you, and we care about your success in your education and we want you to have all the benefits and opportunities that come with school, like being in P.E. class and being on sports teams," Laub said. "It says that your education matters."

The petition now has 6400 signatures. It's still open so please add your name too.