An embodiment of the parade's theme song, "Let Us Celebrate, We Are One."
When we moved to Singapore we were warned that gum is banned, drug distribution is punishable by death, and criminals can be caned. We also heard that homosexuality is illegal.
So who was the lone man with pink wings and a gay pride flag in the middle of the Chingay Parade? The only person to march without being surrounded by dozens or hundreds of a backup dancers.
Apparently, Singapore had a few gay pride marches called Nation that were banned in 2005. The celebrations moved indoors and became private events that did not require a permit.
So is it illegal to be gay? Law Minister K. Shanmugam stated last year,
We have the law. We say it won’t be enforced. Is it totally clear? We, sometimes in these things, have to accept a bit of messiness. And the way the society is going, we don’t think it’s fair for us to prosecute people who say that they are homosexual.
Greater acceptance of gays and lesbians may be coming to Singapore but I doubt the law will be changed while we are here. I suspect the U.S. military will get rid of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell first.
In the meantime, GLBT Singaporeans continue to celebrate pride events as part of IndigNation, the successor to the pre-2006 Nation events. And incidentally, the naming of IndigNation was even less glamorous a moment than when New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn in 1969:
Up to a week before the start of the pride month, the event still did not have a name. Then one night, a motley group of 4 gay individuals, who sat past 11:30pm in a prata shop near Rowell Road sipping coffee and tea while one of them struggled to eat some fat-encrusted mutton, was hit by a bolt of inspiration and came up with a shortlist of candidates. Brainstorming further whittled down the choice to a final 2 and it was eventually decided that the celebration should be called “IndigNation“, rather than “InsemiNation”. The latter label was preferred by all 4 but thought to be terribly unwise.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, I was randomly looking through the Pink dot SG website and googling about gay pride in SG, and then I stumbled upon this website which I thought was really interesting. I’m a Singaporean, but studying in LA for college. Being here, I’ve learnt so much about the queer community and time and time again, I wished I could do something to help Sg move on and create more tolerance amongst people and the LGBT community.
So I just wanted to say thanks for this article, because it made me realise that there are people out there who bothers about the gay scene back home!
Cheers.
Glad you found the website. As a foreigner in Singapore I undoubtedly do not know the full history of the LGBT community here, but I can say that I have seen very little information in the press. Every once in a while I stumble on something such as the information above as well as things such as this:
http://www.navalgazing.com/2010/01/02/speechless/
Now try to imagine that being presented in Los Angeles!