Fridae

I am very sure the Malaysia consulates were not in the parade.

hmm.. what an irony.. why participate in the parade n wear masks when they r afraid of revealing their identities? it defeats the whole purpose of it..

This is happening in the country from which Singapore derived its Penal Code (including the original section that criminalises gay sex). The Singapore government's argument for the keeping of s377a, of "Singapore is basically a conservative society", holds no water.

Is India less conservative than Singapore? What about good old China that decriminalized gay sex between consenting men (Ref: http://www.law-lib.com/Law/law_view.asp?id=1218 )? What about the Philippines, whose 93% majority are Christians, which not only doesn't criminalise gay sex, but recognises a gay political party (Ref: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/08/philippines-gay-party-ban-overturned )? And, what about Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, which doesn't have any national law that criminalises consensual adult gay sex? (Ref: http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/Hotspots/GayGuide-action-Country-countryid-496.html )

Now, Singapore is the ONLY Advanced Economy (according to IMF's listing of Advanced Economies) in the world that still has gay sex laws. It's not only Unique, but also incompatible with the international trends in the progression of human rights. Someone should write in to the Guinness World Records for its consideration of honoring Singapore's government as being the #1 Advanced Economy in preserving anti-gay laws. In this area, the Singapore government has no rival.

When the Singapore government led the move to legalize anal and oral sex between adults, it purposely singled out the homosexuals. (Ref: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/24/gayrights.uk ) To argue the case for such a Uniquely Singapore law, the Prime Minister 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." But may I ask which jurisdiction--China, India, the Philippines, and even Indonesia plus all the Advanced Economies in the world except Singapore--isn't what he describes? Is there any country which doesn't have, in its mainstream, the heterosexual family as the basic unit of society? How else could they have reproduced their population?

Are the staffers of America's and Germany's foreign offices who joined in the march gay? Probably no. But because of their having the basic respect for people who are born different as they are, they had voluntarily joined in the march. It's time that the Singapore government woke up and reviewed its stance on s377a. The world is changing. Even India is becoming more liberal. There is no excuse for Singapore to lag behind. The recent General Election's results are a wake-up call for the Singapore government to change. The recent surge in attendance at the Pinkdot gathering in Singapore shows that our society has matured and is able to tolerate diversity much better than the Singapore government presumed.

The laws in Singapore have always been used to shape our society - its purpose. Legalising homosexuality may stir up some debates and heated arguments across various segments of society and definitely anger religious groups. However, by and large, people will come to accept it. We always have. Now that we are more educated than ever, I believe that the general populace would be ready and even willing to accept it. The number of people who support such a move, along with those who are nonchalant, far exceed those who do not.

BUT the problem is, those who oppose decriminalisation or the likes, are people who really matter - the elite. A good number of them in Singapore are staunch and devout Christians. They are a closely knit group at the high rungs of our society. The government whose ethos has always been economic growth, cannot afford to offend this group.

All conservative , meant in a negative sense, religions and religious are against people's freedoms in some or many aspects. The USA has many examples..the Tea Party and Billy Graham etc...I do not believe that China has decrimalised gay sex...anyhow laws in China mean nothing if the government wants to do something. The courts are used to support what the authorities want as an outcome. Chinese mirrors it is called. China looks to Singapore..where the courst are abused or used by the government to support its' actions , as a possible model for itself and Hong Kong in the future..
By the way, it is the Christian religion which influenced laws such as against divorce, homosexuality etc in Britain , which were exported to other countries in the "Empire". Canada, the USA , large parts of Africa , large parts of Asia, in India, Malaysia , Singapore etc. Then conservative groups ,often Christians, fought against liberalising laws in the countries of the former 'Empire'...Even medics were influenced ,within recent memory to label gayness a psychiatric illness !! A religious right fought reality in Hong Kong ..but their silly arguments did not hold water...As the Indian Court asked..science..not tracts...

377a is dead. It wont take much to bury it completely by repealing it, which would cost nothing, and it would create considerable goodwill towards Singapore from the developed world.

The fundamentalists, who make up our main opponents, have repeatedly been exposed as hypocrites. Many leaders of the so-called ex-gay ministries turned out to be preaching 'morality' in the day and sleeping with gays, and sometimes even innocent boys, at night. It's pathetic that this bunch of hypocrites need to resort to demonizing others in order to show their morality, to darken others in order to conceal their own greyness.

For example, in Singapore, there is a female anti-gay leader, whose name I won't mention, who argued that 377a should be kept because repealing it may result in an even lower birthrate. Ironically, this supposedly patriotic, well-educated, straight, and hence eligible, lady remains single even when her dwindling ovarian reserve is nearing depletion. As her anti-gay camp point their fingers at the gay community for not contributing to our national birthrate, what has she as a superannuated reproduction gem contributed to our national birthrate?

This bunch of seemingly well-educated people would confuse whenever they can't convince. What has repealing 377a got to do with 'promoting homosexual lifestyle'? Are they insinuating that all the advanced economies in the world except Singapore, which do not have equivalent laws, are 'promoting homosexual lifestyle'? Maybe they should conduct a survey of just how many % of straight Singaporean males would consider to be sold the "homosexual lifestyle" they coined if s377a is repealed.

To date, Singapore, despite being the only advanced economy in the world that has anti-sodomy law, has one of the LOWEST--not HIGHEST--birthrates of all advanced economies. So if we could actually correlate the existence of anti-sodomy law with national birthrate as they suggested, then removing s377a should have been the logical move to RAISE our national birthrate.

If Singapore wishes to become a truly global city, it cannot lag behind the rest of the first world cities in the world in the area of diversity tolerance. As U.S. Consul General in Chennai Andrew T. Simkin said, "Gay rights are human rights. It is basically respecting each others' differences and an individual's right to live without fear." Singapore leaders should move in tandem with the first world cities if they truly wish that Singapore can become like them in 10, 20 years. Fundamentalists exist everywhere, including such first world cities as New York, London and Paris. If history is any guide, then we can predict with certainty that, one day, like it or not, the LGBT community in Singapore will triumph in this battle against the fundamentalists. It's only a matter of time. My only concern is why isn't the Singapore government make the decisive move now when we are no longer just one or two steps behind the rest. We are miles away: every single Advanced Economy in the world had made the move except Singapore, and even the third world nations like India and the Philippines are making much more progress than us.

All good points sunthemoon. If anything is going to cause an unnatural fall in the population it will be teaching a whole country that sex is evil and creating a nation of prudes. On the other hand the world is severely overpopulated, so it's a tough one!

keep up the good work!

Getting back to the actual story. Hats off to a tolerant Chennai, said to be one of the most conservative cities in India.
But all is not roses here in India. Just yesterday the national Health Minister condemend all homosexual acts as 'unnatural' and that the 'disease' has come from 'foreign shores'. Quite some way to go.