The morning downpour turned much of Hong Lim Park right into a muddy quagmire, but that didn’t stop hundreds of individuals from wearing pink and participating within the Pink Dot event to indicate their support for the LGBTQ community.
Taking place on Saturday from 3:15 p.m. to eight:30 p.m., the annual LGBTQ rally featured 29 booths from organizations providing various types of support to the LGBTQ community and performances by local artists similar to singer Marian Carmel, Sing Men’s Chorus and drag queen group Singapura Drag Royalty.
Several speakers also took the microphone on the event, including Anne Goh, former national rugby player and volunteer with lesbian, bisexual and queer organization Sayoni; drag queen Kira Moon, who was assaulted and harassed by a gaggle of men in March; and Clarence Singam, co-founder of the LGBTQ community advisory organization Oogachaga.
Pink Dot spokesman Clement Tan said this 12 months’s theme – No One Left Behind – “reflects for us [in the LGBTQ community] exclusions that we face throughout our lives, from the cradle to the grave.
This is the second Pink Dot for the reason that repeal of Section 377A, a decades-old law criminalizing gay sex.
Earlier this week, Protect Singapore – an organisation that describes itself as a gaggle dedicated to protecting the values of marriage, family, children and conscience – released a rating of politicians based on their stances on LGBTQ issues.
The scorecard is meant to “help you assess whether your MP supports your values,” the group wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. Among the standards for judging was not attending Pink Dot.
When asked concerning the scorecard, PAP MP for the Ang Mo Kio (GRC) group, Darryl David, questioned its purpose.
“Judge MPs according to their positions on any issue? I mean, when you start doing this, at the end of the day, what’s the goal? What are you trying to show?” he said.
He added that he attends Pink Dot because he “welcomes diversity” and has worked with people from “different backgrounds, different lifestyles, different preferences… alternative ways of living.”
Apart from Chua and David, PAP MPs Carrie Tan and Derrick Goh from Nee Soon GRC also attended the event.
Also present on the rally were Workers’ Party MPs for Sengkang GRC Jamus Lim, Louis Chua and He Ting Ru, who spoke with organisers and participants. They declined to talk to the media.
Progressive Singapore Party (PSP) deputy organizing secretary Jeffrey Khoo and assistant treasurer Lim Cher Hong were spotted with two members of the party’s youth wing.
In response to queries, a PSP spokesperson said: “We have learnt that even after the repeal of Bill 377A, LGBTQ Singaporeans continue to face discrimination in the workplace and bullying in schools.
“Everyone is different and we should all have mutual respect for each other. We may disagree on certain issues, but it is more important to focus on the common ground than on our differences.”
Red Dot United also sent a delegation to Pink Dot, led by its CEO David Foo.
Asked about the results, Pink Dot’s Tan described them as “disappointing” and said he hoped it would not discourage politicians from attending the rally.
“For us, the important message has always been that when they come to Pink Dot, it’s not so much about supporting the issue itself. We see it as an opportunity for leaders in this country to come and understand the LGBTQ community,” he said.
