Elton John Promotes Gay Rights in Singapore

[Guest fountainhall]

Here

[Guest thaiworthy]

This one single event may have done more for gay rights than all the gay pride parades combined! Now if only there were more like Him.

 

On the other hand I can't help but think what if Michael Jackson had utilized his fame for same instead of molesting little boys. Two different famous personalities with two opposite impacts.

 

IMHO, Sir Elton bears a heavy burden in more ways than one, as do we all.

[Guest]

On balance, I would prefer the Singapore government to any we have had in the UK in the last 21 years.

They have created a prosperous low tax economy, whilst avoiding irresponsible borrowing and maintaining law & order.

 

Apparently they turn a blind eye to gay activities, but as I have spent just one night there, my personal experience was limited. I still managed to visit a few gay bars & return to the hotel with a new friend:blink:.

 

 

However, it's definitely time Singapore reformed on the gay issue.

Congratulations to Elton on what sounds like very well judged action.

[Guest]

duplicate

[Guest fountainhall]

On balance, I would prefer the Singapore government to any we have had in the UK in the last 21 years. They have created a prosperous low tax economy, whilst avoiding irresponsible borrowing and maintaining law & order.

 

Apparently they turn a blind eye to gay activities

I believe what Lew Kwan Yew and his successors have achieved here in Singapore (I am on a 2-day visit) in little over 50 years is nothing short of a miracle. They have created a visionary, harmonious, multi-ethnic, hard working

[Guest snapshot]

I wouldn't worry about the ant-gay laws in Singapore... it has an awesome, thriving gay scene. Totally friendly and with a lot of fun to be had. One of my favorite cities in Asia to swing by. I've met so many nice guys there.

 

Not to mention, I think the gay community is quite smart in how they've gone about making themselves visible and promoting equal rights gradually over the years.

[Guest fountainhall]

I think the gay community is quite smart in how they've gone about making themselves visible and promoting equal rights gradually over the years.

I have made over 80 visits to Singapore. I have never had any difficulty finding companions, never encountered anything that might be considered any form of harassment, and agree with snapshot that the gay scene has indeed developed. But it is, I suggest, wrong to infer that there has been progress towards equal right for gays. For the law has not changed and the government has repeatedly refused any attempts from organisations like the UN to do so.

 

A statute in the Penal Code actively discriminates against gays and provides stiff penalties for conviction of certain ‘offences’ –

 

Outrages on decency. 377A. 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.

Four years ago, the government eased certain restrictions on private consensual behaviour. This amounted to repealing the ban on oral and anal sex between consenting heterosexual adults. It retained the ban on sexual acts between men. As the Prime Minister said at the time -

 

Singapore remains a conservative society - with the traditional family as its main building bloc - and homosexuals cannot set the tone for the mainstream.

 

Abolishing the law could "send the wrong signal" and push gay activists to ask for more concessions, such as same-sex marriage and parenting, Lee said.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/singapore-relaxes-sex-laws-but-not-for-gay-men/2007/10/24/1192941098463.html

 

Although Law Minister K Shanmugam said as recently as July 2009 that -

 

"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."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/440540/1/.html

 

Yet, the law was enforced only a year later! So much for government "messiness"!

 

As Professor Roy Chan, the President of Action for AIDS Singapore, said four years ago in a Paper on the Penal Code and its impact on AIDS Prevention -

 

Although there is a growing number of self-identified gay men in Singapore, it is probably the case that such men are outnumbered by those who would be unable to adopt such an identity because of cultural, religious, or legal constraints, and who will remain relatively invisible.

http://www.afa.org.sg/otherpublications/Penal%20Code%20Sections%20377,%20377A%20and%20Effect%20on%20AIDS%20Prevention%20in%20%20Singapore.pdf

(The use of colour, underlining and bold-face is mine)

 

This Paper also highlights the censorship of msm education materials and events, as well as interference with some gay businesses.

 

I accept that many countries are in the same boat. But with all respect to snapshot, whilst there have indeed been considerable changes in the gay scene in the last decade or so, what appears to be true for occasional tourists is sadly not in fact the case for a great many gays who live in Singapore.