FCC New Year's Eve Service (Dec 31)

Tired of all the parties?
Deaf from all the noise?
Need space to look back and look ahead?

Come to the FCC New Year's Eve Service:

BRAND NEW YOU 2008

31 December 2007
11.00 p.m. to 12.30 a.m.
FCC Main Hall

We have prepared a quiet, traditional, contemplative service.
Time to review the old, let go of the baggage, and start anew.
In the company of family and friends.

See you then!

Pictures from the FCC Christmas Service

Photos from the FCC Christmas Service found here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fonsus/sets/72157603552841982/

Courtesy of Alf

New Year's Service at FCC

SUNDAY SERVICE (ENGLISH)
30 Dec 2007 (Sun) - 10.30am

FCC Main Hall
56 Geylang Lor 23
Level 3, Century Technology Building
All are welcome!

A SPECIAL THANKSGIVING SERVICE

Worship Leader - PAUL WANG, KENNY ONG
Keyboards - QUAY YI MING
Guitars - NATHAN GUO
Prayer - JAMIE LOW
Communion - KENG HOCK PWEE
Sound - LUO QING LONG
Video - YAP FOO KEONG
Service Pastor - JOSHUA TAN



NYE SERVICE - BRAND NEW YOU 2008
31 Jan 2008 (Mon) - 11pm

FCC Main Hall
56 Geylang Lor 23
Level 3, Century Technology Building
All are welcome!

A traditional, contemplative service to usher in the new year...

Liturgy - TUCK LEONG LEE
Readings - JORG DIETZEL
Organ - NICHOLAS LEOW

TV3: Second Queen's honour for Sir Ian McKellen (Dec 30)

Second Queen's honour for Sir Ian McKellen
30-Dec 09:18
Sir Ian McKellen

Sir Ian McKellen is up for his second honour by the Queen in the New Years Honours List.

Sir Ian - most recently known for playing the role of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies will receive a Companion of Honour for services to acting and championing the causes of diversity.

He is a founding member of gay-rights group Stonewall and also stepped into a debate about decriminalising homosexual activity in Singapore on a recent visit there.

Sir Ian was awarded a CBE in 1979 and knighted in 1991.

Additionally, British journalist turned chat-show host Michael Parkinson has been knighted in the New Years Honours list.

Sir Michael was given a CBE in 2000 and an honorary doctorate in 1999.

He joins pop-diva Kylie Minogue and Jethro Tull front-man Ian Anderson in receiving honours this year.

England rugby coach Brian Ashton will also be honoured by the Queen.

The Morning After by Suchen Christine Lim (Dec 30)

For those who are interested, Film Formation's TV short film adaptation of the short story "The Morning After", by Suchen Christine Lim, will be telecast at the following time:

Arts Central
30 Dec 2007 (Sunday)
9.00pm
(*please check latest TV listings)

Brief plot: Divorced mom finds herself at the centre of major family changes, right at the time of her son's coming out as gay.

Readers would remember that "The Morning After" is the first story in Suchen's short story collection titled The Lies that Build a Marriage (Monsoon Books and Singapore Arts Council, 2007).

Pelangi Pride Centre Presents... An Afternoon with Johann S Lee (Dec 29)

PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE PRESENTS

An Afternoon with Johann S Lee
(Author of 'Peculiar Chris' and 'To Know Where I'm Coming From')
& Ng Yi-Sheng
(Poet and playwright, also known for his documentary book, 'SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century')

Saturday, 29 December 2007
Pelangi Pride Centre @ Bianco (21 Tanjong Pagar Rd, Level 4)
4-6pm
RSVP to pelangipridecentre@yahoo.com

Pelangi Pride Centre is proud to present a special event on the last
Saturday of 2007 - an afternoon with author, Johann S Lee, and
Ng Yi-Sheng, poet and playwright.

Many of us will remember with great nostalgia, the feeling of reading
Singapore's first gay novel, 'Peculiar Chris' when it was released in 1992.
Relive your first furtive glances at Singaporean gay literature in this
afternoon with the author.

Also get a chance to quiz Johann about the motivations in writing his second
novel 'To Know Where I'm Coming From'. Why did he take so long before
penning this second book?

Yi-Sheng (who majored in Comparative Literature & Writing at Columbia
University USA and curated IndigNation), together with Johann, will
facilitate a discussion around the relevance of Singapore gay fiction.

Join us on Saturday, 29 December at Pelangi Pride Centre,
for an informal and interactive afternoon.

About Johann's Latest Book: 'To Know Where I'm Coming From'

"A gripping story of love, caught between the gay worlds of London and
Singapore, unashamedly describing queer life as it is today: sexy and
sordid, romantic and political, frustrated and ecstatic."
- Ng Yi-Sheng, poet and playwright

"Hauntedly captivating and quietly powerful. Set against a diorama of
nostalgia and irresistible change, Lee observantly explores the ache of
falling in love and falling apart. For a Singapore which has evolved since
Peculiar Chris, Lee's assured second novel revisits the notions of choice
and choosing in a manner which, to his readers, has become not just
necessary, but imperative."
- Daren Shiau, author

"Read his novel... for its sheer honesty and at times heart wrenching
moments... Its importance in staking a claim in the territory of the
narrative of the overseas gay Singaporean male as well as the matured
Singaporean gay male experience, is not to be underestimated."
- Trevvy.com

"To read this book is not just to know where the author is coming from, but
to recognise, as gay people in a postmodern Asia, ourselves. How we love,
where we hope to go. Who we are."
- Fridae.com

ST: Half say 'yes' to routine HIV test (Dec 27)

Half say 'yes' to routine HIV test
By Lee Hui Chieh

MORE than half - or 53 per cent - of the adult patients admitted to Changi General Hospital (CGH) said 'yes' to a routine test for the Aids-causing virus last week, the first week such screening was introduced.

Of an average of 115 patients admitted each day last week, 20 to 30 per cent were not tested for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) because they were either unconscious or unable to give consent.

That means that 17 to 27 per cent - or about one in five - had said 'no' to the test and the hospital is still studying their reasons CGH's chief executive officer, Mr T.K. Udairam, felt the glass was half-full rather than half-empty, and that Week One had gone well.

He said: 'As this is a new scheme, our aim is for the public to gradually accept the need for HIV testing. We're glad many of our patients are receptive. In fact, the hospital has also received calls from members of the public applauding the move.'

CGH declined to say if anyone tested positive. On Dec 17, CGH became the first hospital to carry out routine HIV testing for all adult patients admitted there, unless they choose not to have it.

A study of leftover blood samples this year showed that one in 350 hospital patients had HIV which was undiagnosed.

Early detection helps patients get timely treatment, which can prolong and improve the quality of life.

From January to October this year, 356 people were diagnosed with HIV, just one short of last year's record high of 357. This brings the total number infected since 1985 to 3,416, of whom at least 1,092 have died.

The number of patients who agree to routine HIV testing during hospitalisation is likely to grow, going by a similar screening programme for pregnant women, introduced in December 2004. The opt-out rate has dropped from 20 per cent initially, to less than two per cent now.

The screening has detected at least 28 infected women. All but one baby managed to escape infection, thanks to preventive treatment.

Volunteers Needed at Pelangi Pride Centre! (Dec 27)

Volunteers are needed at Pelangi Pride Centre! If you are interested in helping out on a Saturday a month, please email pelangipridecentre@yahoo.com for more information!

Fridae.com: The 2008 Fridae List: Vote Now! (Dec 26)

the 2008 fridae æ list: vote now!
By News Editor

Introducing the 2008 Fridae æ List - the first Fridae readers' choice awards where members are given the chance to pick their favourite LGBT (friendly) establishments, parties, and businesses in eight countries and 13 cities across Asia.


The Fridae æ (pronounced like the letter ‘a’) List – the first awards of its kind in Asia - has been designed to recognise the efforts of establishments and businesses that serve the LGBT community.

While some of these establishments are located in modern gay-friendly cities, others are seen to be pushing the envelope by simply existing to meet the needs of and/or providing a safe space for LGBT individuals to socialise.

The awards also seek to acknowledge the efforts of individuals who have tirelessly championed the rights of LGBT people; and inspire others to affect change wherever they are.

Earlier this month, readers were asked to nominate their favourite dance clubs, bars, lesbian venues, saunas, businesses, bookstores, activists, DJs as well as LGBT-themed web sites (other than Fridae), plays, films, books, magazines and events in their city and/or country. Taking into consideration the nominations received, the nominees for the poll were shortlisted by Fridae editors and regional correspondents.

The top five establishments that receive the largest number of votes stand to receive an advertising and promotion package on Fridae worth US$10,000.

Each Fridae member may only vote once per category per city/country and have till Jan 10 when the poll closes to change their vote. Live tallying of results will be displayed up to three days before end of polling. Winners will be announced on Jan 14.

To vote and for terms and conditions, visit www.fridae.com/aelist.

Christmas Services at Free Community Church (Dec 25)

CHRISTMAS DAY SERVICE (ENGLISH)
Service 1 - 25 Dec 2007 (Tue) - 10.30am
Service 2 - 25 Dec 2007 (Tue) - 2pm
Service 3 - 25 Dec 2007 (Tue) - 5pm

:: THREE CHRISTMAS CHARITY CELEBRATION SERVICES ::

On Christmas Day, come join us at the FREE COMMUNITY CHURCH for one of our THREE Christmas services at 10.30am, 2pm and 5pm!

Come share the joy with us, sing your hearts out, meet old and new friends, and dig in to a sumptuous Christmas meal after each service! This year's services will also feature the premiere of Ovidia Yu's brand new play - "Nights Before", directed by Alvin Tan of the Necessary Stage!

Admission is FREE and ALL ARE WELCOME! All donations collected during the services and charity bazaar will benefit the AfA HIV Medication Subsidy Fund!

Visit http://www.freecomchurch.org/christmas/for more information!

Christmas Services at Free Community Church (Dec 25)

CHRISTMAS DAY SERVICE (ENGLISH)
Service 1 - 25 Dec 2007 (Tue) - 10.30am
Service 2 - 25 Dec 2007 (Tue) - 2pm
Service 3 - 25 Dec 2007 (Tue) - 5pm

:: THREE CHRISTMAS CHARITY CELEBRATION SERVICES ::

On Christmas Day, come join us at the FREE COMMUNITY CHURCH for one of our THREE Christmas services at 10.30am, 2pm and 5pm!

Come share the joy with us, sing your hearts out, meet old and new friends, and dig in to a sumptuous Christmas meal after each service! This year's services will also feature the premiere of Ovidia Yu's brand new play - "Nights Before", directed by Alvin Tan of the Necessary Stage!

Admission is FREE and ALL ARE WELCOME! All donations collected during the services and charity bazaar will benefit the AfA HIV Medication Subsidy Fund!

Visit the Christmas microsite here for more information!

The Advocate: Holiday Stress Levels Higher for Lesbians Than Straight Women (Dec 19)

Holiday Stress Levels Higher for Lesbians Than Straight Women

Lesbians tend to be more stressed and depressed during the holidays than straight women, according to a survey conducted by market research firm Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications.

The survey found that 80% of lesbian adults felt more stress around the holidays, compared with 64% of heterosexual women. And while 51% of lesbians said they tend to feel more depressed around the holidays, only 36% of straight women did.

“Estrangement from family, marginalization within and isolation from society, separation from children (sometimes due to custody battles), and inadequate access to culturally sensitive health care practitioners are all factors that can adversely affect mood during a season so identified with family activities and belonging,“ Linda Spooner, a Washington, D.C., physician, said in a press release.

Smoking is also a greater problem for lesbians, according to the survey. Twenty-five percent of lesbians said they smoked, compared with 19% of heterosexual women. Half of the straight women polled said they would try to quit smoking in the next year, while only 23% of lesbians said they would try to stop. (The Advocate)

Fridae.com: Health Authorities and MSM Community must co-operate to combat HIV in Singapore: Minister Balaji (Dec 15)

Health Authorities and MSM Community must co-operate to combat HIV in Singapore: Minister Balaji
By Sylvia Tan

Citing Sydney's success in reducing HIV prevalence rates among MSM, Dr Balaji Sadasivan urged for greater co-operation among health authorities, the NGOs and the MSM community to reduce HIV infection rates.

Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on HIV/AIDS, urged for greater co-operation among health authorities, the NGOs and the MSM community to reduce HIV infection rates.

The Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Information, Communications and the Arts was the guest of honour at the HOPE (HIV Outreach: Prevention & Empowerment) concert held at the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre on Thursday night.

[PIC]According to organisers, the event which featured Los Angeles-based gay Christian pop duo and real life couple Jason and deMarco, and local performers including John Lee, Hossan Leong, Selena Tan, nominated Member of Parliament Eunice Olsen, and hosts Chua Enlai and Mistevious.

"We have waited two years for this," quipped Jason, one-half of the duo who was barred by the Singapore authorities from performing in 2005. Concert organisers Safehaven, a ministry of gay-affirmative Free Community Church, had tried to organise a similar event with the duo but had their application turned down by the Media Development Authority.

The number of new HIV infections is on rise with an estimated 30 percent of the 356 newly detected cases of HIV cases between January and October this year contracted through male-to-male contact. The number will surpass last year's record of 357 of which 26 per cent were MSM.

The former Senior Minister of State for Health told the audience that there has been a resurgence in the prevalence rates of HIV among MSM communities in the west while in some Asian cities, one in four MSM are testing positive for HIV. He cited Sydney as an example of a city which has bucked the trend and which Singapore can take lessons from.

"In Australia... particularly the city of Sydney, the prevalence of HIV has been low and what is more remarkable it has been going down in the MSM community over the last decade," he said.

"The way they seem to have achieved this is through co-operation between the health authorities, the NGOs and the MSM community working together to create a culture of safer sex and regular HIV testing. If we can follow the Sydney model in Singapore and work together – the health officials, the NGOs and the MSM community – there's no reason why we cannot achieve what they have done in Sydney – low prevalence rate, in fact, decreasing prevalence rate."

In July this year, Dr Balaji had gone on a study trip to Sydney, accompanied by health officials and representatives from AFA, Fridae and Oogachaga, a gay and lesbian affirmative counselling agency.

Although it was not advertised in the programme, People Like Us – a group dedicated to public education and equal treatment for gay and lesbian citizens – took the opportunity to honour Reverend Dr Yap Kim Hao with the inaugural PLU (People Like Us) Dignity Award.

Reverend Yap, who currently serves as Pastoral Advisor to the Free Community Church, is known to be an outspoken supporter of the LGBT community - speaking publicly and writing frequently to the press.

The 78-year-old told Fridae in an interview: "I have been doing what comes 'naturally' in my continuing concern for the minorities who are being discriminated because of their race, religion, economic condition, gender and sexual orientation. It is my conviction that God loves and cares for such people more because they are being 'sinned against' by those who are politically powerful and economically dominating."

"The gathering of over 900 predominantly LGBT people at the Hope concert with (mostly) gay talented artistes is a significant milestone in the struggles for gay acceptance in what has often been regarded as a conservative Singapore society. It is to pledge to combat HIV/AIDS and to engage in safe and responsible sex. To be safe is to be responsible for we have to do what we believe to be morally right for ourselves, partners and human community."

Fridae.com: Health Authorities and MSM Community must co-operate to combat HIV in Singapore: Minister Balaji (Dec 15)

Health Authorities and MSM Community must co-operate to combat HIV in Singapore: Minister Balaji
By Sylvia Tan

Citing Sydney's success in reducing HIV prevalence rates among MSM, Dr Balaji Sadasivan urged for greater co-operation among health authorities, the NGOs and the MSM community to reduce HIV infection rates.

Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on HIV/AIDS, urged for greater co-operation among health authorities, the NGOs and the MSM community to reduce HIV infection rates.

The Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Information, Communications and the Arts was the guest of honour at the HOPE (HIV Outreach: Prevention & Empowerment) concert held at the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre on Thursday night.

[PIC]According to organisers, the event which featured Los Angeles-based gay Christian pop duo and real life couple Jason and deMarco, and local performers including John Lee, Hossan Leong, Selena Tan, nominated Member of Parliament Eunice Olsen, and hosts Chua Enlai and Mistevious.

"We have waited two years for this," quipped Jason, one-half of the duo who was barred by the Singapore authorities from performing in 2005. Concert organisers Safehaven, a ministry of gay-affirmative Free Community Church, had tried to organise a similar event with the duo but had their application turned down by the Media Development Authority.

The number of new HIV infections is on rise with an estimated 30 percent of the 356 newly detected cases of HIV cases between January and October this year contracted through male-to-male contact. The number will surpass last year's record of 357 of which 26 per cent were MSM.

The former Senior Minister of State for Health told the audience that there has been a resurgence in the prevalence rates of HIV among MSM communities in the west while in some Asian cities, one in four MSM are testing positive for HIV. He cited Sydney as an example of a city which has bucked the trend and which Singapore can take lessons from.

"In Australia... particularly the city of Sydney, the prevalence of HIV has been low and what is more remarkable it has been going down in the MSM community over the last decade," he said.

"The way they seem to have achieved this is through co-operation between the health authorities, the NGOs and the MSM community working together to create a culture of safer sex and regular HIV testing. If we can follow the Sydney model in Singapore and work together – the health officials, the NGOs and the MSM community – there's no reason why we cannot achieve what they have done in Sydney – low prevalence rate, in fact, decreasing prevalence rate."

In July this year, Dr Balaji had gone on a study trip to Sydney, accompanied by health officials and representatives from AFA, Fridae and Oogachaga, a gay and lesbian affirmative counselling agency.

Although it was not advertised in the programme, People Like Us – a group dedicated to public education and equal treatment for gay and lesbian citizens – took the opportunity to honour Reverend Dr Yap Kim Hao with the inaugural PLU (People Like Us) Dignity Award.

Reverend Yap, who currently serves as Pastoral Advisor to the Free Community Church, is known to be an outspoken supporter of the LGBT community - speaking publicly and writing frequently to the press.

The 78-year-old told Fridae in an interview: "I have been doing what comes 'naturally' in my continuing concern for the minorities who are being discriminated because of their race, religion, economic condition, gender and sexual orientation. It is my conviction that God loves and cares for such people more because they are being 'sinned against' by those who are politically powerful and economically dominating."

"The gathering of over 900 predominantly LGBT people at the Hope concert with (mostly) gay talented artistes is a significant milestone in the struggles for gay acceptance in what has often been regarded as a conservative Singapore society. It is to pledge to combat HIV/AIDS and to engage in safe and responsible sex. To be safe is to be responsible for we have to do what we believe to be morally right for ourselves, partners and human community."

Buy tickets to the HOPE Concert (Dec 13)

erstory celebrates 9 years of PRIDE @ZOUK 13 Dec 2007

Herstory @ZOUK
VR Challenge, Herstory.ws Re-launched, Herstory 9 YEARS OF PRIDE - THE
PARTY
The long awaited herstory.ws re-launched is finally completed. We all
deserved a GOOD Party to celebrate Singapore largest womyn online
portal. Come together for THE PARTY of the year.

10 contestants will come together on stage at ZOUK on 13 Dec to vie for
the title - Herstory Online Ambassador. You will decide who is the best
candidate by voting for them online from 14 Dec - 4 Jan 08.
It is the butches vs the femmes in this first ever Herstory Virtual
Reality (VR) Challenge. Finals will be held at ZOUK on 10 Jan 08. The
winner will be crown Herstory Online Ambassador and will represent
Herstory online brand for one year and walk home with 3 years of FREE
Herstory BLACK Membership, 1 bottle of 42below vodka and 1 NewUrbanMale
Fashion Bag.

Catch them LIVE in action at ZOUK on 13 Dec for the PREVIEW and 10 Jan
for the FINALS!

They will 'SHOW OFF' their talents and get up close with you during 'I
WANT TO KNOW YOU' segment.

HERSTORY CELEBRATES 9 YEARS OF PRIDE @ZOUK!!
$100 worth of NewUrbanMale product vouchers for 1st 500 entry and
42 below vodka for 1st 100 entry!

Don't miss Herstory Quarterly Grrls Only Party happening once every
three months at ZOUK. Whether you want to sit and chat or dance and
cruise, you're guaranteed to find something you'll like at Herstory
Party. See ya..

Showtime
VR Challenge, Herstory.ws Re-launched, Herstory 9 Years Of Pride - THE
PARTY starts at 11pm

Party Theme
It's the end of a fabulous year so wear your best suit and impress the
grrls. If you are spotted by us at the door looking cool in your outfit,
you get complimentary entry to the party plus a FREE housepour on us.

Programme Highlights
Chillout 9pm-10pm
Showtime VR Challenge, Herstory.ws Re-launched, Herstory 9 Years Of
Pride - THE PARTY 11pm
Chart Topping Hip Hop and Sexy R&B Dance Music 11.45pm-2.30am (by Zouk
resident DJ)

Pop Hits Dance Music till 3am (by Zouk resident DJ)

Drinks Promotion
One for One on all standard housepour 9pm-10pm

Admission
No Cover Charge
Applies to all members/non members
Herstory Members - $4
Non Herstory Members - $8
Entry for men - Subject to Approval at Door ($12)
POLICY : Mainly womyn with men as guests

LOCATION
17 Jiak Kim Street Singapore 169420

MRT / BUS
Bus 16

OPENING HOUR
9pm - 3am
Every 2nd Thursday of the Quarter Year.

LOTL & Herstory Partnership
We would like to announce the partnership between Herstory and LOTL
(Lesbian On The Loose) International, Australia 's best known monthly
lesbian magazine. We have launched an unique and exciting online lesbian
magazine for lesbians visiting herstory.ws. It is a premium magazine
content in a special easy to read format. Please check out
http://lotl.herstory.ws for you FREE copy of LOTL online magazine.

Send Us Your Comments
Tell us what you think & how we can improve Herstory by writing to
admin@herstory.ws

Tell Your Friends
If you like what Herstory has been doing. Please help to promote
Herstory by telling your friends at
http://www.herstory.ws/recommend.php

Contact Us
http://www.herstory.ws/about/contact.php

MSN: Genetic 'switch' can turn fruit flies gay (Dec 11)

Genetic 'switch' can turn fruit flies gay
Tuesday Dec 11 12:00 AEDT

A new study has found that a combination of genetic manipulation and
drugs can transform fruit flies into homosexuals and back again in the
space of a few hours.

Scientists at the University of Illinois in Chicago discovered a gene
in fruit flies that they dubbed the "genderblind", or GB.

GB sends out a neurotransmitter called glutamate to brain cells, which
can alter the strength of the synapses that play a key role
determining human and animal behaviour.

Researchers found that a mutation of the GB gene turned flies into
bisexuals.

They also discovered that all male flies with a mutation in their GB
gene began to court other males.

"It was very dramatic," researcher David Featherstone said.

"The GB mutant males treated other males exactly the same way normal
male flies would treat a female.

"They even attempted copulation."

"Based on our previous work, we reasoned that GB mutants might show
homosexual behaviour because their … synapses were altered in some
way," Featherstone said.

Homosexual courtship could have been the result of an "over-reaction"
to sexual stimuli, he added.

To test this, researchers genetically altered the synapse strength,
independent of the GB.

They also gave flies drugs to change the synapse strength.

And, as predicted, they were able to turn homosexuality on and off
within hours.

"It was amazing," Featherstone said.

"I never thought we'd be able to do that sort of thing, because sexual
orientation is supposed to be hard-wired.

"This fundamentally changes how we think about this behaviour."

Happy Holidays from Women's Nite (Dec 9)

Thank you all for your good food, great insights and of course, friendship, throughout this year.

Women's Nite takes a break in December, but will be back on 26th January 2008 with more topics to talk about!

In the meantime, if you would like to suggest ideas or volunteer your help, simply drop us a note at women.snite@gmail.com

Take care, be well, and see you in 2008.

The Women's Nite Team

-- About Women's Nite Women's Nite provides a safe, neutral and alcohol-free space for lesbians and bisexual women in Singapore
to gather and discuss the issues relevant to their lives.

The event, held on the last Saturday of every month, was started in December 2003. Over a potluck dinner, we hold discussions on wide-ranging topics like self-acceptance, homophobia, relationships and identity. We also invite special guests to field questions on legal rights and sexual health, and conduct art and dance therapy nights. To find out more, go to -

http://women_snite.livejournal.com

to join our mailing list @
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/women_snite/

PPC's Annual LGBTQ Community Fair (Dec 8)

Pelangi Pride Centre's
LGBTQ Community Fair 2007

featuring:
LGBTQ Community Booths:
A gathering of our wonderfully diverse social, sports, religious,
family and other groups in one spot for you to explore.

participating groups -
*Adlus
*SAFE
*Oogachaga
*RedQuEEn!
*Women's Nite

religious groups -
*Free Community Church / Safehaven
*Kong Meng San Phor Kark See (KMSPKS) Youth Ministry
*Heartland

We are also celebrating SAFE's first anniversary!
Come mark the occasion with us.
What's a party without family and friends?

Free drinks from MOX! First 200 drinks kindly sponsored by our great
venue hosts (on a FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED basis).
Thereafter, soft drinks available at $2.

Date: Saturday 8 Dec 2007
Time: 4pm - 7pm
Venue: MOX Bar and Cafe, 21 Tanjong Pagar Road (4th floor)
Admission: Free, by registration only.
Please take note that this is a private event by registration only.
Please RSVP with your name(s) to [pelangipridecentre at yahoo dot com]

We are also screening `WOMEN who LOVE WOMEN: Conversations in Singapore':
This local documentary provides a rare look into the lives of three
Singapore women through candid, heartbreaking and funny interviews.
(note: separate RSVP required)

WOMEN who LOVE WOMEN: Conversations in Singapore
Running Time: 65 minutes

"It is better to be hated for what one is, than to be loved for what one isn't"
- Andre Gide, Writer

One of the few documentaries ever made about lesbians in Singapore ,
this documentary, filmed in 2006 uses interview footage with three
Singaporean WOMEN - Amanda Lee, Sabrina Renee Chong and Gea Swee Jean,
to get a rare glimpse into lesbian lives in Singapore.

Intimate and often candid, these lesbians SHARE THEIR their lives and
loves and their views on topics such as coming out and relationships.
Sometimes heartbreaking, and often times, funny, the documentary
captures the lives of lesbians who have chosen to live authentically
and is a testament to the courage, tenacity and experiences of
lesbians living in Singapore.

There will be a Question & Answer session with the interviewees and
filmmaker, May Ling following the screening.

Date: 8 Dec 2007 (Sat)
Time: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Venue: Bianco @ MOX Bar and Cafe, 21 Tanjong Pagar
Road (5th floor)
Cost: Free of Charge
Please take note that this is a private event by registration only.
Please RSVP with your name(s) to
[womenwholovewomensingapore at yahoo dot com] by 5th Dec to ensure a seat.
http://www.pelangipridecentre.org/ events/ 200712a.htm

For more information on the documentary, and to read reviews/post
comments, please visit:
womenwholovewomensingapore.blogspot.com

Soft Launch of "To Know Where I'm Coming From" (Dec 8)

Come to the Community Fair this Saturday (8 Dec) and
be the first to grab a copy of Johann S Lee’s latest
book, ‘To Know Where I’m Coming From’.

…. Yes, THAT Johann S Lee, author of Singapore’s first
gay novel, ‘Peculiar Chris’.

It’s been a looong 15 year wait since that book was
published and we at Pelangi Pride Centre are very
pleased that Johann has picked us to receive the first
few copies of his second novel, ‘To Know Where I’m
Coming From’ before it hits the bookshelves later this
month.

Grab your copy, priced at $20 this Saturday! Limited
stocks available.

About Johann’s Latest Book: 'To Know Where I'm Coming
From'

"A gripping story of love, caught between the gay
worlds of London and
Singapore, unashamedly describing queer life as it is
today: sexy and
sordid, romantic and political, frustrated and
ecstatic."
- Ng Yi-Sheng, poet and playwright

"Hauntedly captivating and quietly powerful. Set
against a diorama of nostalgia and irresistible
change, Lee observantly explores the ache of falling
in love and falling apart. For a Singapore which has
evolved since Peculiar Chris, Lee's assured second
novel revisits the notions of choice and choosing in a
manner which, to his readers, has become not just
necessary, but imperative."
- Daren Shiau, author

"Read his novel... for its sheer honesty and at times
heart wrenching moments... Its importance in staking a
claim in the territory of the narrative of the
overseas gay Singaporean male as well as the matured
Singaporean gay male experience, is not to be
underestimated."
- Trevvy.com

"To read this book is not just to know where the
author is coming from, but
to recognise, as gay people in a postmodern Asia,
ourselves. How we love,
where we hope to go. Who we are."
- Fridae.com

More about Community Fair -
http://www.pelangipridecentre.org/events/200712.htm

PPC Presents LGBTQ Community Fair 2007 (Dec 8)

8 Dec @ PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE
LGBTQ Community Fair 2007

Pelangi Pride Centre is proud to present our Community Fair 2007

Featuring:

* LGBTQ Community Booths: We’re gathering our wonderfully diverse social,sports, religious, family and other types of groups in one spot for you to explore and even join
* Screening of ‘Women who Love Women’: This local documentary provides a rare look into the lives of three Singapore women through candid, heartbreaking and funny interviews. (note separate RSVP required)
* Celebrating SAFE’s first anniversary: Come mark the first birthday of SAFE (Supporting, Affirming and Empowering our LGBTQ friends and family). What’s a party without family and friends?
* Hosts from Queercast: Singapore's gay podcast
* Fridae.com books: the folks from this gay & lesbian portal will be selling Chinese queer-themed books.
* Pelangi Pride Centre Library: we’ll be open for business as usual, so come in and browse!


Free drinks from MOX! 200 free Ribena drinks, kindly sponsored by our great venue hosts (on a first-come-first-serve basis). Soft drinks available at $2.

Date: 8 Dec 2007
Time: 4pm - 7pm
Venue: MOX Bar and Cafe, 21 Tanjong Pagar Road (4th floor)
Admission: Free, by registration only.

Please take note that this is a private event by registration only.
Please RSVP with your name(s) to [pelangipridecentre@yahoo.com]

ST: The Penal Code (Dec 5)

Dec 5, 2007
THE PENAL CODE
Balancing evidence and rhetoric in law reform
By Kumaralingam Amirthalingam

ONE of the controversial issues arising from the recent Penal Code
reform exercise was the decision not to repeal Section 377A, which
criminalises acts of gross indecency between males.

The controversy was heightened by the fact that 377, which
criminalised unnatural offences, including anal and oral sex as well
as bestiality, was repealed.

The debate was emotional and occasionally went beyond the bounds of
propriety. As the dust settles, we have to deal with the post-reform
framework and see what lessons the experience offers for criminal law
reform.

Two points deserve attention: First, the need to focus on criminal law
principles and the law itself; and next, the need to rely on empirical
evidence and not be blindsided by rhetoric.

The background to the reform shows that Parliament was motivated by
public outrage that consensual oral sex between heterosexual couples
could be a crime. But by repealing 377, Parliament also decriminalised
consensual anal sex regardless of whether the partner is male or female.

Without specifically re-enacting an offence to deal with anal sex
between males, a lacuna in the law may have been created where
private, consensual anal sex between males is unregulated.

Previously, one of the arguments for 377 was that it was necessary to
protect males from non-consensual sodomy or male rape, as there was no
specific law governing such acts. But that argument is no longer
relevant, given the new Section 376(1), which specifically
criminalises non-consensual oral and anal sex.

There is an assumption that 377A includes anal sex as part of the
definition of gross indecency. However, the legislative history of the
two provisions, as well as the existing jurisprudence and
prosecutorial policy, suggests that 377A does not include anal sex.

Section 377A was not in the original Penal Code of the Straits
Settlements (the precursor to the Singapore Penal Code), but was
introduced in 1938 following reforms in England. During the
introduction of the Bill, it was explained that 377A 'makes punishable
acts of gross indecency between male persons which do not amount to an
unnatural offence within the meaning of 377 of the Code' (italics
added). Clearly, 377 and 377A were intended to be complementary but
mutually exclusive provisions.

The fact that the two provisions are aimed at different acts was
highlighted in a Singapore High Court decision, PP v Kwan Kwong Weng,
where the judge held that 377 was limited to anal sex and bestiality,
excluding oral sex, which properly belonged to 377A.

The decision was overturned on appeal, where it was held that 377
could include oral sex in certain serious cases where a higher
punishment was warranted. It should be noted that 377 carried a
maximum life sentence while 377A has a maximum sentence of two years.
While the prosecution had the discretion to prosecute oral sex cases
under either 377 or 377A, there is no local authority where anal sex
has been prosecuted under 377A.

The crucial question then is whether gross indecency in 377A can be
interpreted to include anal sex in the light of the repeal of 377.
Arguably, courts should not interpret 377A in this way, as one of the
principles of statutory interpretation, particularly in criminal law,
is that where there is ambiguity, the penal provision should be
interpreted in favour of the accused.

Had Parliament intended to retain the crime of anal sex between males,
it should have done so explicitly. Indeed, it did just that with the
offence of bestiality, which having existed in the repealed 377 was
re-enacted in a new 377B.

There was much rhetoric during the 377A debate about homosexuality
contributing to the spread of HIV/Aids and gay men being predisposed
to paedophilia. But the available evidence does not support the rhetoric.

It must be emphasised that HIV/Aids is not exclusively a gay disease.
According to official UN figures, globally, women account for half of
HIV infections and in sub-Saharan Africa, young women account for 75
per cent of such infections. In India, as in Singapore, the main means
of transmission is heterosexual intercourse.

While men who have sex with men are among the high-risk categories in
some countries, studies show that criminalisation of sex between men
increases the risk of HIV infection as it, among other things, drives
such activity underground and impedes access to health care, HIV
screening and safe sex campaigns.

That 377 and 377A impede the fight against the spread of HIV/Aids has
been affirmed locally in a recent paper by Dr Roy Chan, the director
of the National Skin Centre and an expert on sexually transmitted
diseases.

In terms of the alleged link between homosexuality and paedophilia,
the American Psychological Association points to a study of child sex
abuse cases which shows that under 1 per cent of the molesters
identify themselves as gay, and that almost 90 per cent of the
molesters have had documented heterosexual relationships.

A court in Texas, in rejecting the testimony of an expert who argued
that homosexuals were more likely to be paedophiles, found that the
data had been distorted, and described the testimony as fraudulent and
misleading.

Following a review of available empirical evidence, a research fellow
at the Australian Institute of Family Studies has concluded that the
link between paedophilia and homosexuality is 'more a societal myth
than a reality'.

Criminal law reform on the basis of ideology and rhetoric, rather than
evidence and reality, is fraught with danger. In the case of 377A,
there is now an ambiguity that is unlikely to be resolved. Parliament
will have no desire to clarify the law by enacting specific laws and,
given that 377A will not be proactively enforced, courts may not have
the opportunity to interpret 377A in the post-reform era.

We are left with a criminal law that makes no sense and which may in
fact be harmful to our efforts to contain the spread of Aids as well
as to combat child sex abuse.

This predicament is largely due to the fact that we took our eyes off
the ball during the debate: Instead of focusing on the proper function
and ambit of criminal law, we focused on homosexuality. In sports
parlance, we played the man rather than the ball.

The writer teaches criminal law and torts at the Faculty of Law,
National University of Singapore. The views here are his own.

Fridae.com: Malaysia-born lesbian lawyer becomes Australia's first openly gay cabinet minister (Dec 5)

malaysia-born lesbian lawyer becomes australia’s first openly gay cabinet minister
News Editor

Senator Penny Wong has been appointed Australia's first climate change and water minister - making her both the country’s first openly gay and Asian-born cabinet minister.

South Australia Senator Penny Wong Ying Yen, a 39-year-old lawyer who was born in the East Malaysian state of Sabah, was named Australia’s first climate change and water minister by newly-installed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who was sworn in on Monday.

The Labor Party leader and former diplomat officially ended John Howard's reign as Australia's second-longest serving Prime Minister after winning a landslide election victory over Howard's 11-year-old coalition last week.

Wong, who was born in Sabah's capital of Kota Kinabalu to a Malaysian Chinese Hakka father and an Australian mother, emigrated to Australia as an eight-year-old in 1977. She worked as a lawyer before being elected as a Labor Senator for South Australia in November 2001.

Wong was appointed Shadow Minister for Employment and Workforce Participation, and Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility in October 2004.

Described by newspaper commentators as “the smart rising star of Australian politics” and “a template of Australia's multicultural future,” Wong spoke of her family history and race issues during her first parliamentary speech in August 2002. She spoke critically of former PM Howard's tolerance of Pauline Hanson’s views and called for the reclamation of the phrase `one nation' referencing Hanson’s One Nation Party which promoted racist and anti-immigration views and policies.

“Then there was Pauline Hanson, who said we were in danger of being overrun by Asians. And what did the Prime Minister do? Did he as the Prime Minister show that moral leadership which was called for?”

“Leadership was called for, not to deny freedom of speech but to assert the harm in what she said. Leadership was called for, but it was not provided.”

Last year, the outspoken senator again criticised the Howard Government for overturning the Australian Capital Territory Civil Unions Act.

“The ACT government has chosen to do this [legislate for the recognition of and therefore consequent rights for same-sex relationships]. It is a proposition even President Bush is on the record as countenancing, and the logic really is difficult to fault. If you deny access to one institution – that is, marriage – is it appropriate that you also deny any alternative form of recognition to such relationships via state and territory laws? The only reason you would deny alternative recognition is because your position is in fact that you do not want any recognition for those relationships and therefore no consequent rights. Yet this is precisely what the Howard government seeks to do in relation to the ACT.”

Wong, the Prime Minister and Environment Minister Peter Garrett who might be better known as the former frontman of Australian rock band Midnight Oil, are expected to attend the United Nations Climate Change (UNCC) conference in Bali next week.

Next page: Extracts of her maiden speech - Reclaiming One Nation and speech on the ACT Civil Unions Act in parliament
Extracts of parliamentary speeches by Penny Wong

Maiden Speech - Reclaiming One Nation: 21 Aug 2002

Then there was Pauline Hanson, who said we were in danger of being overrun by Asians. And what did the Prime Minister do? Did he as the Prime Minister show that moral leadership which was called for? When asked to comment on whether Aboriginal and Asian Australians should be protected from people like Pauline Hanson, the Prime Minister said:

Well, are you saying that somebody shouldn't be allowed to say what she said? I would say in a country such as Australia people should be allowed to say that.

What sort of message does this send to our community? That it is acceptable to rail against people who look different? That these sorts of comments are no different from any other sort of political commentary? Leadership was called for, not to deny freedom of speech but to assert the harm in what she said. Leadership was called for, but it was not provided.
ACT Civil Unions Act: 15 Jun 2006

The ACT government has chosen to do this [legislate for the recognition of and therefore consequent rights for same-sex relationships]. It is a proposition even President Bush is on the record as countenancing, and the logic really is difficult to fault. If you deny access to one institution – that is, marriage – is it appropriate that you also deny any alternative form of recognition to such relationships via state and territory laws? The only reason you would deny alternative recognition is because your position is in fact that you do not want any recognition for those relationships and therefore no consequent rights. Yet this is precisely what the Howard government seeks to do in relation to the ACT.

This is exemplified by the government’s refusal to engage with the ACT to find a constructive solution to this. They have not engaged because they do not want a resolution. They say it is too like a marriage. I will pose some questions to the government, but I doubt I will get an answer. Which rights do you say ought to be removed in order for this bill to become acceptable? Which rights would you delete in order for it to be acceptable for a same-sex relationship to have recognition? Which rights would you remove in order for this to be okay? Would it be medical consent? Would it be the fact that you have to pay stamp duty? Would it be the disposition of property? Would it be the rights if someone dies intestate? Which of these rights, which are conferred through the ACT legislation, so offend this government that they have to strike this law down?

If it is one particular right, such as the stamp duty issue, perhaps you should put it back to the ACT government that you would like that taken out. Which rights do you want removed? The fact is, you will not engage in that discussion because ultimately you do not want recognition of those relationships. I doubt that the government will answer me when I ask them which rights should be removed to make this legislation acceptable.

Videos and podcasts of Senator Penny Wong's speeches are available on www.pennywong.com.au.

Free Community Church: Sermon by Anthony Yeo (Dec 2)

SUNDAY SERVICE (ENGLISH)
2 Dec 2007 (Sun) - 10.30am
All are welcome!

BRAND NEW LOCATION!
FCC Main Hall
56 Geylang Lor 23
Level 3, Century Technology Building


Speaker
ANTHONY YEO
Transformation Series

Worship Leader - WAILING LIONG
Keyboards - GARY CHAN, VICTOR LEE
Vocals - SEAN LEE, VERON TAN, ELSIN SEOW
Guitars - KELVIN NG
Drums - JINYU TANG
Sound - QING LONG LUO
Video - FOO KEONG YAP
Prayer - DAN LOH
Communion - KENG HOCK PWEE
Service Pastor - SUSAN TANG

In commemoration of WORLD AIDS DAY, please do come to church wearing RED this weekend!

World Aids Day at Bianco (Dec 1, 9pm-12midnite)

OC and SOS Present... Better Dead than Queer? (Dec 1)

Better Dead than Queer?

In Singapore, there is at least one suicide a day. At least one teenager dies by suicide every month. For every person who dies by suicide, it is estimated that another 5 to 10 people would have attempted and lived.

How many of them are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or questioning? We may never know. But there is strong international evidence to show that GLBTQ people are at greater risk than their heterosexual counterparts to attempt or die by suicide.

Come find out more about what you can do to help, whether it is for yourself, for a friend, a loved one or even a family member.

Date: 1 December 2007
Time: 4.30pm to 6.30pm
Venue: Pelangi Pride Centre @ Bianco, above Mox Bar
Speaker: Leow Yong Fatt

Pre-registration at contact@oogachaga.com

About the speaker
Leow Yong Fatt, Yangfa is a trained social worker who has worked in the social services sector since 1999. He is currently a full-time staff with Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), and in addition to recruiting and training volunteers for the 24-hr hotline, he also has experience working with suicidal clients & suicide survivors, as well as conducting talks and workshops on suicide awareness, prevention and intervention for school students & professionals from MOE, SMRT, Singapore Police Force, Civil Defence, Community Development Councils & other statutory & voluntary organisations. He graduated with a Bachelors (Honours) degree in Social Policy, with a graduate diploma in Social Work.

About Samaritans of Singapore (SOS)
SOS was established on 1 December 1969. It is a secular, non-profit organisation which aims to prevent suicide by providing emotional support and befriending to those are in despair, distressed and feeling discouraged. Their main services are:

24 hour Hotline
Face-to-face Counselling Sessions
Emergency Squad
Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS)
Healing Bridge - Support Group for Survivors of Suicide
E-mail Befriending
Community Education

For more information, please visit www.samaritans.org.sg

DPA: Record numbers undergoing testing for HIV in Singapore (Dec 1)

Record numbers undergoing testing for HIV in Singapore

Singapore - Nearly 6,000 people were tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, during the first nine months of 2007 in Singapore, a record number for the city-state, news reports said Saturday. The figure reflects the increasing options people have to be tested anonymously and quickly, health officials said.

By the end of October, there were 356 people who tested positive, one person less than the total for all of 2006, according to findings reported in The Straits Times.

More than half of those with HIV were in the late stages of infection, the Health Ministry said.

More than two-thirds of those testing positive in the first half of the year got the virus through heterosexual sex, while less than a quarter were exposed through gay sex, the report said.

Nine in 10 of the HIV cases were people aged 20 to 59.

Early testing enables HIV patients to start on medication that can help them live relatively normal lives much longer.

"Diagnosing for HIV is not difficult," Dr Roy Chan, president of Action for Aids, was quoted as saying. "The more avenues we have, the better."

He attributed delays in getting tested to the stigma still associated with the disease.

Speedy tests have become available at 100 clinics since August. More testing sites are planned.

ST: My Space (Youth Ink) (Nov 29)

Nov 26, 2007
MY SPACE
We are free to love and hate - and not afraid to say it out loud
Five of YouthInk's top writers talk about living in and liking
Singapore. This week, Edward Choy contemplates personal happiness
THE Section 377A debate was really what defined this year for me.

As an actor, theatre student and writer, I have many friends and
acquaintances who stand firmly against Section 377A and believe it to
be a gross violation of human dignity and freedom.

Because of my faith, I have many friends and acquaintances who firmly
support 377A and believe it to be a vital pillar of our nation's moral
values.

But as a Singaporean, I am delighted at the amount of interest and
discourse generated by the issue.

For now, the dismissive cries of apathy from the pockets of civil
society that exist in Singapore have been silenced. They have been
replaced by heartfelt and often well-considered calls for the people
of this island to rally to their side of this issue.

Even the supposedly silent majority has been spoken for - with
Professor Thio Li-ann bravely wandering into a minefield of passionate
opinions.

Still, I believe that as the majority, there was never a real need for
those in favour of keeping 377A to take action, not least in the
manner that those opposed to 377A felt they needed to in order for
their opinions to be heard.

The debate has been vital to Singapore, but it remains to be seen
whether the momentum generated will energise future issues of contention.

Take the reaction to the goods and services tax rise this year and the
hike in transport fares. Or rather, the lack of reaction.

It seems as if Singaporeans have come to accept that the Government
knows best when it comes to handling our money.

This is exemplified in the simmering discontent over the pay of
ministers, evident in the discussions of many Singaporean netizens,
coffee-shop uncles and taxi drivers.

To the leaders of Singapore: It is hard for the people to hear or read
that you earn a million dollars a year when they are struggling to get
by on $50 a day.

Let us face it, statistics show there is a widening income gap in
Singapore. People get annoyed when they see fellow citizens driving
cars that cost more than their flats. They cannot help it, it is human
nature to be jealous. So please, do something about it.

On a more personal note, I made a conscious decision not to take sides
on the 377A debate.

I must confess, before I discovered my faith, I used to be homophobic
and bigoted. Now I have learnt to love and accept and cherish those
who are different from me.

This has really been a watershed year for me in terms of personal
growth. I look back on my hate-fuelled years and recognise now how I
was free to make decisions for myself every step of the way. I was
free to choose what to see, what to believe. I was free to hate, and
now I am free to love.

In comparison, I think of the indoctrination that creates cults of
personality for the leaders in countries like North Korea and Cuba.

I think of how the state-imposed religious rule of law makes life
difficult for women and religious minorities in many countries.

I think of people scrambling and fighting for scraps of rotten food in
slums all over the world, who cannot think past the piercing hunger
that haunts their every breath.

Now when I think of the fierce debate that raged across the media
barely a month ago on the 377A issue, I cannot help but smile.

Today, we are free to believe what we want, and not only that, to say
it boldly in a country where the rules exist to keep the hate out of
speech. Some might see that as a restriction on freedom of speech.

I honestly think it is good that we are not allowed to shoot our
mouths off and spread hate and intolerance.

Despite what anyone thinks about the education system, laws governing
speech and the media, there is a large number of Singa-

poreans who can think for themselves and are not afraid to say what
they think.

I am honoured to be part of a group of young Singaporeans who prove
this point every week in these pages.

We are freer than we think we are. The trick is whether you want to
concentrate on the few things you cannot do or the many things you can do.

The writer, 27, recently completed a master's in theatre studies at
the National University of Singapore

FREEDOM NEEDS RULES

Today, we are free to believe what we want... to say it boldly in a
country where the rules exist to keep the hate out of speech.

Some might see that as a restriction on freedom of speech.

I honestly think it is good that we are not allowed to shoot our
mouths off and spread hate and intolerance.

Time: A Passionate Poet from Straitlaced Singapore (Nov 28)

Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007
A Passionate Poet from Straitlaced Singapore
By Ishaan Tharoor

It is one of the more delicious workings of karma that Singapore, which criminalizes homosexuality, should have as its leading young poet an openly gay man. But while Cyril Wong relishes waving "a purple flag" in socially conservative faces, his work expands beyond simple sexuality — being "just a gay poet," as he puts it — to embrace themes of love, alienation and human relationships of all kinds. His latest volume of verse, Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light, is due to be published this month, hopefully to burnish further the international reputation that the previous five collections have established for him.

Wong, 30, burst onto the scene in 2000, with Squatting Quietly. It was, like many debut collections, a document of rebellion — in this case, against the values of his Christian, middle-class Chinese upbringing, and the social alienation that his sexuality entailed. Much of the latter had been brought into stark relief during 21/2 years of national military service, during which, he jokes, he was "too campy in the camp." His natural levity masks the loneliness and vulnerability he felt in the barracks. But ultimately it was poetry, rather than humor, that gave Wong a means of working through the frustrations driving him, at times, to a suicidal state of mind. "It helped me wash my dirty linen in public," he says.

In this respect, Wong's poetry differs from that of older Singaporean poets such as Edwin Thumboo and Lee Tzu Pheng, who typically concerned themselves with questions of national and cultural identity (indeed, Thumboo has spoken of Wong's "remarkable inwardness"). Wong worries less about his cultural provenance and more about his own isolation amid the boom and bustle of the cityscape. In one poem, he bemoans his distance from his mother: she "sits in front/ of the television every day,/ afloat in a dress too large/ for her body, fanning herself/ with a magazine, feigning contentment." He compares his father, who has refused to accept Wong's sexuality, to a cockroach hiding in a chair. "We are furniture to each other," says Wong. (The two men still don't speak.)

Some of Wong's rawness was tempered in Unmarked Treasure (2004) and Like a Seed with Its Singular Purpose (2006) — two volumes praised for their probing, reflective study of love and desire. In the poem "Practical Aim" from Like a Seed, Wong asks: "After deep loss, what does the heart/ learn that it has not already understood/ about regret? When all light finally/ forsakes a room, do we take the time/ to interrogate the dark, and to what end?" Other poems simmer with sexual energy; an aircraft landing on the tarmac becomes heady foreplay with the "slow lick of its wheels/ against the runway's/ belly."

Wong ran afoul of Singapore's censors when they threatened to pull National Arts Council funding from his second volume due to the gay content of some poems. But he learned to cope with the restrictions, and they haven't prevented him from attaining mainstream acceptance, represented by his winning the Singapore Literary Prize in 2006. If he's proud, Wong doesn't show it. Self-deprecating and mirthful, he describes himself as lazy, living off his partner's patience and generosity. Though he cites the succinct, confessional styles of American poets Sharon Olds and Raymond Carver as his most direct influences, he feels little in common with contemporary American poetry, which he sees as solipsistic. "There's a boring sameness to it all," he says. "I wish they would stop harping on about their penises and their nose hairs."

Not that Wong has been above some of that in the past. But his recent work strikes boldly into new territory. Tilting the Plates emphasizes the musicality of poetry rather more than his previous collections, while taking as its core a love story between two shape-shifting Hindu deities. Like those beings, the poet also enjoys inhabiting different avatars. At literary festivals from Adelaide to Edinburgh, Wong, a trained opera singer, has been known to "invoke Whitney Houston," belting out renditions of I Will Always Love You that leave stunned fellow authors wondering how they are going to follow on. If straitlaced Singapore is unhappy about being represented by charming camp like that, well, you could call it poetic justice.

FCC Service: Transformation Series, Speaker: Gary Chan (Nov 25)

SUNDAY SERVICE (ENGLISH)
25 Nov 2007 (Sun) - 10.30am
All are welcome!

BRAND NEW LOCATION!
FCC Main Hall
56 Geylang Lor 23
Level 3, Century Technology Building


Speaker
GARY CHAN
Transformation Series

Worship Leader - PAUL WANG
Keyboards - VICTOR LEE
Vocals - SHANE LOO, WAILING LIONG
Guitars - KELVIN NG
Drums - JIMMY TAN
Sound - QING LONG LUO
Video - FOO KEONG YAP
Prayer - JORG DIETZEL
Communion - JONATHAN FOONG

Service Pastor - PETER GOH

ST Insight: Secularism - not from theory but bloody history (Nov 24)

Nov 24, 2007
THINKING ALOUD
Secularism - not from theory but bloody history
By Janadas Devan

MY COLLEAGUE Chua Mui Hoong wrote an invaluable piece last week, 'Rules of engagement for God and politics' (ST, Nov 16).

She argued that the only basis upon which the religious of different faiths, as much as the non-religious, can intervene in discussions of public policy is to appeal to a 'public reason' common to all.

Religion may influence one's view on an issue, Ms Chua, a person of faith herself, acknowledged. 'But when arguing your case in the political arena, you need to present arguments understandable and acceptable to those of different faiths.'

Like Assistant Professor Tan Seow Hon, who wrote a piece last month making a similar point, Ms Chua quoted the American philosopher John Rawls, who first used the term 'public reason', as authority. As authorities go, the late Professor Rawls, who died in 2002, is impeccable. That people of different faiths - Ms Chua, Prof Tan and I
- can find common cause in the centrality of 'public reason', testifies to the theoretical scope and force of his arguments.

But it is important to note, too, that secularism is not just theory. Theory is important - and some political theorists, like Prof Rawls, are especially important - but secularism did not issue from theory. Nor did it issue from the debate on Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code. Nor did it issue from Mr Lee Kuan Yew asking the late Mr S. Rajaratnam one day to pen the Pledge - 'We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion.'

There is a history, a politics - bloody experience - behind the secular state. If we forget that history, the most finely wrought theories would be worse than useless. Like the 'strongest oaths', they would be like 'straw to the fire i' the blood', as Shakespeare put it.

In Singapore's case, the founding generation's uncompromising commitment to the secular state arose from their experience of the terrifying race riots of 1964, which were not totally unconnected to religion, and the searing two years Singapore spent in Malaysia.

They also remembered the Maria Hertogh riots of 1950, sparked by a court decision to return custody of Maria, then aged 13, to her biological Catholic Dutch mother after she had been raised as a Muslim by her adoptive Malay family. Eighteen people were killed in those riots.

And that was a minor tempest compared to what happened in India in 1947-48, just three years earlier. Singapore's founding generation came to political consciousness in the 1940s. Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, when the British Raj began to be dismantled and people long suppressed found utterance. Singapore's founding
generation witnessed Jawaharlal Nehru - a much admired figure in the anti-colonial movement and a forceful advocate of secularism - being stunned by the absolute ferocity of the Hindu-Muslim riots that accompanied the partition of British India. An estimated one million people died.

And behind all this searing direct experience, there is the history of the longue duree. How did secularism arise in the West? Not from theory.

It emerged out of the Peace of Westphalia (1648), the treaties which ended the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) and the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648), pitting Catholics against Protestants. The Westphalian system established the principle of cuius regio, eius religio - 'whose the region, his the religion' - which stopped the carnage; and that
principle slowly gave rise to freedom of religion being enshrined as a human right.

And what carnage it took to get to that point! Historians estimate that in 1618, at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, the population in the territory that now constitutes Germany was roughly 21million. By 1648, it had shrunk to about 13million.

That is a casualty rate close to 40per cent, way beyond genocidal levels. Hitler, Stalin and Mao were prodigious monsters, but even they never quite came close, in proportionate terms, to inflicting on their societies the kind of destruction that warring Catholics and Protestants visited on theirs in 17th-century Europe.

The Enlightenment absorbed this history. The writers of the United States Constitution were the heirs of the Enlightenment. It was history that produced that first sentence in the US Bill of Rights: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.' That was a tremendous thing that America's founding fathers did, for nobody anywhere had ever said anything like that before. Their vision came from experience. Theory was there, but it was informed by history.

To return to Singapore: People who argue - as some have in this paper, pressing for a greater role for religion in public policy - that Singapore is not as secular as the US do not understand either Singapore's history or politics.

In some respects, Singapore is more secular than the US. Singapore's Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, for instance, explicitly bars religion from politics. Its Societies Act has been used to disband certain religious sects. The US State Department routinely utters a mild tut-tut for these 'restrictions on religious freedom' in Singapore. It does not understand religion can still be a 17th-century
affair in many parts of the world.

It is not possible in Singapore for any politician to go before the electorate and say: 'I'm a Buddhist, a Muslim, whatever - vote for me.' It is not possible for temples, mosques and churches to be mobilised for political purposes.

Nothing in the US Constitution prevents either. All it says is that Congress cannot establish a state religion. But US politicians can, and do, make religious appeals; and churches have been mobilised for electoral purposes - African-American churches for Democrats and evangelical churches for Republicans.

But in some respects, Singapore is less strictly secular. The state helps to fund mosque-building and mission schools, for instance. Such compromises arose from either pragmatic political considerations - to reassure Malay/ Muslims, especially after Separation; or from pragmatic public policy considerations - mission schools, among the best in Singapore, had to be incorporated into the public school system.

But even here, there are limits. For instance, Muslim girls have been barred from wearing the headscarf or tudung in schools, so as to maintain their 'common secular space'.

And in 1992, the Ministry of Education reminded mission schools of Article 16 (3) of the Singapore Constitution, which states: 'No person shall be required to receive instruction in or take part in any ceremony or act of worship of a religion other than his own.' Students cannot be compelled to attend religious service, mission school principals were told.

Why is it necessary to send such strong, unambiguous signals? Because religion is 'a very profound and fundamental tectonic divide', as MM Lee put it once. He did not learn that from Prof Rawls.

And because more Singaporeans are leaning towards 'strongly held exclusive beliefs' and 'this trend is part of a worldwide religious revival', as the 1989 White Paper on Religious Harmony put it. That did not come from Prof Rawls either.

To deny religion a formal role in either politics or public policy does not mean - can never mean - denying the religious of whatever faith a role as citizens. The secular state is neither atheist nor agnostic; it is simply neutral on questions of faith. And this neutrality must involve respecting the immeasurable value of each
soul, religious or otherwise, or neutrality would have no meaning.

But the secular state must also insist that every soul has to relate to other souls, within the common space shared by all, in terms, not of this or that faith, but of a public reason accessible to all.

It is absolutely crucial, though, to realise that this demand does not issue from theory. It is enforced by history, experience - and not mine or yours, but humanity's. There is an extraordinary wealth of bitter experience pointing to the ethical superiority of secular societies.

Those who forget this bitter experience will be condemned to retaste it.

janadas@sph.com.sg

AFP: Singapore OKs concert by US gay couple (Nov 23)

Singapore OKs concert by US gay couple

SINGAPORE (AFP) — In a rare move, Singapore has given approval for an American gay couple to perform next month as part of a concert to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS.

The Los Angeles-based Christian gay couple Jason and deMarco were barred in 2005 from performing in the city-state.

But the Media Development Authority (MDA) said it had approved a concert this time because organisers had given assurances that they aimed to highlight the HIV/AIDS issue.

"In 2005, a similar concert featuring the pop duo was disallowed because the concert was open to general members of the public," the MDA's deputy director for arts and licensing, Amy Tsang, said in a statement Thursday.

She said concert organisers have "given the assurance to MDA that the concert is targeted at the high risk groups.

"The organiser has also assured MDA that the aim of the concert is AIDS education and HIV prevention," she said.

The duo is to perform on December 13, the Today newspaper reported.

Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's second minister for information, communications and the arts, has said the city-state was liberalising but retained a very strong conservative core.

As part of major revisions to the Penal Code approved by parliament last month, Singapore legalised oral and anal sex between heterosexual couples but retained a law which criminalises intercourse between gay men.

TodayOnline: Once-banned gay pop duo given green light for concert here (Nov 22)

Once-banned gay pop duo given green light for concert here

Thursday • November 22, 2007

Alicia Wong
alicia@mediacorp.com.sg

IN A sign that authorities are prepared to work with civil society groups to tackle the HIV problem, a once-banned gay pop duo has been given the green light to take part in a concert here next month.

And the HIV Outreach, Prevention and Empowerment (Hope) Concert will have as its guest of honour, Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Information, Communications and the Arts).

The gay duo, Jason and deMarco, had a planned performance here cancelled two years ago after the Media Development Authority (MDA) rejected an application by the organiser, Safehaven, a gay-affirmative Christian support group, for an Arts and Entertainment Licence.

The MDA had then cited "alternative lifestyles are against the public interest" as its ground for rejection.

Explaining its change of heart, the MDA said that the organisers had assured the authority that the aim of the Dec 13 concert is Aids education and HIV prevention.

"The organiser for this concert has rated the performance R18 and has given the assurance to MDA that the concert is targeted at the high-risk group," said Ms Amy Tsang, MDA's Deputy Director (Arts & Licensing) of the Media Content Division in an email reply to Today.

Dr Balaji's scheduled attendance at the concert is not surprising since he had earlier touched on the need for the authorities and non-governmental organisations to work together in tackling the spread of HIV.

Out of the 357 new HIV cases reported in Singapore last year, 26 per cent were contracted through homosexual sex.

In an interview with this newspaper in August, Dr Balaji noted that in the Australian state of New South Wales, the number of HIV cases reported each year had, on the whole, been dropping over the past decade.

Dr Balaji had earlier went on a study trip to Sydney, accompanied by Ministry of Health (MOH) officials and representatives from Action for Aids (AFA), gay web site Fridae.com and Oogachaga, a local gay and lesbian affirmative counselling agency.

Referring to the Sydney trip, Mr Paul Toh, AFA's Director for fund-raising and programmes, said yesterday: " I guess the Government has learnt from other developed Western countries how they can cope in terms of managing the epidemics within the alternative lifestyle community."

Mr Toh said while everyone has a role to play in addressing the HIV problem, the Government "bears more weight" because it has the "political will to move things at a faster pace".

Jointly organised by AFA and Safehaven, the HOPE Concert aims to raise awareness on HIV and Aids in the gay community, said Mr Alphonsus Lee, the chairman of Safehaven.

The concert will be held at the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre, which can house a 1,100-strong audience. The one-night only performance will also involve local artists such as Chua Enlai as MC, Hossan Leong and Selena Tan.

Concert tickets are available only through AFA and restricted channels, such as nightclubs, saunas and gay website Fridae.com.

"We are very conscious of the mainstream view of such a concert and we would like to be respectful of their views ... So, we are willing to restrict ourselves," said Mr Lee.

Although this is a "once-off event the official nod for the HOPE concert is "good news" since it will help increase local Aids and HIV awareness, said Mr Bryan Choong of Oogachaga.

AP: Chicago Lutheran Church Ordains Lesbian (Nov 20)

Chicago Lutheran Church Ordains Lesbian

A Lutheran church in Chicago has ordained a lesbian who refuses to take a vow of celibacy, becoming the first to test a new resolution that gives bishops leeway in disciplining such violations.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America requires vows of celibacy for gay but not for heterosexual clergy -- a policy the Reverend Jen Rude, 27, calls discriminatory.

Chicago's bishop, Wayne Miller, did not try to block Rude's ordination at Resurrection Lutheran Church on Saturday, but he also didn't attend the ceremony. While he has said he believes the celibacy rule should reversed, he also has urged bishops to follow rules set by the church.

''My goal is to keep people in the conversation, and I do not see this as an issue that should be dividing the church,'' he said before the church ordained Rude.

Rude, whose father and grandfather are both Lutheran ministers, expressed gratitude to the congregation.

''It's meaningful to me in the sense that my call is being affirmed not only by God, but the people of God,'' she said.

Some of the more than 100 members of the congregation cried as Rude stood before them during the ceremony.

''We all realized that sexual orientation has nothing to do with how well a person can minister a congregation,'' said Kathy Young, a church member.

At a national assembly in August, Evangelical Lutherans urged bishops to refrain from defrocking gay and lesbian ministers who violate the celibacy rule, but they also rejected measures that would have permitted ordaining gays churchwide.

Advocates for full inclusion of gays were encouraged at the time, calling the resolution a powerful statement in support of clergy with same-sex partners. Conservatives, however, said bishops would feel more secure in ignoring denomination policy.

Miller said he met with Resurrection's congregation last month to discuss the possible consequences of Rude's ordination if national church leaders decide to enforce the policy later. Among those consequences: the congregation could be expelled from the denomination.

Like other mainline Protestant groups, the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been struggling for decades to reconcile differences on the issue.

An ELCA task force is near the end of an eight-year study on human sexuality, which is expected to culminate in the 2009 release of a statement that will influence church policy.

The 4.8 million-member ELCA is the country's largest Lutheran denomination. (AP)

Come to the HOPE Concert (Dec 13)

The HOPE Concert (short for HIV Outreach: Prevention and Empowerment) represents Safehaven and FCC's greatest outreach event to date, simply because of the audience number (Kreta Ayer can hold a maximum of 1100 pax), and the involvement of so many different performers (Hossan Leong, Selena Tan, Jason and deMarco, and others).

The purpose of the concert is simple. To raise HIV Awareness and to get people talking. Which is also the theme of the concert: Conversations. To raise awareness, we need to get everyone talking about this strange, and often taboo, creature called HIV. We sweep the topic under the carpet so much so that no one dares to admit they are HIV positive to friends and family, when what they need most is support and encouragement. Even the officials from MOH advise you to keep quiet about your status, to avoid prejudice and bias.

To buy tickets, please email information@oursafehaven.com

Sydney Morning Herald: Selective Tolerance is not Tolerance for All (Nov 19)

Selective tolerance is not tolerance at all
Michael Kirby - Michael Kirby is a judge of the High Court of Australia. This article is based on the Griffith Lecture, which he delivered in Brisbane on Friday.

19 November 2007

Freedom of religion does not have an easy relationship with revealed religions. It is difficult for many believers to tolerate the postulate of error: the possibility that another God or earthly messenger may exist, different from their own, or indeed that there may be no God.

Lina Joy was born in Malaysia into a Muslim family. At birth she was given the name Azalina binti Jailani. In 1998 she decided to convert to Christianity. She announced her intention to marry a Christian man. Under Malaysian law she would be unable to do so unless her new status as a non-Muslim was officially recognised.

Azalina applied to change the name on her identity card to a Christian name. She was successful. However, the regulations required that the identity cards of Muslims state their religion. Therefore, when Lina Joy received her new identity card, the word Islam still appeared. In effect it stood as a barrier to her marriage.

She then applied to have the word Islam removed from her identity card. Her application was rejected. She contested the policy, invoking the Malaysian constitution, which provides that: "Islam is the religion of the federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the federation."

Upon the rejection of Lina Joy's application by both the High Court and Court of Appeal, she appealed to the Federal Court, the country's highest judicial body. She argued the requirement that she must obtain the approval of a third party to exercise her choice of religion was unconstitutional. By a majority of two to one the judges found against her. Inevitably, it was noticed that the two majority judges were Muslim. The dissenting judge was a non-Muslim.

In earlier times Christianity had a very similar approach to renouncing religion. It was most evident during the bloody wars, forced conversions and burnings of heretics that accompanied the Christian Reformation and Counter Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church of my youth in Australia did not permit Protestants to marry in its churches. This was only 50 years ago. We have overcome this sectarian divide.

It is important for those who support the universality of human rights within Islam to realise that the primary source of Islamic principles, the Koran, expressly states that "there is no compulsion in religion". The foundation of human punishment for apostasy by Muslims is essentially found in an interpretation not of the Koran but of the hadith, or recorded sayings, of the prophet Muhammad.

In Australia the case of Lina Joy has come as a surprise. We are entitled to express our concern about it. We know the one universal principle that is shared by all the world's great religions is the Golden Rule. To do unto others as you would wish them to do unto you.

One of the foremost critics of the Lina Joy decision was Dr Thio Li-ann of the National University of Singapore. She observed: "There is a certain agony about this case, which at its heart concerns a woman who wishes to make a change in religious profession and to marry and have a family."

When I read this critique I applauded Dr Thio's views. Imagine my disappointment to read the Hansard record of remarks by the same Dr Thio, a couple of weeks ago, as a member of the Parliament of Singapore, opposing proposals to repeal the criminal laws of Singapore directed against homosexual men.

Speaking from a standpoint as a Christian believer, Dr Thio rallied the opposition to reform. She denounced "the sexual libertine ethos of the wild, wild West". She declared "you cannot make a human wrong a human right". She warned against "slouching back to Sodom". We have all heard all this type of language from religious zealots in Australia. Fortunately, recent evidence suggests that we are growing up.

My point is that it is not good enough for Christians, or people of the Christian tradition, to be selective about tolerance and acceptance. We cannot selectively denounce Islam for its views on apostasy but then do equally nasty and cruel things to others by invoking imperfect understandings of our own religious tradition.

Universal human rights are needed to permit each and every one of us to fulfil ourselves as our unique human natures, intelligence and moral sense demand. For Lina Joy and her fiance this means the freedom to worship God as they believe, and to marry and live, in their own country. For a homosexual man in Singapore, it means freedom from the fear of harassment and humiliation by outdated criminal laws.

Lina Joy should have our support because she is a human being standing up for the integrity of her basic rights. Those rights are not, as the majority judges in Malaysia said of her case, her "whims and fancies". They are precious manifestations of deep-seated human feelings that express part of the very essence of what it is to be a human being.

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has criticised the Anglican Church and its leadership for its attitudes towards homosexuality.

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has criticised the Anglican Church and its leadership for its attitudes towards homosexuality.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, he said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, had failed to demonstrate that God is "welcoming".

He also repeated accusations that the Church was "obsessed" with the issue of gay priests.

He said it should rather be focusing on global problems such as Aids.

"Our world is facing problems - poverty, HIV and Aids - a devastating pandemic, and conflict," said Archbishop Tutu, 76.

"God must be weeping looking at some of the atrocities that we commit against one another.

"In the face of all of that, our Church, especially the Anglican Church, at this time is almost obsessed with questions of human sexuality."

Criticising Dr Williams, he said: "Why doesn't he demonstrate a particular attribute of God's which is that God is a welcoming God."

'Extraordinarily homophobic'

Archbishop Tutu referred to the debate about whether Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, could serve as the bishop of New Hampshire.

He said the Anglican Church had seemed "extraordinarily homophobic" in its handling of the issue, and that he had felt "saddened" and "ashamed" of his church at the time.

Asked if he still felt ashamed, he said: "If we are going to not welcome or invite people because of sexual orientation, yes.

"If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God."

Dr Williams has been working to limit divisions between liberal and traditionalist Anglicans that came to the fore following Bishop Robinson's consecration in 2003.

Following his plea for compromise, leaders of the Episcopal Church in the US agreed to halt the consecration of gay priests as bishops, to prevent a split in the Anglican Communion.

In the interview, Archbishop Tutu also rebuked religious conservatives who said homosexuality was a choice.

"It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual.

"You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred.

"It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society."

Gamespot: Singapore unbans Mass Effect (Nov 16)

Singapore unbans Mass Effect
Media Development Authority has a rethink, decides girl-on-alleged-girl love is ok after all.

Yesterday news arrived that gamers in Singapore weren't going to be able to get their hands on the highly anticipated Xbox 360 sci-fi action role-playing game Mass Effect.

The game was banned in the country after the Media Development Authority objected to a scene in which the main character (if selected to be a woman) kissed and caressed an alien character of female appearance as part of a romantic subplot.

Today, however, The Straits Times is reporting that the ban has been lifted and the game has been issued an M18 rating instead.

The Board of Film Censors issued a statement saying it would be creating a games-classification system in January, and in the interim, it would be selectively using game ratings to "enable highly anticipated games to be launched in Singapore."

To date, Singapore has been the only country to ban Mass Effect, however temporarily.

ST Forum Online: The key difference between homosexuality and abortion/capital punishment (Nov 16)

Nov 16, 2007
The key difference between homosexuality and abortion/capital punishment

I REFER to the humorously written letter by Mr Peter Lee Peng Eng (Online forum, Nov 10), who commented that NMP Thio Li-Ann should also speak up equally fervently on other moral issues that the Singapore laws condoned in order not to be branded as a hypocrite. Specifically, Mr Lee exhorted NMP Thio to speak up against abortion
and capital punishment because 'Christianity does not condone killing another human being'.

To correct Mr Lee's confusion, I believe that most major religions do not condone killing of another innocent human being. Hence by logical extension, abortion is frowned upon by most religious orders.

Of course, strong emotive arguments abound between pro-life and pro-choice advocates, especially with regard to rape victims who become pregnant or when the mother's life is being threatened. On the other hand, most major religions also permit capital punishments though the conditions differ somewhat from religion to religion. As a secular society, we can certainly debate on which crimes are heinous enough to deserve capital punishment.

However, Mr Lee missed the point when he chose to lump the debate on Section 377A with that of abortion and capital punishment.

Perhaps he was too busy to read NMP Thio's parliamentary speech, so allow me to quote one section of her speech - 'It is true that not all moral wrongs, such as adultery, are criminalised; yet they retain their stigma. But adulterers know they have done wrong and do not lobby for toleration of adultery as a sexual orientation right.'

Similarly, those who had undergone abortion(s) or administered capital punishment (or committed adultery for that matter) are not thumping their chest with pride over what they had done.

In arguing for Section 377A to be repealed, the supporters in Singapore ultimately want homosexuality to be accepted by society and possibly celebrated (in future) as an alienable right, similar to race, language or religion. This is the key difference in this debate that Mr Lee should be cognisant of.

Alex Tan Tuan Loy

EDGE Boston: Singapore Bans XBox 360 Game for Lesbian Content (Nov 15)

Singapore Bans XBox 360 Game for Lesbian Content
by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Boston Contributor
Thursday Nov 15, 2007

Gamers in Singapore won’t be seeing the new XBox 360 offering Mass Effect, it was announced Thursday. The reason: a scene showing two women in a lesbian encounter.

An AFP news item posted today cited a statement from Singapore’s Board of Film Censors, in which it was announced that because of "a scene of lesbian intimacy," the Board has determined that "the game has been disallowed" for consumption by Singapore residents.

Mass Effect is scheduled to the worldwide market next week, the AFP article said.

The statement was made by the deputy director of the Board, which operates under Singapore’s Media Development Authority. Singapore is known for its close censorship of media.

Mass Effect is not the only video game to be banned there. The statement reference precedents: a game called God of War II was barred from Singapore because of depictions of nudity, while another title, The Darkness, ran afoul of censors for its level of violent action, as well as for foul and religiously disrespectful language, the AFP article said.

The deputy director said that games for sale in Singapore are not allowed to "feature exploitative or gratuitous sex and violence, or denigrate any race or religion."

Microsoft, which manufactures the X Box gaming platform, answered AFP’s query via email, the story said.

Read the note from the US firm, "We strictly adhere to the laws, regulations and norms of the markets we operate in."

Besides its strong censorship, Singapore is known for its anti-gay legislation. Just last month, oral and anal sexual contact between heterosexuals was decriminalized, but sexual contact between gays remains illegal, AFP reported.

Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.

AFP: Singapore bans Xbox game over lesbian scene (Nov 15)

Singapore bans Xbox game over lesbian scene

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore has banned the sale of an Xbox video game that features an intimate scene between two female characters, a statement received Thursday said.

The "Mass Effect" game, a futuristic space adventure, contains "a scene of lesbian intimacy... as such the game has been disallowed," the deputy director of the Board of Film Censors said in the statement.

The board is part of the Media Development Authority (MDA), Singapore's media watchdog.

Under local guidelines, video games sold in Singapore cannot "feature exploitative or gratuitous sex and violence, or denigrate any race or religion," the official said.

"Mass Effect" is to be launched globally next week.

US software giant Microsoft, maker of the Xbox gaming console, said it respected the media watchdog's action.

"We strictly adhere to the laws, regulations and norms of the markets we operate in," the company said in an e-mail reply to AFP.

MDA said a new video games classification system to be introduced next year could allow titles such as "Mass Effect" to be passed and classified appropriately.

Singapore is Southeast Asia's most advanced economy but the government maintains strict censorship laws.

Earlier this year the city-state banned two other video games, "God of War II" for nudity and "The Darkness" for excessive violence and religiously offensive expletives, the statement said.

Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's second minister for information, communications and the arts, has said the city-state was liberalising but retained a very strong conservative core.

As part of major revisions to the Penal Code approved by parliament last month, Singapore legalised oral and anal sex between heterosexual couples but retained a law which criminalises intercourse between gay men.

DPA: Irate gamers blast banning of game with same-sex love scene (Nov 15)

Irate gamers blast banning of game with same-sex love scene

Nov 15, 2007, 2:28 GMT

Singapore - Irate gamers criticized Singapore's censors Thursday for banning a highly anticipated space adventure game containing a sex scene between a human woman and a female alien.

The game, called Mass Effect, is the first from Microsoft to be prohibited in the city-state. It was to be launched next week.

Microsoft submitted Mass Effect last week to the Media Development Authority (MDA) as part of the routine procedure to get games distributed.

'We respect MDA's decision,' a company spokesman said.

The scene triggering the ban depicts the human-alien duo in suggestive positions and ends with the alien saying, 'By the Gods, that was incredible, Commander.'

Homosexual scenes in other media such as films are rarely allowed and shown only if they do not promote a gay lifestyle.

Germaine Ong, deputy editor of a local website, told The Straits Times that she has received many complaints from gamers.

'Banning the game because of one scene has caused a huge backlash from gamers, and I don't think it is worth it,' she was quoted as saying.

'People will just try to buy it from overseas sites or download from illegal sites, which is a step backward for us.'

Two other games were banned in the past, one for nudity and the other for excessive violence and religiously offensive expletives.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

TODAYOnline: You are not welcome here, club tells Leona Lo (Nov 12)

You are not welcome here, club tells Leona Lo

Monday • November 12, 2007

Phin Wong
phin@mediacorp.com.sg

She has written about life as a transsexual woman and has given talks on transsexual issues. But on early Saturday morning, Ms Leona Lo was asked to leave a Clarke Quay nightspot, apparently for being a "lady boy".

Ms Lo was at The Pump Room with a Singaporean Chinese man and woman and an American Chinese man.

She said in an email to the media: "The bouncer … asked one of my friends if he knew me. My friend replied 'Yes'. Still, the bouncer … asked me to show him my ID. He said the bar did not welcome 'lady boys'."

Ms Lo told Today she refused to show him her identity card because it was unfair that she was "being singled out". Ms Lo and her friends then left the bar.

Her IC states her sex as "female".

A spokesperson for The Pump Room would neither confirm nor deny the incident yesterday, saying there was not enough time to investigate the matter.

Mr William Graham, director of the club, said: "The Pump Room has no general policy to exclude any particular groups other than the age guidelines we publish.

"We do however reserve the right to refuse entry, at our discretion, to any individuals whom we feel are not in adherence to our entry policy.

"For example, if the customer does not adhere to our dress code, is below our age guidelines, or if we feel they might create a disturbance or misbehave in the establishment based on prior experience, we might not welcome them."

According to the bar's staff, the age limit is 21 for women and 23 for men on Fridays and Saturdays, and 18 for everyone on other days. The dress code bars sandals, slippers, shorts and sleeveless shirts.

Ms Lo, 32, said she was wearing a "typical silver dress".

"I've been there before. The band has even sung 'Happy Birthday' to me," she said.

In her email, she added: "Ironically, Pump Room's anchor band is Jive Talking, which features a transgender lead singer."

Ms Lo recently launched From Leonard To Leona, a book chronicling her experience as a post-operation transsexual. She underwent sex assignment surgery in 1997 in Thailand.