Connecting gay Asia: Fridae.com, an english-language portal for gays and lesbians, celebrates its first birthday. (On the Web).

It's tough enough for some gays to be open about their sexual orientation in the United States--you can imagine what gay people go through in Asian countries, which traditionally are very conservative. Stuart Koe, a pharmacist born and raised in Singapore who completed some of his medical studies in the United States, has seen both sides of the coin. Experiencing the tight network and relative openness of American gay society inspired him to create Fridae.com, a Web portal that caters specifically to lesbians and gay men in Asian countries.

Now celebrating its first anniversary, the site attracts almost 150,000 visitors each month from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the United States, and Hong Kong. The site is currently in English ("Most of the Internet is in English, and it's the easiest technically," Koe explains), but a Chinese-language translation is planned to reach the millions in China and Taiwan.

The site's name is meant to evoke Robinson Crusoe's Friday, says Koe: "As a man Friday or girl Friday, we wanted a site that could be your indispensable assistant."

Visitors get gay-related news, travel, and financial information, and the site is also a social resource for many Asian gays who may have no other way to meet. "Fridae serves a very important role for those who are closeted, given the lack of gay media, meeting places, and social outlets for many who live throughout Asia," says Koe.