15,000 Attend 2012 Pink Dot Celebration

[Guest fountainhall]

For the fourth time since 2009, Singapore held its annual Pink Dot celebration in Hong Lim Park yesterday. 15,000 are estimated to have turned up – 50% more than last year.

 

The event aims to raise awareness and foster a deeper understanding “of the basic human need to love and be loved, regardless of one’s sexual orientation.”

 

The government of Singapore does not permit the holding of a Gay Pride Parade, hence the assembly of members of the LGBT community in a public park. Of course, with its current law, the men amongst those 15,000 brave souls came out despite the possibility of police photographs and subsequent discrimination – even prosecution and up to two years in prison under the old colonial law which can punish those who have been found to have committed “gross indecency” with another of the same sex.

 

The Singapore authorities have sat on the fence on the issue of amending Section 377A of the Criminal Code, saying that “Singapore is generally still a conservative society and the majority of the people still find homosexual behaviour unacceptable.” Yet, it has recently agreed that the law will not be enforced! Which surely makes something of a mockery of the rule of law. A law exists, but you can break it and you will not be punished!

 

What the government steadfastly refuses to do is have a free and open debate on the subject. So the determination of society’s views is made by a small group of lawmakers, almost all of whom belong to the ruling People’s Party, the right-wingers who, despite their formidable economic successes, remain afraid of letting the ‘people’ speak their minds. Such was the case in Hong Kong for many years, until little over 20 years ago when the public and the Law Reform Commission agreed that criminialising the sexual behaviour of consenting adults finally had no place on the statute books.

 

Perhaps as the Pink Dot campaigns continue to grow, the Singapore government will eventually be forced into changing its thinking.

 

Photo and more details from http://www.pinkdot.sg

[Rogie]

I see this from the FAQ section of that web site you quote FH.

 

Q: I have read online that only Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents are allowed to participate, is that true?

 

A: Hong Lim Park is an area that has been designated by the Singapore government to be the venue for the Speakers Corner, the only venue in Singapore in which people can demonstrate, hold exhibitions and speak freely on most topics. The Speakers Corner, however, is still governed by a set of rules and regulations.

 

Under the administrative categories listed within the terms and conditions of usage for the Speakers Corner, the formation of the human pink dot is classified as a ‘demonstration’. As such, venue rules stipulate:

“Only citizens and permanent residents of Singapore take part in the demonstration and the organiser must not allow any person who is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident of Singapore to take part in the demonstration”.

 

As such, organisers of PinkDot are unable to allow non-Singaporeans and non-Permanent Residents to be within the dot formation when time comes for it. They are, however, invited to watch the formation from a designated observation area. Nonetheless, as Hong Lim Park is a public space, everyone including foreigners is free to come for a picnic and enjoy the concert.

 

This and other comments made on the site make it clear to me the organisers have the patience of Job and are doing a good 'job' in the face of entrenched intransigence!

[Guest fountainhall]

Gay Singaporeans are slowly pushing the envelope despite government intransigence and sometimes interference. But I think that night-time photo of the pink dot is quite stunning, and will do more to draw attention to Singapore and its laws than any number of Conferences, United Nations resolutions and so on. I don't know how big that park is, but imagine the visual if the numbers grow to 30,000 and more. It will represent quite an embarrassment to the powers-that-be.

[Rogie]

But I think that night-time photo of the pink dot is quite stunning . . .

 

I meant to mention that in my reply to your OP. I agree it is excellent. Whoever came up with that idea is a genius.

[Guest fountainhall]

Here is a new You Tube clip about the event.