photo: Roy Tan
.
Singapore gays plan massive rally
365gay.com, 11.07.2008
(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.
Singapore gays plan massive rally
365gay.com, 11.07.2008
(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.
Singapore Gay "parade" and Neo-colonialism
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφή23rd September 2008, In the Christian Post Article SG, entitled " Understanding the Homosexual Agenda", written by Mdm Thio Su Mien, an anti-gay "christian" related to the nominated MP who had stormed parliamenet insisting that Gays be persecuted, it was claimed that a Gay Pride Parade scheduled to take place at Hong Lim Park, is a " very aggressive political movement from the West which seeks to radicalise the institution of marriage and the family unit, both core values of our society. This is neo-colonialism".
Reference was made to a New Paper article highlighting that a Mr Roy Tan was intending to organise this Gay Pride. If Mdm Thio had read the article clearly, and the local context and not go on to a rambling about the US colonialism, it would be clear that the pride was a few individuals going round a small piece of land with not even support from thier lone Gay activist "Alex Au". Therefore, a small gathering of a dozen people going round and round becomes a "radical agressive political movement".
Allegdly, one of the gay "protestors" will be a former Church of Our Saviour Pastor who past experiences appear to be akin to torture by the Christian Right in Singapore. He was hoping to march 7 times around Hong Lim Park, and the walls of Jericho, the walls of 377A will fall he claims. Indeed, Christians are becoming more irrational, and extreme, huddled up for battle at Jericho. I believe that the walls of Jericho will fall because it is the work of God, and all glory will be given to God for what can a small band of fairy queens do against a church numbering hundreds of thousands with amazing political and economic wealth.
The "US colonialism" highlighted by Mdm Thio is not the agressive gay aggenda but actually it is the Christian Right aggenda that we are now seeing in Singapore. Week in and week out, we have this conservative Pastors from US and Australia plying the churches to spread their Fundametalist kind of Christianity and spreading deliberate distortions about the dangers of the Gay aggenda in Singapore. Therefore, we have the likes of Mdm Thip Su Mien and Rev Derek Hong talking about the Gay aggenda by Singaporeans through this misinformed source and neo colonial influence. The Government should take note of this loop hole for which foreigners come to Singapore to interfere and push their foreign aggenda through such church organised speaking arrangments.
The "neo colonialism" claimed by Mdm Theo seeks to compare the allegedlly conservative Singapore with the "immoral" western influence. Surpisingly, the same arguments gave been used by the Liberals in Singapore but in the reverse sense that the Colonial powers have bought in their religion - Christianity which has displaced the local cultures and religions.It appears that "conservative" is a tag line for being anti-gay and being morally upright and righteous. The Christian Right when using this argument against gays, deliberately ignore the fact the "conservatives" are for most part non Christians and worship other religions so contradictory to the Christian Faith! Worshiping other gods therefore is far more acceptable to Christians in Singapore than a few Gay queens parading in an unending circle. What a biblical distortion of basic Christianity! of righteousness before men and God.
The hatred of gays by the Christians Right in Singpore is so extreme that they are willing to deny their colonial pasts who brought Christianity to SIngapore - through the Anglican, Catholic and Methodist Churches. Without this colonial influence, alas, all our cathedrals would not be there, along with our modern mega churches amd their titanium cladded churches whose roots are intertwined with these mother churches.
Colonialism brought us Christianity to Singapore and now we are against the new wave of modern colonialism because we fear that it will bring us Gay rights, and so we castigate it as neo-colonialsm versus the local conservative identity. The "Western Colonials" are only correcting the wrongs they have made. Along with Christianity, they brough their anti-Gay, homophobic ways to Singapore for which they have long repented in their home soil with Homosexuality legalised in the 60s in the UK.
Yes, the "gay aggenda" is neo Colonialism for it first brought 377A anti-gay aggenda to our shores against the local Chiense and Malay culture of "live and let live", and it is now endeavouring the right the wrongs that it has made, hence closing the undending circle. The anti-gay movement in Singapore is the fruits of our colonial past and the religious systems and we should get rid of it.
(Deu 15:9 NKJV) "Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,' and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the LORD against you, and it become sin among you.
I believe that God is today is gently prodding Christians and denominations in Singapore, not to let the gay issue becomes "sin amongst you". It will become sin as we stand at the door to resist the basic rights of the gay minority and to insist on our own unbiblical theology to persecute them. The Gay community have nothing - they have no right of existence, no right of relationships, and are discriminated in every sector of public life and work force.
If the Christians in Singapore has that evil thought against the "poor" gay minority to give them nothing, and when their cry goes up to heaven, then it will become "sin" amongst the Christian community that will stop the move of God in our midst. We may have the loudest music and the best band at St. Andrews Cathedral, but without the Spirit of God, all is at vain. Do not take the move of the Holy Spirit for granted nor grieved Him. Sin blocks the move of God.
Singapore gay literature
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήBy Roy Tan
Plays
The increasing boldness of local authors in sympathetically addressing LGBT themes is intertwined with the growth of English-language theatre in Singapore since the mid-1980s. It was in theatre that writers first challenged the cultural taboo surrounding homosexuality. A fairly regular stream of gay plays were staged in Singapore throughout the 1990s, raising the public profile of sexual minorities.
Lest the Demons Get To Me (1993) by Russell Heng depicts a dilemma in which a male-to-female transsexual resents having to dress up as a man to perform funeral rites as her dead father’s only son. The play highlights a society that is rather crushing on the protagonist’s desire to be true to herself. [1] [2]
Private Parts (1994), a comedy by Michael Chiang, addresses the theme of Singapore society’s capacity to come to terms with gender minorities in the form of transsexuals. The Straits Times reported that "Private Parts, with its remarkable performances and poignant message, is a special production that should not close until every person in this country has seen it". The play has also been performed in Mandarin. [3]
Mergers and Accusations (1995) and Wills and Secession (1996) by Eleanor Wong, the first two parts of a trilogy, tell the story of a lesbian marrying a man, leaving him and falling in love with a woman. In charting her heroine’s personal struggle to win acceptance from family and social circle, Wong pushes the 'coming out' message and moves closer to activism than seen in Heng or Chiang's more descriptive treatment of the subject. [4] [5]
(For other plays, see Singapore gay theatre).
Novels
Novels with LGBT-related themes began emerging in Singapore literature scene in the 1990s. Among the earliest work is Different Strokes (1993) by David Leo portraying victims of AIDS. [6]
Abraham’s Promise (1995) by Philip Jeyaretnam tells a story of a father’s rejection of and then coming to terms with his son’s homosexuality. This is no exploration of the world of a gay man, for the homosexual character hardly speaks. Its intellectual touchstone is the political culture of post-colonial Singapore where many feel marginalized with little promise of respite in personal or professional life. [7] [8] (ISBN 0824817699)
Peculiar Chris (1992) by Johann S. Lee (Cannon International, 1992 ISBN 9810035578), the only true "coming-out novel" written from a Singaporean point of view so far. Describes a young athlete and national serviceman's angst-filled struggles with boyfriends, discriminatory institutions and death, as well as his coming out into the gay and lesbian community. [9]
Different Strokes (1993) by David Leo. While David Leo wrote a homophobic short story in News at Nine, this book is based on an objective journalist's experience when he interviewed a gay AIDS patient. [ http://www.ethosbooks.com.sg/store/mli_viewItem.asp?idProduct=86] (ISBN 981004755X)
The Mouse Marathon (1993) by Ovidia Yu
Glass Cathedral (1995) by Andrew Koh- a prize-winning novella, the winner of the Commendation Prize of the 1994 Singapore Literature Prize. [10] (ISBN 9971006707)
Bugis Street by Koh Buck Song. [12]
New Moon Over San Francisco by Joash Moo.
What are You Doing in My Undies? (2002) by Jon Yi about a man's change into transvestism. [13]
The Narcissist (2004) by Edmund Wee (Times Editions, May 2004, ISBN 981232819X) [14] [15]
Asking for Trouble (2005) by Jason Hahn, an 8-days journalist, who based his humour book on his experiences with living with two high-maintenance women, with free advice from his 2 male friends, one gay, the other married. [11] (ISBN 9812610251)
Where I'm coming from (2008)- Johann S. Lee's second novel.
Short stories
LGBT-themed stories are found in different collections of short stories. Examples are:
Worlds Apart, written by J.C. Leahy, found in In the Shadow of the Merlion, an anthology of expatriates' experiences in Singapore
Students' collections like Onewinged with stories like The Transformation and Extracts from Fairy Tale by Cheryl Lim and Sim Yee Chiang respectively
Pte M, a short story by C.S. Chong in NS: An Air Level Story about an effeminate soldier who tries to be intimate with the protagonist who feels nothing but revulsion, despite not rejecting the unwanted advances until the last possible moment.
Drum, a somewhat homophobic short story by David Leo in News at Nine which is modeled after Herman Melville's Billy Budd.
Butch and Girl Talk, by Sabariah, a collection of short narrative pieces exclusively about the experiences of young lesbian and bisexual women (and FTM men) in Singapore. It is unclear if the stories are based on the experiences of actual women or primarily fictional. Published by VJ Times, the book is no longer widely available.
Poetry
Cyril Wong emerged onto the scene in 2000 with poetry that was confessional in style but universal in scope. Completely "out" in newspaper and magazine interviews, he is the only openly-gay poet to win the National Arts Council's Young Artist Award for Literature. His books include:
Squatting Quietly
The End Of His Orbit
Below: Absence
Unmarked Treasure
(Read reviews of Wong's work archived on his website:[16])
While Luo Qining's poem Asshole (found in Onewinged), disparages and stereotypes effeminate behaviour as gay and "asshole", the epithet could also refer to the abusers in the poem, which invokes sympathy for the effeminate character.
Alvin Pang's The Scent of the Real, a tribute to Cyril Wong, is value-neutral and talks of Cyril Wong's sexuality as a fact, not something disgusting or abject.
Toh Hsien Min and Yong Shu Hoong have written poems about friends coming out to them in On a Good Friend's Admission that he is Gay and A Friend's Confession. Both were suspicious that their friends wanted sexual relations with them.
Gwee Li Sui in the eponymous book with the poem Who wants to buy a book of Poems talks about how (most of the) poets are limp-wristed and "ah kua". In the following poem, Edward, he depicts the sad life of a cross-dresser past his prime.
Non-fiction
Academic works address various issues related to LGBT.
The chapter "Tiptoe Out of the Closet: The Before and After of the Increasingly Visible Gay Community in Singapore" (2001) by Dr. Russell Heng in Gay and Lesbian Asia: Culture, Identity, Community (edited by Gerard Sullivan and Peter A. Jackson, Haworth, New York, 2001, pp. 81-97. Reprinted in the Journal of Homosexuality 40(3-4), pp. 81-98. Archived by Yawning Bread:[17]
The chapter entitled "Singapore", written by NUS Sociology Department senior lecturer Dr. Laurence Leong Wai Teng[18], in "Sociolegal Control of Homosexuality- A Multi-Nation Comparison" (Edited by DJ West and R Green- Plenum Press, New York, 1997)- It examines sociological, historical, and philosophical trends in attitudes and laws relating to homosexuality in 20 countries, plus chapters on Islam and Europe.
There is also a medical reference writing on sex-reassignment.
Cries from Within (1970) by S. Shan Ratnam; Victor H. H. Goh and Tsoi Wing Foo- an illustrated and user-friendly tome on sex-reassignment surgery and its attendant psychological considerations by two eminent gynaecologists and a psychiatrist. [19]
A few works on gender studies for both general readers and academic interests
PLU: sexual minorities in Singapore (2004) (edited by Joseph Lo and Huang Guo Qin, published by Select Books)- a pioneering collection of essays by contributors such as Alex Au, Jason Wee, Desmond Sim, William Peterson and Laurence Leong. Its style is eclectic, ranging from the academic to the casual. (See The New Paper's report and Yawning Bread's comments:[20])
The Rainbow Connection: The Internet and the Singapore Gay Community by Ng King Kang published by KangCuBine Publishing Pte. Ltd.- read a review by Yawning Bread:[21]
SQ21: Singapore queers in the 21st century- a groundbreaking book, the first in Asia, describing the lives and coming out stories of young gay Singaporeans, as well as a heterosexual mother of 2 gay sons.
The following are works mainly for general readers.
Sisterhood by Leona Lo (Select Books, 2003, ISBN 981047198X)- an exposé of the local transvestite and transsexual community by a prominent male-to-female (MTF) transsexual Singaporean.
My Sisters: Their Stories by Leona Lo, photographs by Lance Lee (Viscom Editions) - a book on the lives of transsexuals. [22]
"Boys in the Hood", chapter 6 of the book Invisible Trade: High-class sex for sale in Singapore by Gerrie Lim, an international correspondent for porn network AVN Online. It explores the world of gay male escort services. (Read an excerpt of the chapter on fridae.com:[23])
Excuse Me, Are You a Model? by Bonny Hicks (Flame of the Forest, 1995)- a frank autobiography of a young Eurasian model who is quite frank about her bisexual crushes transsexual. While not specifically queer-oriented, its mass popularity makes it impossible to ignore.
F.O.C: Freedom of Choice by Leslie Lung features 20 short stories about people struggling against their sexual orientation. A short commentary by Lung accompanies each story. The premise of the book is that individuals can choose and change their sexuality. It advocates gay people can and should become straight, but never advocates that they remain gay. [24]
LGBT writing on the Internet
The Yawning Bread website[25]-a high-quality, award-winning collection of essays on various topics, particularly Singapore LGBT issues. It was started in November 1996 by activist Alex Au and has grown to be the leading site for intellectual comment on gay issues in Singapore.
fridae.com[26] and sgboy.com[27] are web-based, gay-themed magazines that feature news and commentaries.
Blogs of gay Singaporeans such as Kelvin Wong [28], Miak Siew [29] and artist/photographer Jason Wee [30],[31] have also contributed to the body of Singapore gay literature and make for engaging reading. Similar personal websites of local LGBT personalities such as transsexual writer Leona Lo at http://www.leonalo.com/Templates/My_Services.htm and poet Cyril Wong at http://www.cyrilwong.com provide glimpses of their individual experiences in various contexts.
Singapore gay films
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήBy Roy Tan
Introduction
In contrast to the numerous local theatre productions dealing with LGBT subject matter which have burgeoned since the late 1980s (see Singapore gay theatre), there is to date not a single feature-length film entirely produced by Singaporeans in Singapore belonging to this genre. The probable reasons for this are the much larger and riskier investment outlay for movie production, and the lack of Government and perceived mainstream community support for such films.
The culmination of efforts to redress this deficiency were witnessed on 6 October 06, when Singapore's first private GLBT film festival, Short Circuit, was held at the Guiness Theatre at The Substation at 7:30 pm. It was organised by activist Alex Au and other local arts practitioners. It featured 12 short films that met the criterion of either being produced by GLBT individuals or having a GLBT theme (see programme).
LGBT-themed films
Bugis Street
A 1995 Hong Kong-Singapore co-production about the lives of Singaporean transvestites in a bygone era. It was a minor hit at the box office on account of its R(A) (Restricted (Artistic)) rating and its nostalgic evocation of a seedy but colourful aspect of Singaporean culture, prior to the redevelopment of Bugis Street into a modern shopping district and the eradication of transvestite activities in the area.
16-year old Lien, winningly portrayed by Vietnamese actress Hiep Thi Le, is this Yonfan-directed, Jacky Tang-lensed and Fruit Chan and You Chan-co-scripted offering’s main protagonist. Despite her having worked for a time as a servant in a household whose "young master" adored her in her hometown of Malacca, West Malaysia, the young lass comes across as having led a surprisingly sheltered life. She journeys to Singapore to seek employment as a maid in the Sin Sin Hotel along Bugis Street.
She seems thoroughly content for a time to possess a naïve, romanticised view of the rambunctious goings-on at the hotel where she witnesses "the sad departure of an American gentleman" from the home-cum-workplace of "his Chinese girl". The guest is actually a presently-sober but angry American sailor who has belatedly discovered that the Singaporean Chinese prostitute he picked up in Bugis Street and spent a drunken night with happens to be a transwoman.
Before long, the newbie employee Lien finds out that many of the long-term lodgers of the budget establishment, whose room rental rate is S$3, whether it be for an hour or the entire day and night, are "women" who were born with male bodies. Although her first reaction to seeing someone with breasts and a penis is one of vomit-inducing revulsion which causes her to contemplate fleeing the neighbourhood, she ends up not giving in to her impulses.
Instead, she listens to, then heeds, the warm cajoling of Lola, the transvestite hotel resident who has treated her well from the start of her stint. She comes to be unperturbed by the unique, complex personalities of the unorthodox community, who in turn also begin to accept her.
As she learns to look beyond the surface, she is rewarded with the generous friendship of the cosmopolitan and sophisticated Drago, who has returned from Paris to minister to his/her dying but loving and tolerant mother.
While Lien learns the ways of the world via her encounters with Meng, the slimy, often underdressed boyfriend of Lola, as well as night-time escapades on the town with the Sin Sin Hotel’s other denizens, she begins to see beauty in unlikely places and to grow despite the presence of ugliness in an imperfect world.
Rice Rhapsody
Rice Rhapsody (alternative title Hainan Chicken Rice) (Chinese: 海南雞飯, literally meaning Hainanese chicken rice) was a 2004 Hong Kong production directed by Kenneth Bi. The cast included formerly popular Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang and celebrity Chinese-American chef Martin Yan. The plot revolved around a contemporary Singaporean divorcée grappling with the homosexuality of her 2 eldest sons and dramatised her efforts to steer her third and youngest son's sexuality.
It bombed at the box office and was panned especially by gay critics as being too artificial in its representation of Singapore life. (Read reviews of the movie by Yawning Bread, Charles Tan and Ken Lee: [1])
Beautiful Boxer
A film biography of a transsexual Thai kickboxer directed by Singapore-based Ekachai Uekrongtham, along with the input of Singapore gay talent.
Based on the true story of Thailand's famed transgender kickboxer, Beautiful Boxer is a poignant action drama that punches straight into the heart and mind of a boy who fights like a man but feels like a woman.
Believing he is a girl trapped in a boy's body since childhood, Parinya Charoenphol (affectionately known as Nong Toom in Thailand) sets out to master the most masculine and lethal sport of Muay Thai (Thai boxing) to earn a living and to achieve his ultimate goal of total femininity. Touching, funny and packed with breathtaking Thai kickboxing sequences, Beautiful Boxer traces Nong Toom's childhood, teenage life as a travelling monk and gruelling days in boxing camps. Shot in 9 provinces across Thailand and in Tokyo, the film also features a series of explosive matches where Nong Toom knocks out most of his opponents in Thailand and Japan.
Directed and produced by Singapore-based, ethnic Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham, the film stars Asanee Suwan, a real-life kickboxing champ as Nong Toom. The role earned him the 2004 Supannahongsa Award (Thailand's equivalent to the Oscar) for Best Actor. Beautiful Boxer also features compelling performances by Thailand's award-winning actor Sorapong Chatree in the role of Nong Toom's coach and former Miss Thailand Orn-Anong Panyawong as Nong Toom's mother.
Kyoko Inoue, one of Japan's top female wrestlers plays herself in the film. She has fought with Nong Toom in real life back in 1988. That historical match was reenacted for the film in a dramatic sequence shot at the Toyko Dome. Nearly all of Nong Toom's opponents in the film are also professional kickboxers in real life.
Films with LGBT sub-plots
Saint Jack
A film made in 1979 by American director Peter Bogdanovich.
The story was set against Singapore as a US military-approved rest and relaxation (R&R) destination for US troops in Vietnam circa the early 1970s. The movie was banned locally because it portrayed Singapore in bad light, namely showing that (a) the sex trade was flourishing, (b) it was semi-officially sanctioned and (c) Singapore supported the losing side in the Vietnam War.
Much of it was about how pimps like the protagonist, American Jack Flowers (played by actor Ben Gazzara) supplied girls to the GIs barracked at Shelford Road, a fact corroborated by university students at the Bukit Timah campus.
But a sub-plot featured a conservative US senator who prefered gay sex. A notable segment in the film showed the senator (played by one-time James Bond actor George Lazenby) picking up a late-teenager named Tony along Orchard Road and bringing him to his hotel room for sex. Male stripping and a shower scene were shown.
The film recorded for posterity that there were rentboys plying their trade along Orchard Road during those days. This could have been related to presence of Le Bistro along Scotts Road and Pebbles Bar at the Hotel Singapura Continental. The movie was allowed to be shown just once during a Singapore Film Festival and is still on the banned list. The Singaporean actor, Edward Tan, who played Tony the rentboy created a first in Singapore gay film history. However, according to Bogdanovich, all the Singaporeans who were given screen roles were not really 'actors' at all, but simply recruited from a casting call. (External link:[2])
Army Daze
Michael Chiang's stage-to-screen adaptation of the trials and tribulations of a motley bunch of army recruits featured an effeminate Eurasian man whose main aim in life was to become a housewife in Ang Mo Kio. However, his platoon mates were flabbergasted when he breezed through the obstacle course with more speed and sang-froid than any of them.
Forever Fever
One of Singaporean director Glen Goei's early local productions which was distributed in America under another title. It also dealt with transgender themes, alongside the movie's main light-hearted romance, as Hock's elder brother reveals his desire for a sex-change operation to his unreceptive traditionalist Chinese family.
15
The Singapore Government banned 27-year-old's Royston Tan's visually explosive and shocking 2003 film. Part social realism, part documentary and part cinematic adventurism, 15 follows a group of teenage outsiders grappling with violence, drug running, prostitution, piercings and thoughts of suicide. Quietly, amidst the madness, they find moments of tenderness in each other's arms. Tan looks to MTV and popular culture for his technique, mixing Chinese graphics with short colourful scenes, voiceovers and rewinds. Attention grabbing, over stimulating, this is not however strictly a gay film. Tan's weaving of tenderness and sexuality is homoerotic, providing a window onto the homosexual bonding that takes place in adolescence - the first needs and touches before sexuality becomes more fixed. The result is an astonishing if at times gut-wrenching experience.
Be With Me
Acclaimed local director Eric Khoo's 2005 production was the first major homegrown motion picture to feature scenes of female coupling in the form of 2 touchy-feely teenage schoolgirls (played by waifish actresses Ezann Lee and Samantha Tan), who fall in love as quickly as they fall out of it. They tenderly stroke each other's arm and face, cuddle under the sheets and in cinema halls, and share an intense 10-second kiss on the mouth. Although Be With Me is rated M18 with no cuts, the authorities were not exactly throwing caution to the wind. The movie's original poster featuring both girls lying on some steps and locked in an embrace in a scene from the movie was been banned in Singapore and replaced with an image of a man necking with Samantha Tan. According to a spokesman of Warner Brothers, which distributed the movie locally, the Media Development Authority (MDA) stated that the original was 'not suitable as a PG poster' because the graphics 'implied content of a homosexual nature'.
Singapore gay charity work
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήBy Roy Tan
Introduction
One of the image problems suffered by Singapore's gay community is the mainstream public's perception that homosexuals are selfish and hedonistic. To combat this misconception, selfless LGBT volunteers have emerged to take the lead in organising charity work which benefits elderly and underpriveleged members of Singaporean society at large.
History
2004
Tsunami aid
In the wake of the calamitous Asian tsunami which struck on Boxing Day, 26 December 2004, a number of gay and lesbian support groups organised a donation drive for cash and materials on 1 January 2004.
Word was put out through SiGNeL, RedQuEEn![1] and other gay and lesbian lists. The total raised was over $5,000 in cash, a lorryload of clothes, etc., and a vanload of food and medicines.
Welfare projects
Activists-cum-welfare volunteers such as Jerry Siah [2] and Clarence Singam have been tireless in their efforts to rally the local gay community to volunteer their time and effort on weekends to visit destitute members of the mainstream community. In several charity events such as Projek Pelangi, gay volunteers cleaned and painted the one-room HDB flats of elderly, destitute folk, and brought them out for sightseeing trips and meals. Some of their efforts were reported in the local press.
2005
A Nation in Concert
In August 2005, SPACES, a private, non-profit counselling and development agency, organised an event entitled "A Nation in Concert" [3] in aid of the Association for Persons with Special Needs, the Handicaps Welfare Association, the Singapore Association for the Deaf, the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped and the Community Chest of Singapore.
AIDS charity work
Fund raising to help people with HIV and AIDS, the majority of whom are heterosexual men and an increasing number of whom are women and children, has mainly, if not solely, been spearheaded by Action for AIDS (AfA). The latter organisation relies largely on the efforts of gay and lesbian volunteers.
Chronicle
A summary of the major fund-raising and educational events from 1988 to 1998 organised by Action for AIDS is provided by Assoc. Prof. Roy Chan, president of AfA: [4]
1997
The Princess Diana AIDS Charity Gala
The tragic and sudden death of Diana, Princess of Wales, stunned and saddened millions the world over. Well known for her generous patronage of AIDS charity events in the UK and USA, the Princess had most graciously agreed to be the guest-of-honour at the gala on 23 September 1997. She was also determined, during her short trip to Singapore, to vist with People With AIDS and the and CDC, and to have a private lunch with invited AIDS activists from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, where she was to learn about the AIDS situation in these countries and provide moral support for their efforts.
Alas it was not to be. The AfA organising committee felt that it was fitting that the event not be cancelled. The evening proceeded and was dedicated to the memory of Princess Diana, whose contribution to the AIDS cause had touched the lives of so many people.
1998
The Candlelight Memorial
This was the inaugural event of what was to become annual affair, held to remember those who had died from AIDS. In most cases there was no funeral service and no time for relatives and loved ones to mourn and grieve. The Candlelight Memorial gave them the chance to do so, and to come to terms with death and AIDS. It was to become a powerful symbol of the presence of AIDS in Singapore, and a timely reminder for the community to renew its commitment to fight AIDS discrimination. The 1998 Candlelight Memorial was held on 17 May 1998 in Bras Basah Park and coordinated by Daniel Tan.
The programme included a fun-filled running relay organised by Action for AIDS volunteers together with invaluable support from SWIFT Athletes' Association and the School of Physical Education, NIE/NTU. Dr. Aline Wong, Senior Minister of State for Health and Education, graced the occasion as guest-of-honour and flagged off the relay. Ang Peng Siong, an icon in local swimming circles, also showed his support with his presence. In a bid to get away from the ubiquitous competitiveness around, it was a non-competitive event with no prizes for the teams finishing the fastest. Instead, prizes were given out for categories like Furthest from First, Best Legs, Best Buns, Best Hair, Noisiest Team, Most Interesting Team Name and Wackiest Outfits. About 350 people, including many students from Woodlands Secondary School, had great fun that day - following the exciting aerobics warm-up, running their respective legs of the relay, cheering on their teammates and enjoying the Vox Ensemble acapella performance at the end . The event managed to raise more than $6,000 and its success encouraged plans to make it an annual event.
Art against AIDS
The Art Against AIDS Exhibition ’98 [5]was held from 7 to 19 November 1998 at the ground lobby of The Heeren shops. Organised by AfA and launched on 7 November by Kal Sundaram, Managing Director of Glaxo-Wellcome, the exhibition was the culmination of the Art Against AIDS ’98 art competition, which was held earlier, from 1 Sep to 24 Oct 98. The competition brought together a host of entries from individuals of diverse backgrounds and talents, united in their desire to communicate important AIDS and AIDS-related issues through art.
There was an impressive show of support for the competition this year, judging from the almost 200 entries that were received. Of these, more than 60 entries were received for the Open category and approximately 130 for the Student category. Each one of them bore testimony to the ever-increasing impact of AIDS upon the community.
Winning the top prize for the Open category, including $3,000 in cash, was legal executive Willian Lee, for his extremely innovative piece “Dead Silence”, a painting based on the concept of silence. Winning $2,000 for the Student category was Jimmy Lee, for “Untitled”, depicting the alienation of a PWA, in this case, that of a child who lay sickly with only a torn doll as a companion, a symbol of her loneliness.
1999
The 16th International AIDS Candlelight Memorial and Mobilisation
The year's event was named in sequence, honouring the first such occasion to take place in the world 16 years ago. It was held at Bras Basah Park on Sunday 16 May 1999. (Read the opening speech by Dr. Nick Paton, Acting Head, Department of Infectious Diseases, Communicable Disease Centre [6]).
Riding for Life
Singapore's first AIDS bicycle ride [7]took place from 7 to 13 June 1999, covering roughly 900 km from Penang to Singapore to raise money for the AfA Medications Fund and also to raise awareness about the situation of PWAs in Singapore.
The average team member raised in excess of $1,400 and the top fund raiser brought in more than $6,700. When all the pledges were counted, a total of nearly $44,500 had been received in donations, which, after deducting expenses for items ranging from publicity and postage through costs for the Welcome Rally, resulted in roughly $36,500 for the AIDS Medications Fund. At the Welcome Rally, guest-of-honour, Dr. S. Vasoo, challenged Action for AIDS to organise another ride and at least double the amount raised.
First Gay Pride Parade in Singapore
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήSeptember 18, 2008 at 11:21 AM
by Rex Wockner
Singapore's first gay pride parade is scheduled to take place Nov. 15 at Hong Lim Park, the locale where the government recently announced it will allow demonstrations.
"I have no idea how many people are going to turn up," said organizer Roy Tan. "If it's just me, I'll be marching round the place holding a placard reading 'Repeal 377A' on one side and 'Legalize gay marriage' on the other.
"We will march about three times round Hong Lim Park singing 'We Shall Overcome,' 'I Will Survive' by Gloria Gaynor, 'Survivor' by Destiny's Child or 'I Am What I Am' -- some kind of anthemy song to highlight the struggle for equality or the tenacity to survive against all odds."
Afterwards, Tan envisions a picnic or a dance. He said the goal is not necessarily for the parade to be "a success" but rather "to establish a precedent."
"So it doesn't matter if it's not terribly well organized or attended," he said.
Penal Code Section 377A states, "Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years."