Asian Broadcasters Censor the Word 'Gay' From Oscars Broadcast

This is so disappointing! I just don't get it. How threatening or risque is the word "gay?" WTF? What should Oscar winners have said instead? If people can't say the word on television, I take it no one in these oppressed, homophobic communities wants to come out, either? This is all very sad. Harvey Milk didn't fight for this shit, and he should at least be honored by allowing Oscar winners to mention what it is exactly they have won their awards for!!!

Viewers in Asia saw a censored version of the Oscars after television chiefs removed gay references from Sean Penn's best actor speech.

The STAR satellite channel, which broadcasts to more than 300 million viewers in 53 countries, also cut the sound when Dustin Lane Black, who wrote the screenplay for Penn's film, Milk, addressed "all the gay and lesbian kids"

Gay Asians voiced their anger at the broadcaster, which censored its evening telecasts of the awards ceremony. "As a gay man, I am truly offended," Pang Khee Teik, a prominent Malaysian arts commentator, wrote in a letter sent out to several media organisations. "Stop censoring the words that describe who I am."

Pang said the move "sent a message … that gays and lesbians are still shameful things to be censored from the public's ears."

Users of Internet forums in Singapore and India also complained about the censored speeches. Jannie Poon, STAR's Hong Kong-based spokeswoman, stressed that the company had no intention of upsetting any viewers, but said it has "a responsibility to take the sensitivities and guidelines of all our markets into consideration."

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