AP: Lesbian Couple of 55 Years Ready to Say "I Do" (June 14)

Lesbian Couple of 55 Years Ready to Say "I Do"

Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin fell in love at a time when lesbians risked being arrested, fired from their jobs and sent to electroshock treatment.

On Monday afternoon, more than a half-century after they became a couple, Lyon and Martin plan to become the first same-sex couples to legally exchange marriage vows in San Francisco and among the first in the state.

''It was something you wanted to know, 'Is it really going to happen?' And now it's happened, and maybe it can continue to happen,'' Lyon said.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to officiate at the private ceremony in his City Hall office before 50 invited guests. He picked Martin, 87, and Lyon, 84, for the front of the line in recognition of their long relationship and their status as pioneers of the gay rights movement.

Along with six other women, they founded a San Francisco social club for lesbians in 1955 called the Daughters of Bilitis. Under their leadership, it evolved into the nation's first lesbian advocacy organization. They have the FBI files to prove it.

Their ceremony Monday will, in fact, be a marriage do-over.

In February 2004, San Francisco's new mayor decided to challenge California's marriage laws by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. His advisers and gay rights activists knew right away which couple would put the most compelling human face on the issue: Martin and Lyon.

Back then, the couple planned to celebrate their 51st anniversary as live-in lovers on Valentine's Day. Because of their work with the Daughters, they also were icons in the gay community.

''Four years ago, when they agreed to be married, it was in equal parts to support the mayor and to support the idea that lesbians and gay people formed committed relationships and should have those relationships respected,'' says Kate Kendell, a close friend and executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Lyon and Martin vividly recall the excitement of being secretly swept into the clerk's office, saying ''I do'' in front of a tiny group of city staff members and friends, and then being rushed out of the building. There were no corsages, no bottles of champagne. Afterward they went to lunch, just the two of them, at a restaurant run as a job training program for participants in a substance abuse program.

''Of course, nobody down there knew, so we were left to be by ourselves like we wanted to be,'' said Martin, the less gregarious of the two. ''Then we came home.''

''And watched TV,'' added Lyon.

The privacy was short-lived. Their wedding portrait, showing the couple cradling each other in pastel-colored pantsuits with their foreheads tenderly touching, drew worldwide attention.

Same-sex marriage would become legal in Massachusetts in another three months, but San Francisco's calculated act of civil disobedience drove the debate.

In the month that followed, more than 4,000 other couples followed Martin and Lyon down the aisle before a judge acting on petitions brought by gay marriage opponents halted the city's spree.

The state Supreme Court ultimately voided the unions, but the women were among the two dozen couples who served as plaintiffs in the lawsuits that led the same court last month to overturn California's ban on gay marriage.

They were having their morning coffee when Lyon heard the news on the radio. She rushed across the house to embrace Martin. Not long after, Newsom called to offer congratulations and to ask if they would be willing to be at the forefront yet again.

''Sure,'' was the answer they gave.

The couple, who live in the same San Francisco house they bought in 1956, do not get out much now. Martin needs a wheelchair to get around. Although they plan to briefly greet well-wishers at City Hall after the ceremony, they are having a private reception for friends and family.

''It's so endearing because they do seem excited and a little bit nervous,'' Kendell said. ''It's like the classic feelings anyone has as their wedding day approaches.''

Because a few other clerk's offices agreed to stay open until the court's decision becomes final at 5 p.m. PDT, other couples planning late afternoon weddings may already have tied the knot before the mayor pronounces Lyon and Martin ''spouses for life.''

They don't mind. They know they already are.

''We get along well,'' Lyon said. ''And we love each other.''

''I love you, too,'' Martin said. (Lisa Leff, AP)

AP: Methodists attend gay union ceremony near church convention (May 2)

Methodists attend gay union ceremony near church convention

By ANGELA K. BROWN – 2 days ago

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — More than 200 Methodists attended a lesbian couple's commitment ceremony Friday in defiance of a vote to uphold a church law that says gay relationships are "incompatible with Christian teaching."

The ceremony was at a park across from the Fort Worth Convention Center, where some 3,000 people are meeting for the United Methodist Church's general conference. It is held every four years to set church policy.

Methodists this week rejected replacing a sentence in its Book of Discipline — which says the church "does not condone the practice of homosexuality" — with other phrases, including one saying Christians differ on the issue. The measure to change the language also was rejected at the last conference in 2004.

Methodists this week also voted against a proposal to change a policy allowing pastors to keep gays and lesbians from joining the denomination's churches.

"There was a lot of robust debate as there has been for 36 years, particularly over the phrase that refers to 'incompatible,'" said the Rev. Gregory V. Palmer, president of the church's Council of Bishops. He also called for finding common ground.

At the ceremony, some said that acceptance of gays in some churches encouraged them but that the denomination as a whole had a long way to go.

No clergy member presided over the commitment ceremony of Julie Bruno and Sue Laurie of Chicago, a couple for 25 years, although about three dozen ministers attended.

Officiating at a same-sex union ceremony violates church rules for clergy and would leave them vulnerable to being charged in Methodist church courts. In 1999, a senior pastor in Omaha, Neb., was defrocked after a church trial for performing a same-sex union.

"The United Methodist Church has been and continues to be both blessing and burden to us," said Julie Bruno, one of the women getting married. "When the church turns her back on us, withholds blessing from us, does God withhold blessing? Does God stop loving us? We continue to be the church to and for each other. We continue to be the instruments of God's light and love."

The Rev. Julie Todd spoke during the Friday ceremony and led the communion. Afterward, she said she doubted her role would subject her to any church disciplinary action, but if so she was prepared.

"I believe so strongly that this is the role of the church and of the ordained clergy in blessing loving relationships that I am not concerned about the consequences," Todd said.

After the service, Laurie and Bruno said they turned down many ministers' offers to officiate.

"The message was less about upsetting people and more about being role models and for people to know that these ceremonies are going on," Laurie said.
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AP: Tens of Thousands Rally in Spain in Defense of Traditional Family (Jan 2)

Tens of Thousands Rally in Spain in Defense of Traditional Family

Tens of thousands of people in predominantly Roman Catholic Spain rallied Sunday in Madrid to defend the traditional family in a country where the government has legalized same-sex marriage and facilitated divorce.

The crowd roared when Pope Benedict XVI appeared on giant TV screens in a live hookup from St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, praising the crowd.

The pope, speaking during the traditional noon Sunday Angelus prayer, said the family is ''based on the unbreakable union of man and woman and represents the privileged environment where human life is welcomed and protected from the beginning to its natural end.''

''It is worthwhile to work for the family and marriage because it is worthwhile to work for the human being, the most precious being created by God,'' the pope said, speaking in Spanish. He urged parents to bring up their children with respect for the moral values that give dignity to human life.

It was Benedict's latest appeal for the traditional family, a central theme of his papacy. The Vatican has campaigned against proposals to legalize same-sex marriage and denounced Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government for passing a law recognizing such unions.

The rally filled a central intersection, Plaza de Colon, and spilled over into neighboring streets. No crowd estimates were available.

The president of the Spanish Bishops Conference, Ricardo Blazquez, said the term ''traditional family'' often is interpreted as an anachronism.

But, he said, the traditional family ''is rooted in human nature itself.''

''Its validity is a thing of yesterday, today, and tomorrow,'' he said. (Daniel Woolls, AP)

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)

AP: Singapore reforms sex laws - but not for homosexuals (Oct 24)

Associated Press
Wednesday October 24, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

MPs in Singapore have legalised oral and anal sex for adult heterosexuals but kept the ban on gay sex, saying that the bill was what citizens in the conservative island state wanted.

The reforms, which were passed on Tuesday, represent the most extensive revision of the conservative city state's penal code in more than two decades.

The changes mean oral and anal sex between consenting heterosexual adults is no longer an offense but section 377A, which deals with oral and anal sex between consenting men, remains in force.

The "gross indecency" offence carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail although it is rarely punished in Singapore, which has a thriving gay community.

"Singapore is basically a conservative society," the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, told MPs before the vote. "The family is the basic building block of this society. And by family in Singapore we mean one man, one woman, marrying, having children and bringing up children within that framework of a stable family unit."

Mr Lee also warned gay rights activists against forcing the issue, which he said had become an emotional and divisive matter that was best left to evolve gradually.

"The more gay activists push this agenda, the stronger will be the push-back from conservative forces," Mr Lee said. "The result will be counterproductive because it's going to lead to less space for the gay community in Singapore."

A petition for homosexual sex to be legalised was signed by 2,341 people over three days. Supporters said the government's plan to legalise only oral and anal sex for heterosexual adults was unjust.

Stuart Koe, one of the petitioners and chief executive of the Hong Kong-based group Fridae.com, an online community of gays and lesbians in Asia, said: "We're obviously very disappointed ... but the petitioners feel that the way moving forward probably would not be to continue politicising or lobbying directly for a repeal, but working with society and within the community to try to foster a greater understanding."

Other amendments included a ban on necrophilia, tougher penalties for sex with minors under 14, and penalties for men who rape their wives, in some instances.

AP: Singapore Lawmakers Debate Petition to Abolish Gay Sex Ban (Oct 22)

SINGAPORE —

A group of Singaporeans submitted a petition to decriminalize gay sex to Parliament on Monday, saying a government proposal to legalize oral and anal sex for heterosexual adults only was unjust.

The petition, signed by 2,341 people in three days, was presented to lawmakers as part of a debate Monday on the most extensive revision of the city-state's penal code in 23 years.

Under the proposed legislative changes, oral and anal sex between consenting heterosexual adults would no longer be considered an offense. But Section 377a, which deals with the same acts between men, would remain in force with a maximum penalty of two years in jail.

Ho Peng Kee, senior minister of state for law and home affairs, said the nation was keeping the ban on gay sex because it was what the majority of Singaporeans desired.

"Public feedback on this issue has been emotional, divided, and strongly expressed, with the majority calling for its retention," Ho said. "Singaporeans are still a largely conservative society — the majority find homosexual behavior offensive and unacceptable."

Ho said authorities would continue to not actively enforce the provision banning gay sex. He said the law has been used in instances when minors were exploited and abused or when male adults committed the offense in public.

While saying gays have "a place in society," Ho said repealing section 377a "may send the wrong signal that government is endorsing a homosexual lifestyle as a part of our mainstream way of life."

But Siew Kum Hong, the lawmaker who presented the petition to Parliament, said it was not the objective of criminal law to reflect the morality of the majority.

"In times past and in other countries, public morality has been used to justify slavery, discrimination against racial and religious minorities and discrimination against women," Siew said. "Let us not perpetuate or repeat the mistakes of others in the past."

Stuart Koe, an AIDS activist and one of the petitioners, said keeping the ban without actively enforcing it risked bringing disrepute to the law.

"It's like having a gun put to your head but no one pulling the trigger. Either put the gun down, or pull the trigger. Decide what you want to do," said Koe, who is also chief executive of Hong Kong-based Fridae.com, an Internet-based community of gays and lesbians in Asia.

Singapore has a thriving gay community that Koe estimates at between 200,000 and 300,000 people out of a population of 4.5 million.

The petition was met with a petition from another group for the retention of the law. The group said it had collected 15,560 signatures.

AP: Largest Study Yet Seeks DNA Clues on Homosexuality (Oct 17)

October 17, 2007
Largest Study Yet Seeks DNA Clues on Homosexuality

Julio and Mauricio Cabrera are gay brothers who are convinced their sexual orientation is as deeply rooted as their Mexican ancestry. They are among 1,000 pairs of gay brothers taking part in the largest study to date seeking genes that may influence whether people are gay.

The Cabreras hope the findings will help silence critics who say homosexuality is an immoral choice.

If fresh evidence is found suggesting genes are involved, perhaps homosexuality will be viewed as no different than other genetic traits like height and hair color, said Julio, a student at DePaul University in Chicago.

Adds his brother: ''I think it would help a lot of folks understand us better.''

The federally funded study, led by Chicago-area researchers, will rely on blood or saliva samples to help scientists search for genetic clues to the origins of homosexuality. Parents and straight brothers also are being recruited.

While initial results aren't expected until next year -- and won't provide a final answer -- skeptics are already attacking the methods and disputing the presumed results.

Previous studies have shown that sexual orientation tends to cluster in families, though that doesn't prove genetics is involved. Extended families may share similar child-rearing practices, religion and other beliefs that could also influence sexual orientation.

Research involving identical twins, often used to study genetics since they share the same DNA, has had mixed results.

One widely cited study in the 1990s found that if one member of a pair of identical twins was gay, the other had a 52% chance of being gay. In contrast, the result for pairs of non-twin brothers was 9%. A 2000 study of Australian identical twins found a much lower chance.

Alan Sanders of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute, the lead researcher of the new study, said he suspects there isn't one so-called ''gay gene.''

It is more likely there are several genes that interact with nongenetic factors, including psychological and social influences, to determine sexual orientation, said Sanders, a psychiatrist.

Still, he said, ''If there's one gene that makes a sizable contribution, we have a pretty good chance'' of finding it.

Many gays fear that if gay genes are identified, it could result in discrimination, prenatal testing, and even abortions to eliminate homosexuals, said Joel Ginsberg of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.

However, he added, ''If we confirm that sexual orientation is an immutable characteristic, we are much more likely to get the courts to rule against discrimination.''

There is less research on lesbians, Sanders said, although some studies suggest that male and female sexual orientation may have different genetic influences.

His new research is an attempt to duplicate and expand on a study published in 1993 involving 40 pairs of gay brothers. That hotly debated study, wrongly touted as locating ''the gay gene,'' found that gay brothers shared genetic markers in a region on the X chromosome, which men inherit from their mothers.

That implies that any genes influencing sexual orientation lie somewhere in that region.

Previous attempts to duplicate those results failed. But Sanders said that with so many participants, his study has a better chance of finding the same markers and perhaps others on different chromosomes.

If these markers appear in gay brothers but not their straight brothers or parents, that would suggest a link to sexual orientation. The study is designed to find genetic markers, not to explain any genetic role in behavior.

And Sanders said even if he finds no evidence, that won't mean genetics play no role; it may simply mean that individual genes have a smaller effect.

Skeptics include Stanton Jones, a psychology professor and provost at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. An evangelical Christian, Jones last month announced results of a study he coauthored that says it's possible for gays to ''convert'' -- changing their sexual orientation without harm.

Jones said his results suggest biology plays only a minor role in sexual orientation, and that researchers seeking genetic clues generally have a pro-gay agenda that will produce biased results.

Sanders disputed that criticism.

''We do not have a predetermined point we are trying to prove,'' he said. ''We are trying to pry some of nature's secrets loose with respect to a fundamental human trait.''

Jones acknowledged that he's not a neutral observer. His study involved 98 gays ''seeking help'' from Exodus International, a Christian group that believes homosexuals can become straight through prayer and counseling. Exodus International funded Jones's study.

The group's president, Alan Chambers, said he is a former homosexual who went straight and believes homosexuality is morally wrong.

Even if research ultimately shows that genetics play a bigger role, it ''will never be something that forces people to behave in a certain way,'' Chambers said. ''We all have the freedom to choose.''

The Cabrera brothers grew up in Mexico in a culture where ''being gay was an embarrassment,'' especially for their father, said Mauricio, 41, a car dealership employee from Olathe, Kan.

They had cousins who were gay, but Mauricio said he still felt he had to hide his sexual orientation and he struggled with his ''double life.'' Julio said having an older brother who was gay made it easier for him to accept his sexuality.

Jim Larkin, 54, a gay journalist in Flint, Mich., said the genetics study is a move in the right direction.

Given the difficulties of being gay in a predominantly straight society, homosexuality ''is not a choice someone would make in life,'' said Larkin, who is not a study participant.

He had two brothers who were gay. One died of AIDS complications; the other committed suicide. Larkin said he didn't come out until he was 26.

''I fought and I prayed and I went to Mass and I said the rosary,'' Larkin said. ''I moved away from everybody I knew...thinking maybe this will cause the feelings to subside. It doesn't.'' (Lindsey Tanner, AP)

AP: Singapore forms HIV policy panel

Singapore forms HIV policy panel

published Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Singapore has formed a national policy committee to combat a rise in the number of HIV cases, local media reported Monday.

The announcement came with the news that 137 HIV cases had been reported from July through October, bringing the total of new cases this year to 286, Channel NewsAsia quoted the Health Ministry as saying.

The small island nation has a population of 4.4 million.

"I think the biggest issue and the most important thing is testing and I think we'll be talking more about that over the next few months," said senior state minister Balaji Sadasivan, who will chair the committee. "The fight against AIDS will be a long-drawn fight."

The television station said the new committee would start work Dec. 1, World AIDS Day.

The Health Ministry said that of the 149 cases in the first six months of 2006, 94 percent were males. Most contracted the disease through sexual transmission from casual sex and sex with prostitutes in Singapore and overseas, the report said.

Fifty-nine percent of those infected were heterosexuals and 26 percent were gay, the rest being bisexuals and intravenous drug users, the ministry said.

The Health Ministry said the 137 new infections between June and October are still undergoing investigation.

As of the end of June, a total of 2,852 Singaporeans have been infected with HIV since 1985. More than 1,000 people have died.(AP)

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

AP: Transsexual drug dealer spared the cane (Jan 22)

Transsexual drug dealer spared the cane
Associated Press
published Sunday, January 22, 2006

SINGAPORE -- A court has spared a Thai transsexual drug dealer from caning because Singaporean law does not allow women to be sentenced to that punishment, a newspaper reported Friday.

Thai prostitute Mongkon Pusuwan, who underwent a sex change from male to female a decade ago, was instead sentenced on Wednesday to six years in jail after a medical report concluded that she was a woman, The Straits Times reported.

District Judge Bala Reddy handed down the sentence after the long-haired Mongkon, 37, pleaded guilty to charges including trafficking in cocaine and tablets containing ketamine, the report said.

The amount of drugs in her possession was too small for her to qualify for Singapore's mandatory death penalty for some drug cases.

Mongkon, whose passport identified her as a male, was arrested in December.

Men who commit similar crimes can be sentenced to caning. Offenders are strapped to a wooden frame and lashed across the bare buttocks with a rattan rod.

The punishment drew international attention in 1994 when American teenager Michael Fay was caned for spray-painting cars, despite objections from then-U.S. President Bill Clinton.

AP: Gay Singaporeans gather to pray in Christian church in country that outlaws homosexuality

by Wee Sui Lee
In a country where homosexual sex is punishable by prison time and the government bans gay-themed parties, the Free Community Church stands out. It is the only place of Christian worship willing to accept gays and lesbians in Singapore. " Each time, God seemed to use the people that didn't fit in to bring salvation," church leader Clarence Singam, who is gay, said at a recent Sunday service. " I wonder how many of you don't fit in, you don't feel comfortable in your skin?" he asked the 100-odd members of the congregation, using John the Baptist as an example of the "odd one out."

The Southeast Asian city-state of 4.2 million considers gay sex as "an act of gross indecency," punishable by a maximum of two years in jail. The country also has banned Asia's largest gay-themed party, Nation '05, from its shores. High-ranking government officials said such same-sex parties may be the reason for rising HIV infections in Singapore.

At the Free Community Church, however, the attitude toward sexuality is much different. " At this church, there are no prejudices, no preconceived notions," said Gary Chan, who left his old church when its leaders discovered he was gay and asked him to quit the church band. " Here, we look at people like they're clean sheets of paper," he said.

The status of the church says something about the place of gays and lesbians in Singapore. Though in practice homosexuality is often tolerated, gay sex is illegal here, and gay groups are unable to register as legitimate organizations. The church, however, has managed to circumvent regulations by registering itself as a company, meaning the worship sessions are considered private gatherings. The group has moved several times, meeting in a pub, a theater and now at a low-rise commercial building.

Leaders say they still get hate mail. " They say that this church exists that is going out, reaching out, trying to make people gay," said Susan Tang, a married housewife with three children and the only heterosexual on the church council.

Former Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in a 2003 interview with Time magazine that the straight-laced city-state was now more tolerant of homosexuals and the administration was "not going to chase you all over the place." But Goh, now senior minister, also warned homosexuals in the same interview not to "flaunt your gay rights."

The Free Community Church is not recognized by the influential National Council of Churches in Singapore, which represents Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians, among others. NCSS vice president Robert Solomon said in a statement that "the practice of homosexuality is clearly incompatible with the teachings of the Christian faith." In terms of membership, the church is a mishmash of people from various Christian denominations and its services have elements from several worship styles ---- there's a communion service, and also a Christian rock band, for instance. The congregation has no pastor, so different people preach every week.
" We cover the whole spectrum," Tang said.

At once recent service, most people in the church were ethnic Chinese, who constitute around 80 percent of the country's population. Most of Singapore's people are Buddhist, followed by Christians. The nation's other main religion, Islam, is also against homosexuality. Tang acknowledged the church has members who defy Singapore's conservative culture with a party-loving and promiscuous style, but added the church has counseling sessions to advise them to "behave responsibly."

The church's chairwoman, Jean Chong, said the church offers a place for gays and lesbians to finally find acceptance. "It took me a long time to figure out that it's OK to be gay and Christian in Singapore," she said.

AP: Singapore signs German TV deal, bans Taiwanese gay movie

Singapore signs German TV deal, bans Taiwanese gay movie

Singapore said last week it has stepped closer to its goal of becoming an Asian media and arts hub by signing a TV deal with a German company — but on the same day, said it banned a Taiwanese hit film for its gay content. Authorities nixed “Formula 17,” a Taiwanese movie about two teenage boys falling in love, after the Media Development Authority objected, saying it showed homosexuality as “normal, and a natural progression of society.”

The authority announced July 22 that Singapore’s Oak3films signed a $4.07 million deal with Germany’s FFP media to jointly produce the TV romance drama “House of Harmony.” It will be broadcast in Singapore and on Germany’s ZDF television network, the Media Development Authority said. But the authority, which is sponsoring part of the deal, said Singaporeans weren’t ready for “Formula 17,” and claimed that more than 70 percent of the city-state’s 4 million people reject homosexuality. Singapore law bans gay sex, but gays are seldom prosecuted.

AP: Singapore denies association rights to gay support group, orders to cease activities

Singapore denies association rights to gay support group, orders to cease activities

by Gillian Wong
Singapore - The Singapore government has denied freedom of association to a gay advocacy group and warned it to halt all activities, the group said Tuesday. The organization, People Like Us, has demanded that the government explain why it considers a support and advocacy group for gay people "unlawful, prejudicial to the public peace" and "contrary to the national interest," co-founder Alex Au said. "The world can rightly perceive Singapore to be an intolerant place that's refusing to move with the times," Au said.

The government warned in its formal rejection notice that the group must cease all activities, warning that members of unregistered societies face heavy punishments under the law, Au said. However, it did not specify the penalties. The Home Affairs Ministry was not immediately available for comment.

The group tried to register as a society in 1997 and was also refused, Au said. The group would follow the government's instructions and not hold further meetings, but as individuals they will continue to argue for equal rights, he said. The group will also appeal the decision to the home affairs minister, he said. People Like Us - which claims a membership of more than 1,000 - has been using the Internet to push for gay rights in the tightly controlled city-state. Singapore bans gay sex, defining it as "any act of gross indecency" - that is punishable by a maximum two years in jail - but there have been few prosecutions of homosexuals and Singaporeans are largely tolerant of gays.