Below are two posts by members of SiGNeL, the LGBT email group, about what happened.

"Msgme99" wrotes;

During this morning's live telecast (Mon, 23 Feb), Dustin Lance Black was the winner for the Original Screenplay (for Milk). In the acceptance speech, he said that Harvey Milk was a positive influence in his life, that God loves gay people too and encouraged gay people (in the US) to be hopeful of "equal rights" soon.

Knowing Mediacorp's history with programs that "promote gay lifestyle", I watched the repeat telecast. As expected, the whole positive bit relating to gays was cut out. Perhaps it was done, as MM Lee put it, not to infect the heartlanders???

"Eaststarnyc" wrote:

The Academy Awards were shown on Singapore TV this evening, a taped broadcast that followed the live telecast this morning. The two telecasts were almost similar with one glaring exception. The acceptance speech by Dustin Lance Black, who won for Best Adapted Screenplay for the movie "Milk" was aburbtly cut. A quick online check showed the reason - the speech had been censored by MediaCorp TV because of Black's comments about gays.

Sadly, this sort of censorship is nothing new in Singapore, where the media are fined by the ironically-named Media Development Authority, for any programme that "promotes or encourages homosexuality." Just a few months ago, The MDA fined Mediacorp for showing a gay couple's home in a show on interior decor.

This sort of bigoted, intolerant and ignorant action by a national broadcaster is better suited for Iran or North Korea than a nation that puts itself forward as a modern world-class city.

I am posting Dustin Lance Black's speech herewith, and hope it will be read by many Singaporeans who were denied the chance to hear this on TV tonight.

Here's a YouTube video of the speech, followed by a transcript provided by Eaststarnyc:

Black:

Oh my God. This was, um, this was not an easy film to make. First off, I have to thank Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg and all the real-life people who shared their stories with me. And, um, Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, James Franco and our entire cast, my producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, everyone at Groundswell and Focus for taking on the challenge of telling this life-saving story.

When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas to California, and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life. It gave me the hope one day I could live my life openly as who I am and then maybe even I could even fall in love and one day get married.

I wanna thank my mom, who has always loved me for who I am even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he'd want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by the government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours.

Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, God, for giving us Harvey Milk".

This is not the first time that Mediacorp Channel Five has censored the repeat telecast of the Oscars. In 2007, they did the same with a speech by Melissa Etheridge. See the article Incredible wife makes disappearing act

Best Actor winner Sean Penn, in his acceptance speech, also touched on equal rights for gay people, opening with a humourous reference to  himself and all those involved in the film as "commie, homo-loving sons of guns", a slur often hurled at straight people who support gay equality. Since I don't watch the Oscars (Academy Awards) I don't know if it was censored too. I'm sure the slur would pass the censors, but can someone tell me whether the bit transcribed below was left intact in the repeat telecast?

The transcript of the relevant section of Sean Penn's remarks:

For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, and I think it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support. We've got to have equal rights for everyone.

© Yawning Bread