Singapore's Pink Dot Again A Success

July 5, 20251 yr

Even though Singapore finally got rid of the old colonial Article 377A of the penal code which basically criminalised homosexuality nearly three years ago, the Singapore government still forbids Gay Pride Parades. In their place, the annual gay Pink Dot celebration confined by the government to a relatively small park in the city was once again this year a big success last week-end. Turn-out was large despite very heavy showers earlier in the day. Pink Dot has always been a family affair and familes were again very much in evidence this year.

So too were three MPs from the Workers' Party and two belonging to the ruling PAP party. Speaking to the media, PAP parliamentarian Alex Yeo said he was “very happy” to be at the rally to engage and listen to the concerns of the LGBTQ community. “They are part of the Singaporean community, very important part of our community, our overall social compact in our community. And so therefore we are very happy to be here,” Mr Yeo said.

Yet Pink Dot still seems to be a big embarrassment to the Singapore government. That government has gone out of its way to attract many dozens of international companies with special tax relief and other fiscal measures to make it the financial and business hub of Asia. It regularly spends hundreds of milions of $$ bringing top international events to Singapore - e.g. Taylor Swift's recent S. E. Asian tour concerts were restricted to Singapore and no other country can afford all the hooplah of an F1 race - because it realised attracting executives from multi-national companies would require the same sort of experiences they could get in major western capitals. Many of those top international companies used to sponsor Pink Dot. Yet a few years ago, the government even banned international companies from sponsoring. Local companies stepped into the breach. This year 65 helped sponsor the event.

As usual, a number of local organisations, including church groups, registered objections. Protect Singapore - which describes itself as a group that aims to protect the values of marriage, family, children and conscience - released a scorecard grading politicians based on their stances towards LGBTQ issues. The scorecard is to "help you evaluate whether your MP supports your values", said the group in a Facebook post. Among the grading criteria includes never attending Pink Dot.