| The Wall Street Journal
October 22, 2004
For Its Own Reasons,
Singapore Is Getting Rather Gay-Friendly
Tourist Dollars Are Part of It, But There Still Are
Limits;
Renaming a 'Military' Ball
By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
SINGAPORE -- This famously stodgy city-state is becoming
an unlikely center of gay culture in Asia.
Nearly 8,000 gay men from around the world flocked
to a beach resort here in August for an all-night party
timed to coincide with Singapore's National Day. Laser
lights played across the bodies of revelers, many shirtless
and some stripped down to their Speedos, as they danced
through the humid tropical night.
Gay bars, dance clubs and about a half-dozen bathhouses
have sprung up. This past summer, the national art museum
even featured an exhibit of homoerotic photos.
"Singapore's become much more tolerant and open,"
says Sean Ho, surveying the raucous scene at the dance
party. Mr. Ho, a 33-year-old information-technology
consultant, was decked out in a T-shirt proclaiming
"Choose Sin" in large, red letters and "gapore"
in smaller print. "They are giving us a lot more
space," he says.
The driving force behind this change appears to be
economic. One consideration: reaping so-called pink
dollars from gay tourists. The August dance party and
related events, including plays and art exhibitions
with gay themes, pulled in about 2,500 foreign visitors
and about $6 million, according to event organizers.
Singapore's more relaxed attitude toward homosexuality
is also part of a broader government strategy to transform
the small former British colony into a creative, idea-driven
economy. That, Singapore's leaders realize, will require
some loosening up, as well as a serious effort to change
the world's perception of Singapore as a rigid, authoritarian
place.
Singaporeans have long accepted a high degree of social
control in exchange for state-delivered prosperity.
But that is evolving as more Singaporeans are being
exposed to the outside world through the Internet, travel
and the globalized media.
Those same forces have awakened gay people in Singapore
and across Asia to the greater acceptance of homosexuals
in the West and elsewhere, encouraging more to live
openly and demand civil liberties.
Once a taboo topic in Singapore, homosexuality has had
a lot of attention in the local press. The cover of
a weekly magazine recently touted the feature "Queer
Eye for a Straight Nation." One commentator in
the article suggested the new prime minister, Lee Hsien
Loong, could improve his look by opting for a wardrobe
of "all white leather."
The official Singapore Tourism Board commissioned a
study of last year's Nation party, which looked at "the
potential of tapping on these attendees to bring in
tourism receipts." This year, the tourism board
advertised the event under the headline "Party
All the Time."
While some gay Singaporeans don't like the focus on
the pink dollar, others see the profit motive as an
avenue for gaining expanded rights. "It's highly
unlikely we'll ever get gay rights on the grounds of
civil liberties," says Dominic Chua, a 29-year-old
schoolteacher. "The only appeal that seems to work
is a pragmatic one that relies on dollars and cents."
In fact, the government remains decidedly ambivalent
about gay people. In an interview last year, then-Prime
Minister Goh Chok Tong said that gays "are like
you and me" and shouldn't face discrimination in
the civil service. But laws prohibiting homosexual acts
remain on the books.
The government has also refused to register a group
campaigning for equal rights for gays, saying that it
is "contrary to public interest to grant legitimacy
to the promotion of homosexual activities and viewpoints."
Under Singapore law, societies must register with the
government. Recently, censors banned a Taiwanese film
about two gay teens, saying it "conveys the message
that homosexuality is normal."
"This place is full of contradictions," says
Stuart Koe, chief executive officer of Fridae.com, a
gay Web portal with its main office in Singapore, and
the organizer of the August parties. "Change at
the grass roots is outpacing change at the policy level.
But things are moving in the right direction."
Many things, such as a gay-pride parade, remain out
of bounds. Arjan Nijen Twilhaar, editor in chief of
gay-oriented magazine Manazine RA, says officials have
warned him against "promoting a gay lifestyle,"
and have objected to photos of "too skimpy"
underwear in an ad. "You are always on thin ice,"
says Mr. Nijen Twilhaar, "and you never know when
it's going to crack."
August's dance parties got official scrutiny, too.
A "Military Ball" planned this year had to
be renamed. Police said they were concerned that guests
might inadvertently break the law by wearing uniforms
without authorization -- an offense in Singapore. Nation
organizers say authorities also objected to anti-AIDS
campaigners handing out condoms and pamphlets. The local
police objected to the materials "based on the
misunderstanding that they promoted gay sex," Mr.
Koe says. The distribution ceased, but the police said
in a statement that they did not request "the removal
of any booth."
Critics of the government say all this smacks of hypocrisy.
The government is content to let gay bathhouses with
names such as TowelClub and Raw exist in the center
of town, but loath, say some activists, to give gays
permission for much besides sex, dancing and drinking.
"Entertainment doesn't challenge their political
dominance," says Alex Au, a leader of People Like
Us, the group that the government won't register, thus
limiting its ability to raise funds and hold public
meetings. The group is seeking the repeal of colonial-era
antisodomy laws, which generally aren't enforced against
consenting adults.
Of the government, Mr. Au says, "they are driven
by economic imperatives. But they're trying to do the
absolute minimum they can get away with, so it doesn't
chip away at their ability to control the political
agenda." Mr. Au believes the government blocked
registration of his group not because it represents
gays, but because it is independent: "They dislike
any organization they can't co-opt or control fully."
A spokesman for Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs
says: "Many Singaporeans continue to voice their
objections to displays of homosexual behavior. There
are certain things that homosexuals want which are not
feasible now," including the setting up of a society.
In many ways, the 32-year-old Mr. Koe and his enterprises
are emblematic of the shifts that are taking place.
Mr. Koe, who has been openly homosexual since he was
a teenager, spent six years at the University of Minnesota,
where he earned a doctorate in pharmacy before returning
to Singapore in 1997. He worked in the life-sciences
division of the government's Economic Development Board
before leaving to start Fridae, one of the largest gay-oriented
Web sites in Asia.
Mr. Koe, who lives with his partner, another executive
at Fridae, says: "Sometimes, we ask ourselves:
'Is it futile? Should we just move to New York where
people get it?' " For now, however, they have decided
to stay. "At the end of the day, I'm quite happy
to be here. It's gratifying to see the changes and be
a part of it," he says.
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