SOCIETY: Singapore’s version of gay pride marks 10th year
Supporters of Singapore’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement attend the 10th annual gay pride event in downtown Singapore on Saturday. (Kyodo photo)
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community marked the 10th year of its gathering on Saturday despite restrictions on foreign sponsorship that had threatened the annual event last year.
Thousands of people from the LGBT movement turned up at Speakers’ Corner in Hong Lim Park, a small park in downtown Singapore, for the Pink Dot rally.
Besides the LGBT community, families also turned up with children or pets to show support at the carnival-like annual event.
In previous years, many big foreign companies sponsored the event, but the government in late 2016 banned foreigners from sponsoring or participating in it on grounds that they should not interfere in domestic issues, especially political or controversial social ones.
Pink Dot’s organisers still managed to get 113 sponsors this year, all local ones in line with the ruling.
Despite growing support for the event, Singaporeans are still divided on the LGBT issue with the more conservative and religious sections of the population against any move to promote the LGBT lifestyle.
Supporters of Singapore’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement attend the 10th annual gay pride event in downtown Singapore on Saturday. (Kyodo photo)
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Clement Tan, 29, a spokesman for Pink Dot, said there been progress since the event was first held in 2009, at which time only 2,500 people turned out compared with about 20,000 last year.
Tan said he knew about the event back in 2009 but was “too afraid to attend,” and when he took part for the first time in 2010, “it was so small, we were nervous.”
“Singapore has actually changed a lot…more open minded, accepting,” he said.
But the city-state still criminalises sex between mutually consenting adult men, under Section 377A of the Penal Code.
“It has an effect on society, making people feel as if they are second-class citizens. People are also afraid to disclose (being LGBT), there’s a lot of fear and ignorance that has been created because of that law,” Tan said.
“We believe that Singaporeans are ready for the law to be repealed, ready for a lot of change.”
- WRITER: KYODO NEWS
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