Thoands jo Sgapore gay rights rally

Contents:

• POSTER WH THE SLOGAN 'SGAPORE GO GAY FOR MALAYSIA DAY'
• 377A: SGAPORE TO END BAN ON GAY SEX
• INDIGNATN: SGAPORE'S FIRST GAY PRI MONTH
• SGAPORE GAY HISTORY
• SGAPORE TO DECRIMALIZE GAY SEX
• THOANDS JO ‘PK DOT’ GAY RIGHTS RALLY SGAPORE
• THOANDS JO SGAPORE GAY RIGHTS RALLY
• GAY MALAYSIA: MORN KUALA LUMPUR

POSTER WH THE SLOGAN 'SGAPORE GO GAY FOR MALAYSIA DAY'

Media ptn, Watch: The moment Sgaporeans learn gay sex ban will endSgapore will repeal a law that bans gay sex, effectively makg legal to be homosexual the cisn, announced by Prime Mister Lee Hsien Loong on natnal TV, after years of fierce activists Sgapore have hailed the move as "a w for humany" cy-state is known for s nservative valu, but recent years an creasg number of people have lled for the lonial-era 377A law to be abolished. Sgapore is the latt place Asia to move on LGBT rights, after India, Taiwan and ernment's prev stance was to keep 377A - which bans sex between men - but also promised not to enforce the law an effort to appease both on Sunday night, Mr Lee said they would abolish the law as he believed "this is the right thg to do, and somethg that most Sgaporeans will accept" noted that "gay people are now better accepted" and scrappg 377A would brg the untry's laws le wh "current social mor, and I hope, provi some relief to gay Sgaporeans".

This would effectively make harr for gay marriage to be said Sgapore remas a tradnal society wh many keen on matag fay and social activists lled this "disappotg" and warned that would only further entrench discrimatn society. Though the law technilly crimalis sex between men, is effectively seen as a ban on has not been actively enforced recent years, a thrivg and creasgly visible LGBT scene has veloped Sgapore, cludg gay LGBT activists have long lled for 377A to be scrapped, sayg the law perpetuat social stigma agast gay people, go agast Sgapore's nstutn which forbids discrimatn, and has trickled down to fluence other aspects of life. For stance, any ntent emed as "promotg homosexualy" n be banned om broadst Sgapore, and TV shows and movi have the past been law is also at odds wh Sgapore's image as an open, diverse global fancial hub and multatnal pani based the state have said would hr their efforts to attract many Sgapore still support retag 377A, recent years the ll for s aboln has grown stronger, wh surveys showg growg support for LGBT the same time both LGBT activists and nservativ - many of whom e om relig groups - have mobilised on both sis of the issue.

Meanwhile, nservativ have anised social media mpaigns and events llg for the prervatn of tradnal valu, and some church have promoted ntroversial gay nversn Sunday, Mr Lee appealed to both mps for unrstandg.

377A: SGAPORE TO END BAN ON GAY SEX

Several former Brish loni such as Kenya, Malaysia and Myanmar still have some versn of 2018, India's Supreme Court abolished 377 a historic verdict, promptg hop among activists that other former loni would eventually follow recent years, other parts of Asia have also moved to legalise gay marriage. (Kuala Lumpur) – Persistent Malaysian ernment-sponsored discrimatn threatens the rights of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people Malaysia, Human Rights Watch and Jtice for Sisters said a report released today. ” He said, “Spegoatg transgenr persons has bee a tactic applied by ultra nservative and natnalist policians, ” and that “The exploatn of societal homo/transphobia has proven a nvenient way to divert public attentn away om ernment failure to addrs prsg social issu and risg equali.

Photo: EPA The LGBTI muny on eher si of the Johor Stra n only look on envy as their unterparts India celebrate the end of a lonial-era le that crimalised gay sex Published: 3:16pm, 16 Sep, 2018 Updated: 3:16pm, 16 Sep, 2018 Two Malaysian women who were ned public after admtg lbian sex. From the germ of s nceptn, IndigNatn was envisaged by s anisers, People Like Us (PLU), to be a seri of LGBT-themed events that would be relatively more sedate nature, tellectual and athetic if possible, to renr self stark ntrast wh the enzied rnival atmosphere of the largely gay Natn parti which were held for 4 nsecutive years prr to and sudnly banned 2005. Then one night, a motley group of four gay members om People Like Us, namely Clarence Sgam, Charl Tan, Alex Au and Rsell Heng, who sat past 11:30pm a prata shop near Rowell Road sippg ffee and tea while one of them stggled to eat some fat-encsted mutton, was h by a bolt of spiratn and me up wh a shortlist of ndidat.

Brastormg further whtled down the choice to a fal two and was eventually cid that the celebratn should be lled IndigNatn, an alln to the outrage that the gay muny felt after the Government banned the Natn parti.

INDIGNATN: SGAPORE'S FIRST GAY PRI MONTH

Charl Tan, his review, reunted that the last-mute sh to obta a license for the stagg of “Contra/Dictn - A Night wh Gay Poets” no way dimished the qualy of the performance that clud an atic set of folk rock songs, actg and poetry readg. For the dience and particularly the Indian gay men and women there that night, was an amazg experience to be able to hear that gay Asian people were tly a people wh roots - that they were celebrated by the ancient Indians, the Moghul emperors and even the mystic Sufis; that they were not some rptn of Wtern lonial fluence but that same-sex love, both male and female, had been celebrated throughout the histori of their ancient civilisatns.

Heng monstrated gently how the evolutn of gay spac mirrored the evolutn of the Sgaporean gay muny self - om venu where gays and lbians jt hung out whout any clear sense of muny to ntemporary plac that rried wh them a strong sense of inty and muny. Whout Niche’s willgns to take a step to explore this possibily LGBT people might even today be dancg mixed-sex groups g the oppose genr to mask the fact that the group really was a bunch of gays or lbians. Sgapore's first wily-advertised public talk for gay Christians was held at 7:30pm on Thursday, 18 Augt 2005 at the Free Communy Church, 100A Eu Tong Sen Road, #04-02/04 Yangtze Buildg (nnected via Pearls Center).

SGAPORE GAY HISTORY

In followg months, the CRT workshops will foc on an historil analysis of ias and ncepts that fluenced St Pl, followed by a ntemporary readg of Pl and endg the seri wh a summary of var approach to Pl’s view of homosexualy. Moreover, wh male gay sex havg been crimalised for almost a century unr Sectn 377A of the Penal Co, procreatn beg culturally seen as an important aspect of one's duty to society and wh nsirable peer prsure to adhere to genr norms, there is much shame associated wh beg gay or transgenr. A study of archived evince reveals, on the ntrary, that is homophobia that was foisted upon by the European lonial powers and that we are the herors of a long tradn of acceptance of genr diversy and exprsn.

We n retropolate om the culture of ntemporary Malays that there was probably much tolerance towards men who dulged surrept homosexual activy, as evinced by the absence of any vol or physil vlence agast such people, outsi of the amework of the imported Islamic socpolil system.

Effemate men are risively lled "bapok" (spelt "bap" Standard Malay) or "pondan" (see ma article: Sgapore gay termology), but apart om beg teased and regard ceteris parib as havg a lower stat than their more mascule unterparts, there is no hatred directed agast them, as is so often the suatn the Wt. Constance Mary Turnbull, her work A History of Morn Sgapore 1819-2005, noted that when the Brish started to import large numbers of Che oli soon after the lony's foundg, Haane boys were nantly brought as homosexual prostut for the ntured labourers whose numbers were to rise threefold the last thirty years of the 19th century[10].

SGAPORE TO DECRIMALIZE GAY SEX

Given the easg of hibns afford by travel's transory ndn, one n assume homoerotic timacy and sexual enunters between male tourists and lol youth, particularly servants hotels and boardgho, to have also been not equent. This ference is le wh the fact that one of the first reported offenc unr Sectn 377A volved a Brish pta, Douglas Marr, who was charged for but acquted of illegal homosexual acts wh a Sgaporean Malay male youth, Sud b Dd, at the pta's home 1941[22], [23], [24]. In the The Stras Tim' 1970 feature on the history of prostutn Sgapore, s 12 April 1970 edn on page 4 mentned a homosexual man named Daffodil Sng (whom they lled a tame) who started a cha of brothels and built a vice empire employg female sex workers.

Wh the crimalisatn of homosexual acts, there mt have been stanc where flagrant nsensual gay sex between lols seedy nocturnal venu met wh supprsn by the police, but crimal prosecutns were rare bee the thori were more ncerned wh homosexual prostutn targetg European clients whose morals they did not want rpted. It is thought that the first plac where homosexual men, pecially Che oli, uld chance upon each other were the public toilets and back alleys near the lony's enomic heart - the btlg Sgapore River, predomantly along the right bank (lookg downstream) of Boat Quay (see ma article: Public toilets Sgapore: gay aspects).

THOANDS JO ‘PK DOT’ GAY RIGHTS RALLY SGAPORE

The proximy of Hong Lim Park to Boat Quay may expla why the former beme notor as the first ternatnally known gay cisg renzvo Sgapore to be listed the Spartac Internatnal Gay Gui, the most wily read gay tourist publitn the world (see Sgapore gay venu: historil). Bret Hsch[30], chapter 6 of his book Passns of the Cut Sleeve: the Male Homosexual Tradn Cha, has tailed evince, rived om the works of lerati Li Yu (李漁) and Shen Defu (沈德符), of stutnalised same-sex marriage practic amongst Hokkien men Mg dynasty Cha.

This popular Fujian bond brotherhood tradn was also mentned by Qg dynasty scholar and poet Yuan Mei (袁枚) her work Zi Bu Yu (子不語) which, amongst other supernatural stori, reunts the tale of the Rabb God, the patron y of gay men. Unbeknownst to all, save the ele few who posssed a knowledge of Japane culture eher through edn or travel, homosexual sex sudnly beme legimate as was never crimalised Japan except for seven years (1872 to 1880) durg the Meiji Rtoratn when Japan diligently emulated many norms of Wtern stutns her effort to "mornise".

THOANDS JO SGAPORE GAY RIGHTS RALLY

Even though this theoretilly meant that Sectns 377 and 377A of the Stras Settlements Penal Co once aga held sway, the Japane would not have bothered to prosecute any Sgaporean for gay sex as was not illegal the Japane ary self.

GAY MALAYSIA: MORN KUALA LUMPUR

Gays dulgg such trysts were the most part left unimped by the Police, perhaps guid by the pneerg Government's nvictn not to let any Sgaporean be discrimated agast, as they were unr Brish and Feral Malaysian le. Homosexualy, and later, transsexualy were listed as ndns a Sgapore Armed Forc (SAF) 'Directory of Diseas' and recs who outed themselv to the examg doctors at the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) at Dempsey Road had their 'ployabily' nied sensive posns. Wh the prospery that pnt polici of promotg foreign multatnal vtment brought while other regnal untri were mired the efficienci of import substutn and socialist enomics, those homosexuals, pecially the English-ted who uld afford air travel, were exposed to the liberalism of the Wt and the nascent gay movements there.

The growg populary of travel to Thailand and Japan the late 70's also opened the ey of Sgaporean gays to the possibily that an Asian society uld be nservative and tradnal, but yet acceptg of homosexuals as an tegral part of . The majory of gays, however, uld not afford ternatnal air travel the early 70's and were rtricted to stereotypil portrayals of themselv as effemate or cross-drsg salac dividuals, fed by the heavily-censored media who were prevented om pictg any posive imag of homosexuals whatsoever.

Enuraged by this precence, homosexuals started to patronise other, maly straight, diss the cy area such as the upmarket My Place, Black Velvet, Wt End, El Moroc, The Library, Stud M and even the more prosaic NCO Club at Beach Road. Nightclubs like Pebble Bar loted on the ground floor of the now molished Hotel Sgapura Interntental, and ls popularly Treetops Bar at the Holiday Inn, were creasgly packg the gays and beme inic stutns of the lol gay scene. Some rears were shocked, whilst others lighted, at the startlg revelatn that non-transvte mercial homosexual servic were available Sgapore (see ma article: Sgapore's first newspaper articl on the LGBT muny).