Fridae

Well known gay activist and social commentator Alex Au of Yawningbread

Rally co-organiser Jolovan Wham. All photos by Lawrence Chong via Facebook.

Some 118 Singaporeans have signed a petition to express their concern of the widespread incidents of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Russia.

Organisers of the To Russia With Love rally on Saturday, which saw a crowd of about a 100 people at Hong Lim Park, will deliver the petition to the Russian embassy this week.

The petition cited the enactment of a law prohibiting the "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to minors." It further states: "The law has encouraged homophobic people to identify those suspected of being homosexual in order to maltreat them. Your state authorities are turning a blind eye to, and in some cases, encouraging the violence. We are extremely alarmed that two such incidents have resulted in the victims' deaths. As a member of the world community, we entreat your government to do everything in its power to stop the violence against our brothers and sisters."

More than a dozen speakers – including Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao, the first Asian Bishop of The Methodist Church in Malaysian and Singapore; and a 12-year-old boy named Theo Chen who spoke about being bullied in school and how anti-laws can especially be detrimental to young persons – addressed the crowd.

Video by The Online Citizen, a news blog in Singapore