Notice of taboos up in Taboo... 
but more seems to meet the eye

by Sal

The front wall of Taboo discotheque in Singapore recently saw a rather unsightly notice being pinned up.

The A4-size piece of paper proclaimed, since the week of 14 December, that Taboo 'patrons of the same sex are to REFRAIN from kissing, hugging, fondling and other sexually explicit behaviour'. The word 'refrain' was capitalised in the original message.

Such a curt notice cannot but catch the eyes of the activists among us. But the story within seems more complex than we thought.

The manager of Taboo, arguably Singapore's most popular gay nightspot, said that the police recently received a written complaint about 'man-man activities' in Taboo and acted upon the complaint.

According to the manager, the approach adopted by our friends in blue was civil and professional. They told Taboo's management about the complaint and sought 'Taboo's cooperation' to enforce some restraint.

The notice came up on the front wall of the popular discotheque soon after.

Let's do some thinking here.

First, our brothers in blue do know for a fact what Taboo, and for that matter the rest of the gay nightspots, is all about.

It is definitely not a new phenomenon that people of the same sex are kissing or hugging one another in these places. As for fondling and other sexually explicit behaviour, well, I personally have not witnessed any, perhaps due to my failing eyesight.

A check with Niche, Why Not and Backstage also showed that no such notice has come up on their walls.

Hence, it is really strange that Taboo has been targetted alone and for so trivial a matter.

Second, let's make it clear, once and for all, that kissing and hugging between people of the same sex is not illegal in Singapore.

As one lawyer friend of mine said: 'There is no one law in Singapore that forbids kissing and hugging between people of the same sex. Hell, a father definitely can kiss his son and a boy can definitely hug his male friend!'

Of course, those actions that we see in Taboo and the rest of the gay bars can be classified as acts of gross indecency, and thus become chargeable offences.

But the lawyer opined that it is lame to classify them as such, and the case to prosecute anybody in this manner has a much lower probability of getting through the courts.

And the best thing is: a source close to the police concurs. In fact, he has always maintained that it is not the policy of our friends in blue to curtail such 'mild activities' behind closed doors.

Third, and most importantly, there is definitely more than meets the eye here.

Because it is impossible that the police has been oblivious to the nature of Taboo's clientele all along, and that the probability of a straight, morally-constipated patron coming into Taboo and discovering that it is a gay bar is very low, I tend to believe that the complaint has been done with a malicious intent to smear Taboo's reputation.

And some sources, including one close to Taboo's management, that I spoke to believed that this saga is all part and parcel of the cat fight among the bitches within the community. I shan't elaborate more here as it is, after all, mere speculation.

However, if the speculations are true, then it is very sad for people like us and all that we want to stand for.

Already, the police is not harassing us and leaving us to our own holes. But if we insist on wearing each other down, we really are digging our own graves.

So what if we dare kiss and hug each other in Taboo, Niche and Why Not, knowing that the law protects us?

As long as our own community prefers fighting among ourselves to fighting for more acceptance from our society, we may actually become more vulnerable than ever before.    

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