September 2004

Manazine rapped (again)

source: Reuters

     

  

 

 
Singapore raps magazine for promoting gay lifestyle


Strait-laced Singapore has rapped a men's magazine for promoting a homosexual lifestyle and told the publication to curb its circulation.

Singapore's media watchdog warned "Manazine" to stop distributing the magazine free at restaurants and other venues after complaints from the public, a magazine spokesman said.

"We were told that while we can exist in the public space, we have to be careful to the sensitivities of the conservative mainstream," said Manazine chief editor Arjan Nijen Twilhaar.

The bi-monthly magazine, distributed for free in the past, will now cost S$25 ($15) a year to subscribers, who must produce "Manazine" subscription cards before picking it up at stores.

Singapore, which banned a Taiwan film in July for its gay theme but hosted a gay festival of 6,000 revellers last month, has shown greater tolerance towards homosexuality in recent years but still outlaws consensual homosexual acts.

Acts of "gross indecency" between two men are punishable by up to two years in jail under Singapore's Penal Code.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) also chided "Manazine" for publishing a story in its latest publication that featured an article on Will Young, a gay singer who won the U.K Idol contest. Young had told the magazine that he wanted a boyfriend.

"The MDA said we can mention gay topics but we cannot promote a homosexual lifestyle, and that article where Young mentioned 'boyfriend' has crossed the line," Twilhaar told Reuters.

 

Foreword by Yawning Bread

This is a news report filed by Reuters, dated 1 Sept 2004.

Don't you think it is ridiculous that a magazine can't report that someone said "boyfriend"?

The New Paper did a similar story, way back in 1999. See The day he said he wanted a boyfriend. Didn't hear about that paper being rapped, but maybe it was hushed up.

Manazine was hauled up by our censors in March this year. see the article Manazine manacled. Six months later, the censors are still after them.

In October 2004, Manazine held a photo exhibition featuring the photographs which they couldn't include in their magazine because they were too frank. That's very clever of them, because exhibitions are outside the remit of the MDA.

 

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