| Far Eastern Economic Review
Issue cover-dated October 28, 2004
SPECIAL REPORT: GAY ASIA
Gay Asia: Tolerance Pays
In this special report, we examine the changing
lives of Asia's gays. We begin in Singapore, a state
where contradictions abound, but where one message has
hit home: Gay rights make economic sense
By Gordon Fairclough/SINGAPORE
For many, the journey has yet to begin, but a growing
number of Asian gay men and women are finally on the
road to winning social and legal acceptance.
Some are benefiting from the belief that open societies
equal stronger economies; others are finding the courage
to stand up for themselves as they find--often through
the Net--that they are not alone.
ON A HOT TROPICAL NIGHT, around 8,000 gay men are dancing
to pulsing house music. Laser lights play across sweaty
bodies. Many of the men have whipped off their shirts.
Some are down to just their Speedos.
Welcome to Singapore.
Sean Ho, a 33-year-old information-technology consultant
surveys the scene. He's wearing a T-shirt that proclaims
"Choose Sin" in large, red letters. Below,
in smaller type, is "gapore." "Singapore's
become much more tolerant and open," says Ho. "They
are giving us a lot more space."
The annual gay Nation party, held to coincide with
Singapore's National Day in August, is an event the
city-state's conservative founders would probably never
have imagined. But stodgy Singapore has recently witnessed
a flowering of gay culture. Gay bars, dance clubs and
about a half-dozen bath houses have sprung up. The national
art museum even featured an exhibit of homoerotic photos
this summer.
The driving force behind this liberalization appears
to be economic. One consideration: Earning "pink
dollars" from gay tourists. Organizers estimate
that Nation and related events pulled in about 2,500
foreign visitors and nearly $6 million. But Singapore's
more relaxed attitude towards homosexuality is also
part of a broader government strategy to transform the
city into a creative, ideas-driven economy. That, Singapore's
mandarins 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.
Even so, when it comes to gay people, the government
remains ambivalent. Despite then-Prime Minister Goh
Chok Tong's pronouncement in an interview last year
that gays "are like you and me" and shouldn't
face discrimination in the civil service, 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."
Recently, censors banned a Taiwanese film about two
gay teens, saying it "conveys the message that
homosexuality is normal." And the country's one
magazine aimed at homosexual readers has seldom dared
to use the word "gay."
"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."
Indeed, across Asia, international travel, an increasingly
globalized mass media and--crucially--the Internet are
exposing gay people to the greater acceptance of homosexuals
in the West and elsewhere, encouraging more to live
openly and demand civil liberties. In some cases, though,
that's raising the risk of a conservative backlash.
In Singapore, police harassment of gay people, common
even in the early 1990s, say activists, has stopped.
Gay nightlife is flourishing. And, since Goh's remarks,
the once taboo topic of homosexuality has received a
lot of attention in the mass media. The cover of local
weekly I-S Magazine recently showed two sperm in an
embrace with the headline: "Happy Together? Can
straight and gay Singapore co-exist?"
The official Singapore Tourism Board commissioned a
study of last year's Nation party "to assess the
potential of tapping on these attendees to bring in
tourism receipts." This summer, the agency included
the Nation parties in a newspaper ad, headlined "Party
All the Time!" that also listed the official National
Day celebrations and other attractions.
All this is making it easier for gay men and women
to be more open. Dinesh Naidu, a 29-year-old writer,
came out to his family over the past year. After a rocky
start, his parents are now fairly accepting. Naidu says
his boyfriend "gets along very well with my mother.
After a few beers, my father can be quite friendly,
too." Still, many homosexuals keep their orientation
secret from family and colleagues.
Conservative Christian groups have taken the lead in
opposing more liberal attitudes. Some churches actively
work to "convert" gay people into heterosexuals.
The government cites such opposition to justify its
go-slow policies.
Many things, such as a gay-pride parade, remain out
of bounds. There are strict limits on other forms of
expression, too. Arjan Nijen Twilhaar, editor of a gay-oriented
magazine, says officials have warned him against "promoting
a gay lifestyle," and have objected to photos of
"too skimpy" underwear in his magazine. "You
are always on thin ice," says Nijen Twilhaar, "and
you never know when it's going to crack."
When he applied to renew his publication licence, Nijen
Twilhaar says the government's Media Development Authority
cautioned him that the more gay people "lobby for
public space, the bigger the backlash." Since then,
he has decided to limit distribution of the magazine
to paying customers. Keeping a lower profile should
allow the magazine more freedom, says Nijen Twilhaar.
"We'll no longer have to hide the fact that we
are addressing a gay target audience."
August's dance parties also received scrutiny, with
officials ordering that a planned "Military Ball"
be renamed. Police say they were concerned guests might
inadvertently break the law by wearing uniforms without
authorization--an offence in Singapore. The next night,
Nation organizers say, the authorities objected to anti-Aids
campaigners handing out condoms and pamphlets. Police
"objected to the Action for Aids materials based
on the misunderstanding that they promoted gay sex,"
Koe says. The operation was shut down. Police say 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 Towel Club and Raw exist in the centre
of town, but is 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 has refused to register,
thus limiting its ability to raise funds and hold public
meetings. The group is seeking the repeal of colonial-era
anti-sodomy laws, which generally aren't enforced against
consenting adults.
Of the government, 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."
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."
But, according to a spokesman for Singapore's Ministry
of Home Affairs, "many Singaporeans continue to
voice their objections to displays of homosexual behaviour.
There are certain things that homosexuals want which
are not feasible now. This includes the setting-up of
a society to promote homosexual activities and viewpoints."
Other gay activists favour a less confrontational approach.
"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."
The economic argument seems to have some merit. In
one recent study, Marcus Noland, a researcher at the
Institute for International Economics in Washington,
found that countries that were more accepting of homosexuality
fared better economically. "Tolerance pays,"
says Noland. "People who are comfortable with differences
seem to be more comfortable with innovation."
A book by American academic Richard Florida about what
makes cities vibrant makes a similar point. Florida
says a city's openness to gay communities is an indicator
of receptivity to new ideas and, thus, creativity. The
book, The Rise of the Creative Class, has been cited
frequently by the pro-government Straits Times newspaper.
For decades, the implicit social contract in Singapore
was that the government would deliver the economic goods
and people would acquiesce to a high degree of government
control over their lives. That agreement is becoming
increasingly strained, as Singapore finds that more
openness is what is required to keep the economy moving
and as the government struggles to accommodate the wishes
of the growing number of its citizens exposed to the
world through the Internet and time spent living abroad.
In many ways, the 32-year-old Koe and his enterprises
are emblematic of the shifts that are taking place.
Koe, who has been openly homosexual since he was a teenager,
spent six years studying in the United States before
returning to Singapore in 1995. He worked for the Economic
Development Board before leaving to start Fridae, one
of the largest gay-oriented Web sites in Asia.
Koe, who lives with his partner, says: "Sometimes,
we ask ourselves: 'Is it futile? Should we just move
to New York where people get it?'" For now, they've
decided to stay. "It's gratifying to see the changes
and be a part of it," he says.
Singapore's need to hang on to people like Koe is why
many gays believe the city will continue to expand the
space open to homosexual citizens. "Singapore may
not be first in gay rights, but it can't afford to be
last," says Martin Loh, a painter who was fired
from his job as an analyst for Singapore's intelligence
agency in the 1980s after it was discovered he was gay.
"We will one day enjoy these rights because the
government knows it can't be too far back on these things.
It has nothing to do with enlightenment."
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