Record 21,000 Attend Pink Dot Rally

[Guest fountainhall]

Congratulations to the LGBT community in Singapore! Another new record at the Pink Dot rally yesterday – an estimated 21,000 turned out, an increase of 40% over 2012. This event is now the second largest gay-affirmative event in Asia behind the annual Taipei Pride Parade.

As Reuters reported –
 

Singapore is seeing a groundswell of support for same-sex rights, reflected in a record 21,000-strong "Pink Dot" rally in the city-state, only months after its High Court rejected a petition to repeal a law which criminalizes sex between men . . .

"It seems that the Singapore government thinks it's not time to change the law yet, as they have the perception that the majority of the people in Singapore are still conservative," Lynette Chua, an assistant professor of law at National University of Singapore, said on Sunday. Chua said pro-gay rights people are likely to wait for the outcome of Lim and Chee's appeal to understand the court's thinking before challenging the law again.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/30/us-singapore-gays-idUSBRE95T03M20130630

[TotallyOz]

That is great news. I am curious why the officials think that being conservative is a reason to deny someone civil rights.

 

In USA, it is similar and the tide has turned IMHO but I just don't see how denying equal treatment or opportunities for everyone is a conservative or liberal issue.

[Guest fountainhall]

Few Asian societies are mirror images of the USA, though. The tide will turn, but it will take more time.

I think you have to read up quite a bit on Singapore’s past, especially the values and laws left behind by the colonial government – Britain. The same law against homosexual behaviour was in existence in most colonies when Britain exited. That’s why it is now such a major issue in some African countries, for example. Hong Kong’s law was not repealed until 1991, some 24 years after the UK decriminalized homosexuality. (Curiously, less restrictive Hong Kong can only muster a few thousand for its gay Pride Parade.)

In a speech in 2007, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Lung said –
 

"Singapore is basically a conservative society . . . The family is the basic building block of this society. And by family in Singapore we mean one man, one woman, marrying, having children and bringing up children within that framework of a stable family unit."

 

The Ministry of Home Affairs said that in 2007 the "majority of Singaporeans still took a conservative approach to this issue".

 

"On issues of moral values with consequences to the wider society... the policies of the government must reflect the mainstream values and social norms of Singapore society, while recognising that these may shift over time," it said in an emailed statement.

 

One Church leader, senior pastor Lawrence Khong of the Faith Community Baptist Church, has been a vocal advocate against any change in Singapore’s laws.
 

". . . the repeal of similar laws (in other countries) have led to negative social changes, especially the breakdown of the family as a basic building block and foundation of the society".

 

"It takes away the rights of parents over what their children are taught in schools, especially sex education.

 

"It attacks religious freedom and eventually denies free speech to those who, because of their moral convictions, uphold a different view from that championed by increasingly aggressive homosexual activists," he added.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22088852

 

One reason for the government's ultra cautious approach is, it claims, Singapore consists of three major ethnic groupings - Chinese, Malay and Indian. What maybe acceptable to one may not to another. Agree with that view or not, you cannot deny that Singapore has successfully avoided the sort of racial and ethnic tensions that have occasionally beset other countries.