March 2005

Gay themes OK . . . within boundaries

source: Straits Times, 18 March 2005, by Neo Hui Min

     

  

 

 
The Singapore Government is not practising 'double standards' by including a talk on Singapore's gay scene during the Singapore Season programme in London.

The talk featuring gay activist Alex Au, playwright Alfian Sa'at and annual gay parties organiser Stuart Koe was part of a series of performances and talks curated by Singaporean director Ong Keng Sen at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts.

'We can't pretend that there is no such thing as a homosexual community in Singapore. If Keng Sen chooses to present this slice of life in Singapore, that's his artistic licence,' said the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang.

He pointed out that plays with gay themes were allowed in Singapore so long as they stayed within guidelines. 'It's not like anything to do with a homosexual theme is kept out.' But he urged the gay community not to thrust their agenda into the public arena and to confront the rest of society with their concerns as Singapore society is largely Asian and has 'certain reservations'.

 

Foreword by Yawning Bread

The 90-minute "In Conversation" session was held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on 12 March 2005.

You can guess from this article that the reporter's question to the minister was something along the lines of, how is it that your ministry sponsors a talk by activists in London when gay forums are banned in Singapore? Aren't you practising double standards?

An insider from the ministry, on seeing this news report, remarked to Yawning Bread that it's extremely unusual for Lee Boon Yang to answer such a question. He's very uncomfortable with the subject (if you look carefully at the ST story, he doesn't even use the word 'gay' but always says 'homosexual'), and at internal meetings in his ministry he waves away any discussion of gay issues whenever it pops up on the agenda.

 

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