The gay community in tightly controlled Singapore has held its first-ever rally, taking advantage of looser laws on public gatherings to call for equality. // On Saturday an estimated 2,500 participants wore pink clothing, played music and sang songs at a park known as Speaker's Corner. "This is a great opportunity for us to make our pitch for the equal treatment of the LGBT community in Singapore," said Roy Tan of Pink Dot, which represents Singapore's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents. Singapore's government has become more tolerant toward gays and lesbians in recent years, but sodomy is still illegal. Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng publicly stated the day before the rally that gay people "have a place in our society" but warned they must "not assert themselves stridently as gay groups do in the West." Theonlinecitizen.com's video report from Singapore's LGBT rally is shown below.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 19th May 2009 - 11:59pm