The sentences below enclosed in quotation marks, and in blue, are PT's words, not necessarily what was in the newspaper stories.

* * * * *

Wanbao's gay-life exposé burst into view. Right on the front page was the headline "50 gay men mass orgy in dark room of sauna in Singapore", reported PT. A blurb promised "a five-part series, called the 'Glass Circle Secret', as 'Glass' is a Chinese term to mean homosexuals."

In PT's opinion, the headline makes the reader focus on the 'secret' of gay circles.

About three-quarters of Page 2 was devoted to the story, in a number of sub-parts. The main part described the location and appearance of a sauna, its entry charges, facilities, themes' night, etc.

PT reported, that from the way it was written, "it sounds like the reporter disguised himself as a customer" and entered the sauna undercover. But, "as the report also interviewed a gay male," so if it was not an undercover report, it might have been "simply hear-say from that gay man. That gay man told them everything happening in the gay sauna."

In another part of the page, PT said, "it also reported a psychiatrist discussing the health risk of spreading AIDS and the psychological damage of such activities in sauna."

This psychiatrist "called upon the authorities to raid the gay sauna before it become a norm."

Another part of the page "reported on gay cruising at Jalan Sultan Cemetery and mentioned that many used condoms are found there."

"A half nude picture with the lower body covered by a rainbow flag was shown. The rainbow flag was reported to be a gay sign. Such a flag was displayed outside the gay sauna, the paper said."

"On the whole," PT said, "the report was very negative and portrayed gay men as promiscuous."

* * * * *

In the second part of the Glass series, Wanbao reported on another gay sauna. This time, the front page headline was 'Gay Club Monthly Promiscuous Nude Party'.

PT explained that the headline "used the term 'hu gao' where 'hu' meant 'anyhow do, false' and 'gao' meant 'play'. Thus 'anyhow play' has a strong meaning of promiscuous".

The newspaper reported this other sauna as "a more high class and expensive club as compared to the first, reported on the previous day."

Once again, "the reporter tried to disguise himself as a customer to go to the full moon nude party but was refused admittance. The reporter had wanted to go in to take a look before deciding whether to become the member."

PT continued, "So the reporter waited outside for 2 hours and observed what sort of crowd came into the sauna. They also interviewed of the sauna's members."

From them or others, "the reporter managed to get hold of information concerning the nude party."

"The report used the term 'disgusting' to describe the nude party. It also described how, when a sauna-goer found a sex target, they would proceed to a private cubicle to engage in 'anal sex, oral sex, etc.'"

"The report stressed that 'such unnatural sex activities are against the law", PT observed.

The Wanbao story noted that "many overseas customers flew here for the full moon nude party and that many customers were army boys."

In PT's opinion, the mention about army boys was to give "a sort of urgency to the matter of how gay saunas corrupting the youth."

In a side story, PT said, "a counsellor gave a typically stereotypical list of the causes of homosexuality such as single parenthood, lack of a fatherly figure, being sexually abused by other males at a young age, gender identification problem, etc. The counsellor also mentioned that many parents sought help regarding their children's homosexual orientation."

Another frontpage headline. "This time, it said, 'Reader again exposes gay club promiscuous act - using nudity show and san pei to attract members'."

PT said that this third part of the series talked about yet another sauna that had "full-nude shows and shower/massage/extra services by handsome Thai boys."

"The reporter also interviewed a customer to find out what was happening inside the club. He also managed to get more information from the sauna's reception counter staff."

In addition, PT noted, "the report also mentioned the full nude photography service provided by the club."

In a side story, a female lawyer was quoted as saying that spas that allowed illegal gay sex could have their business licences revoked. PT noted, "she called upon straight men who by accident got into such clubs to make a report to the police, especially those who were sexually molested."

Yet another side story reported that many readers rang to Wanbao to express their objection to such gay activities. One reader called upon the police to intervene before this become a trend.

* * * * * 

This time, it wasn't on the front anymore, but on page 4. "It took up about half the page," PT estimated. "The most prominent headline on this page was 'Gay Pub - The later the night, the more degrading. Customers harass waiter's buttock'."

In this report, Wanbao said that the numbers of "gay pubs and gay disco were increasing."

"The crowds were said to be mostly in tight T-shirts or sleeveless shirts and were all very trendy, wearing the most 'in' outfits."

PT continued, "the main part of this story interviewed a straight waiter who worked in this pub. He told the reporter that most waiters working here were straight guys. However, the reporter chose to describe straight guys in quotation marks as 'normal sexual orientation', ' real men', and 'who only have interest in females'."

In PT's opinion, "the reporter was trying to imply that gays were 'abnormal', 'not real men, but effeminate'. "

"The straight waiter told the reporter," PT said, "that his buttocks had been touched by some customers and he had to tactfully move away the customers' hands."

Another heading was 'Gay Men R-rated performance at Pub'

PT commented, "Looking at such a headline, I thought something was new on the scene here. Is there such a pub with an R-rated show? But, in actual fact, the report only revealed the homophobic attitude of the reporter as he was referring to a gay couple kissing and petting openly in a gay pub. I call this homophobic because the same reporter would not describe as R-rated performances, straight couples who did the same in more open places like on an MRT train."

"Another section reported that women who accidentally went into the gay pub received strange stares from gay men."

"The reporters also visited another 2 pubs," PT observed, "and they wrote that they had thought gays were in the closet. However, it seemed top the reporter that there were more and more gay pubs and discos coming up, while many gays had walked out from the closet and were openly gay. The reporter was surprised that there were so many gay men. Gay men, the story said, no longer cared about how people looked upon them. Thus, they dared to socialize openly on weekends."

Once again the story brought up the rainbow flag as a gay symbol. It said that some of these gay pubs had such a flag outside.

PT noted that "the reporter observed that gay pubs or discos were not much different from straight pubs and discos, except for the fact that the crowd were all gay men."

A side story interviewed a church pastor, but did not name the church.

"Pastor Tan made an ignorant statement," PT said. "he said that among gays, there were some who in their younger age, had seen how their fathers ill treated their mothers, which hurt them psychologically. So when they grew up, they wanted to have sex with men (anal sex), as their heart would be thinking that they wanted to 'enjoy' men for their mothers."

"What sort of nonsense is this!" PT couldn't help remarking.

"This pastor Tan then went on to say that it was difficult to struggle alone without relying on external help such as religion or counselling. He acknowledged that homosexual love and heterosexual love were similar in the sense that there were also heartbreak moments. He pointed out that some gay men finally decided to get married and leave their boyfriends while others continued to look for same-sex partners like a butterfly among the flowers."

* * * * * 

The last installment of the 5-part series appeared on page 7, no more on the front page. It featured an email from someone who claimed to 'a gay Singaporean'. This person, PT said, "thanked Wanbao for their reporting of this 'dark truth', and suggested that Wanbao offer English versions for wider public's knowledge."

Furthermore, the letter-writer "also asked Wanbao to do a report on famous gay activist (although the name was blacked off in the paper, I suspect it may be Alex Au). He asked Wanbao to publish the gay activist's biodata, including address and home telephone number."

As reported by PT, "the major headline today was 'A Gay Club Members of 5000 - even seek investors via Internet'. Beside the headline was an irrelevant photo of 2 nude guys (can't see clearly) at Fort Road beach (so the photo is just to create attention because it was not related to this club at all)."

The story then said that "the boss was a westerner and that the club was rented from a Malay landlord." It also listed the various theme nights.

Wanbao provided details about this sauna: "there were 7 private rooms, its jacuzzi could more than 10 persons, it had 3 computers with broadband access, and a huge dark room, etc."

The story also reported that this club charged $10 for admission.

PT could guess which sauna this was from the details above, but he was surprised to read from the report that "the club was trying to get people to become its shareholders, and who would then be able to use the club facilities free of charge." PT hadn't known this.

"From the detailed description of the interior," PT said, "it was quite obvious that the reporter got into the sauna pretending to be a customer. The reported said he paid $10, and was given a locker key to go into the club."

"When the reporter asked for receipt (I think he wanted to claim the expense from Wanbao), he was told no receipt will be issued." By that, said PT, "the reporter concluded that this place was highly alert and secure."

A first-hand account was given of "people standing outside each private cubicle, obviously waiting for sex target to get to the room to have sex. He also described how the room contained lubricant, tissue roll, bed, etc."

PT felt that Wanbao's "subheadings were exaggerated and quite misleading."

"For example, one headline read, 'The Club plays blue movies for gay men to watch'." But PT noted that what the story actually referred to was the three PCs with broadband Internet access. "They were being used by members to surf pornographic sites."

"The reporter said that when he saw the porno movie on the PC, he almost felt like vomiting while the gay men were enjoying watching it."

Another headline said 'Male staff almost full nude - only wear small underwear in the reception counter'.

The story itself, as reported by PT, said that "the reporter described the front counter clerk as 'a well built male staff, who surprisingly was almost fully nude, with only sexy white underwear.'"

Another header said, 'Club Venue Not Visible', but PT pointed out that the term 'Not Visible' in Chinese could also imply 'secret'. "What the story actually described was how its entrance door was not facing the main road but that one entered through a side lane. The reporter also asked the neighbours but no one seemed to know about this club. They did notice however, that men were always going in the door."

PT's point was that, "the headlines, at a glance, gave me the impression that it was a secret club with a secret location that screened porno movie, and all whose staff were nude, or in skimpy underwear."

Yet annother section of the page was titled 'Police Will not tolerate illegal activities, if the club break the law, police will take action'.

"Wanbao also reported that many readers supported this Glass Circle Secret series," PT observed. "The newspaper said that whether one agreed with or objected to homosexuality, same sex couples behaving intimately in public, or committing unnatural sex in ANY place, would all be breaking the law and considered unacceptable."

Finally, Wanbao had a side story headlined 'Agreeing with the report of Wanbao, [many] gays give their opinion'.

PT explained that the word 'many' was not explicitly used in the headline, but "the entire sentence in Chinese gave the false impression of many gays writing in to support Wanbao's report." [footnote 1] 

"Then, the text began by saying," PT pointed out, "that 'since the Glass Circle Secret report started, many readers have emailed and phoned in to rebuke such illegal activities and premises.'"

But following that, PT reported, "it went on to say, 'Our paper even received ONE email from a gay man praising this series of reports". [Emphasis is from PT]

PT felt that "the headline tried to mislead people to think many gay men supported the paper's actions."

The text of the email that Wanbao received is below, translated by PT:

Dear Wanbao,

Re Reports on Gay Saunas - Special Thanks

I refer to your recent reports on gay lifestyle and saunas (July 09 2004 to July 11 2004).

It would be great if you could offer a translated English version for the broader general public's knowledge. Even though I'm Singaporean gay, I have to agree that the reports are shedding light on the dark truth behind our "little known" society. Most of us (gay / bisexual) are polygamous and sex-crazed.

I wish Wanbao's could have done better by approaching the police and apprehending those involved in male gross acts of indecency. Perhaps Wanbao could do a report on famous gay activist XXXXXXX (here name being blacked off) with his biodata, including address and home telephone number.

These things have been going on under the government's close-one-eye policy and I thank you Wanbao for the daring publicity.

Regards, XXXXX (here again name blacked off) 

"However," PT noted, "from the Chinese text, it said this email was sent from someone with an English name called "Jerry" or something that sounded like that when translated into Chinese."

© Yawning Bread