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SINGAPORE: Hundreds of people dressed in pink attended the annual ‘Pink Dot’ party in Singapore. LGBTQ pool On Saturday, the first held since the decriminalization of the city-state gay sex last year.
Flying rainbow flags and sporting sparkly makeup, participants gathered in a city center park – the only place in Singapore where protests are allowed without a police permit.
“I’m celebrating today because it’s been a really long fight,” said Ernest Seah, a 58-year-old gay artist and educator, as he sat on a pink inflatable sofa.
“And you know, it’s great when love wins and the government understands that.”
Singapore’s Parliament last year overturned a British colonial-era law that penalized sex between men with up to two years in prison, though the law was not actively enforced.
But at the same time, lawmakers passed a constitutional amendment that strengthens the current definition of marriage between a man and a woman.
The amendment essentially closed the door on any future legal challenges that could create equal marital rights for LGBT people.
Pink Dot spokesman Clement Tan described the mood as one of “celebration and jubilation,” and said it was a “relief” that the rally held with a law that was no longer on the books.
He declined to say what Pink Dot, one of Singapore’s LGBTQ advocacy groups, would focus on next.
“We realize that after a cancellation, people need a moment to breathe,” he said.
Our goal has always been to go slow LGBTQ equalityWhatever form it is.”
“So the cancellation was important to us, but it is by no means the end of the business that needs to happen. There is a much longer road ahead of us.”
The theme of Saturday’s gathering – “Singapore for All Families” – sought to resist pressure from conservative groups who feared that decriminalizing same-sex sex would erode “family values”.
“It doesn’t really matter what families look like in Singapore. It’s certainly not what the government calls meritorious. We think everyone should stand in the sun,” Tan said.
The Singapore gay rights march “Pink Dot” started in 2009 and has regularly drawn large crowds despite backlash from some quarters.
The organizers did not give figures on the size of the crowd on Saturday, but an AFP correspondent estimated that more than a thousand turned out.
Open support for gay rights is growing, fueled by changing social norms among the younger generation.
And a study published this month by market research firm Ipsos found that the percentage of Singaporeans who agree to allow same-sex couples to marry rose to 32 per cent, up from 27 per cent last year.
Flying rainbow flags and sporting sparkly makeup, participants gathered in a city center park – the only place in Singapore where protests are allowed without a police permit.
“I’m celebrating today because it’s been a really long fight,” said Ernest Seah, a 58-year-old gay artist and educator, as he sat on a pink inflatable sofa.
“And you know, it’s great when love wins and the government understands that.”
Singapore’s Parliament last year overturned a British colonial-era law that penalized sex between men with up to two years in prison, though the law was not actively enforced.
But at the same time, lawmakers passed a constitutional amendment that strengthens the current definition of marriage between a man and a woman.
The amendment essentially closed the door on any future legal challenges that could create equal marital rights for LGBT people.
Pink Dot spokesman Clement Tan described the mood as one of “celebration and jubilation,” and said it was a “relief” that the rally held with a law that was no longer on the books.
He declined to say what Pink Dot, one of Singapore’s LGBTQ advocacy groups, would focus on next.
“We realize that after a cancellation, people need a moment to breathe,” he said.
Our goal has always been to go slow LGBTQ equalityWhatever form it is.”
“So the cancellation was important to us, but it is by no means the end of the business that needs to happen. There is a much longer road ahead of us.”
The theme of Saturday’s gathering – “Singapore for All Families” – sought to resist pressure from conservative groups who feared that decriminalizing same-sex sex would erode “family values”.
“It doesn’t really matter what families look like in Singapore. It’s certainly not what the government calls meritorious. We think everyone should stand in the sun,” Tan said.
The Singapore gay rights march “Pink Dot” started in 2009 and has regularly drawn large crowds despite backlash from some quarters.
The organizers did not give figures on the size of the crowd on Saturday, but an AFP correspondent estimated that more than a thousand turned out.
Open support for gay rights is growing, fueled by changing social norms among the younger generation.
And a study published this month by market research firm Ipsos found that the percentage of Singaporeans who agree to allow same-sex couples to marry rose to 32 per cent, up from 27 per cent last year.
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