Malaysia's first "gay" movie is a sordid, misogynist mess
by leonalo
http://leonalo.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/the-only-gay-person-is-raja-azmi-raja-sulaiman/I read with horror Reuters' coverage of producer and scriptwriter (some script!) Raja Azmi Raja Sulaiman's s0-called film on homosexuality, "Dalam Botol" or "In a Bottle".
According to Reuters' report, the film "tells the story of the relationship between Ruby, a transsexual Muslim man, and her wayward male lover Ghaus." Lest you think Ruby is a "man trapped in a woman's body", what the Reuters reporter means to say is Ruby is a transsexual Muslim woman. Of course, it would kill Malaysia's highest Islamic authority to acknowledge Ruby's womanhood – much as it would kill us to accept polygamy, so poor Ruby has to suffer the humiliation of being labelled a man. What shocks me is Reuters' willingness to go along with this painful charade.
As if the mischaracterisation were not enough, the report goes on to explain that the Islamic authorities approved the script because "it included Ruby's eventual regret over her sex-change operation."
