365Gay: Singapore gays plan massive rally (Nov 7)

(Singapore) Singapore’s LGBT community is planning a massive rally to celebrate gay pride and chastise the government for its tough stand on homosexuality.

The event will mark a loosening of tight controls on public demonstrations at Speakers’ Corner in Hong Lim Park.

The rally is the brainchild of Roy Tan, a gay man who works in the health care industry. Tan, 50, originally planned to hold the event next week, but postponed it until next year, saying there had been such large LGBT interest he would need more time to organize it. Tan also said that he will form a committee with a number of those people who have offered help.

But he said that the event will be restricted to people from Singapore. Tan said that if foreigners were involved, it would require a police permit which might not be granted.

He said he hopes to hold a pride march around the park and then have speakers who would press for the repeal of anti-gay laws in Singapore.

Last October Singapore’s Parliament passed a sweeping revision of its penal law, eliminating sodomy as a crime for heterosexual couples but leaving in place provisions that could send gays to prison.

Under the law, anyone engaging in same-sex sodomy could face two years in prison, although police say no one has been charged in recent times.

Last August, Singapore banned a gay pride event, saying it ran counter to the city-state’s public morals.

In addition, censors refused to allow an LGBT book reading event that was to have been part of the pride celebration. A human rights forum was blocked. And a photography exhibit of of gays and lesbians was closed by police hours before it was to officially open.

The Media Development Authority balked at a book by author Ng Yi-Sheng about a young man’s fictional sexual adventures with older men including military officers and government officials.

The authority said that the book went beyond good taste and decency and disparaged public officers.

The human rights forum was to have featured Douglas Sanders, a professor emeritus in law at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University.

The forum, titled “Sexual Orientation in International Law: The Case of Asia,” was deemed contrary to public interest.

The censorship board ordered the photo exhibition closed because it showed photos of gay men and women kissing. The board said that the show violated Singapore law because it promoted “a homosexual lifestyle.”

Earlier this year, the government fined two television stations that showed gay content.

One aired an episode of a home and decor series called “Find and Design” that featured a gay couple wanting to transform their game room into a new nursery for their adopted baby.

The other ran a commercial that showed two lesbians kissing.

ST: Gay protest postponed (Nov 1)

Nov 1, 2008
Gay protest postponed
Speakers' Corner event on Nov 15 postponed to cater to strong response
By Kor Kian Beng
SINGAPORE's first outdoor gay protest at Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park on Nov 15 has been postponed to early next year.

Organiser Roy Tan, 50, a Singaporean who initiated the event, yesterday cited the overwhelming response from the gay community as a key reason for the date change.

The event was being postponed 'to ensure that all interested parties - straight, gay and queer - have the opportunity to participate in this landmark occasion', he said in a statement e-mailed to the media.

Many members of the gay community have expressed interest in taking part, he told The Straits Times when contacted.

A number of those who are backing the event also want to help him organise it, said Mr Tan, who works in the health-care industry.

An organising committee has now been set up.

Said Mr Tan: 'We're postponing it so we can have more time to organise a better event.'

He declined to comment on a new date, the number of interested participants and organisers, and whether there would be changes to the programme.

More details will be released later, he said.

Mr Tan registered with the National Parks Board (NParks) in September to stage the Nov 15 event.

He will now let the Nov 15 date lapse and make a fresh application closer to the new date.

When he first registered to stage the event, which he described as a GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual) pride parade, he said it would feature speeches on gay rights.

Participants would march around the park with placards to protest against Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises homosexual sex. There was also to be a public forum on the difficulties that gay Singaporeans here face.

Mr Tan said he was keeping the event as a Singaporeans-only activity. This was to avoid having to apply for a police permit, which is required if foreigners were to speak or participate in or organise activities at the park.

With the Government moving to relax the rules at Speakers' Corner as of Sept 1, applicants need only register online with NParks before they speak or stage a demonstration.

But they have to state the topic of their speech or demonstration, as issues such as race and religion remain out of bounds.

kianbeng@sph.com.sg

TNP: 'Hong Lim Green' to turn somewhat pink (Sept 26)

'Hong Lim Green' to turn somewhat pink
Organiser plans gay pride parade at Speakers' Corner
HONG LIM Park (once called Green) is open for demos of all shades and hues (except unlawful ones, of course).
By Andre Yeo
26 September 2008

HONG LIM Park (once called Green) is open for demos of all shades and
hues (except unlawful ones, of course).

So it is no surprise that the gay lobby here wants to use it in
November to make a statement.

Riding on the new, relaxed rules on protests at the park's Speakers'
Corner, Mr Roy Tan, 50, is planning a gay pride parade. But the
response to it has so far been uncertain.

Mr Alex Au, 55, one of the leaders of gay advocacy group, People Like
Us, likes the idea but he questions if it should be called thus.

He said: 'I am sceptical of calling it a parade if they can't walk
down the streets. A parade requires linear movement.'

Ms Jean Chong, 32, a lesbian who is self-employed and also from People
Like Us, said she was aware of the parade but was not sure if she
would be attending.

She told The New Paper: 'I think most of them (the gay community) are
standing on one side and thinking about it.

'Most don't see Hong Lim Park as a big step towards more freedom. It's
a form of tokenism.

'On the one hand, they feel they want to support it (the parade). But,
on the other hand, they are against the concept of Hong Lim Park
because you should have the right to demonstrate anywhere.'

Following Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech
to slowly liberalise the political scene here, rules were changed such
that from 1 Sep, public demonstrations can now be held at Speakers'
Corner as long as they do not touch on race or religion.

Organiser Mr Tan, 50, who works in the healthcare industry, said: 'I
thought it would be good for someone to organise the first pride
parade and, hopefully, it would be the first of many and be part of
the cultural landscape.'

Mr Tan said that even if he were the only one at the park for the
event, he would march round the place holding a placard on Section
377A - a section of the penal code that criminalises gay sex.

Mr Tan said he would be marching three times round the park singing We
Shall Overcome, a civil rights anthem, to represent the struggle for
equality.

He expected people to come but he did not think many would be marching.

He said: 'Many people are not prepared to do it at the moment. The
first step is the most difficult one.'

The management of Speakers' Corner used to be under the police, but
now comes under the National Parks Board (NParks).

Demonstrators only need to register on the NParks website.

Yesterday, an NParks spokesman confirmed that it had received a
registration for a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual pride parade
at the Corner on 15 Nov.

It is slated to last from 3 to 7pm.

According to the NParks website, Singapore permanent residents can
also take part in a demonstration at Speakers' Corner and are required
to apply for a police permit only if they want to organise a
demonstration themselves or to speak at the Corner.

Foreigners will have to apply for a permit to conduct or take part in
any activity at the Corner.

PlanetOut: Singapore head rejects Gay Pride parades

Singapore head rejects Gay Pride parades
PlanetOut Network
published Monday, October 10, 2005

Gay Pride parades will not be allowed in Singapore because they conflict with the conservative values of most Singapore residents, the city-state's prime minister said last week.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made the statement on Thursday during a lunch meeting with foreign correspondents.

"I don't think we're homophobic," he said. "I agree … that homosexuals are people like you and me. But there's some segment of Singaporeans who vehemently disagree with that and we have to be aware of that."

"Gay Pride -- well, you can do that in Sydney, in London, in San Francisco," he added. "But I'm not sure if I want to do that in Singapore."

People Like Us, a gay interest group in Singapore, reacted by calling on the government to decriminalize consensual gay sex.

"The government should ask whether the opposition to gay equality is not a virulently vocal, religiously motivated campaign by a small number of people that is in no way representative, but merely seems so because they have the clout and resources to make themselves heard," the group said in a prepared statement.

Earlier this year the government ejected the Nation party, the biggest annual gay event in Asia. The party had been held in Singapore since 2001.