chrishansenhome

To my non-Singaporean friends: sometimes Singapore is called "that lil' red dot on the map" as it's so small in comparison to most countries. My friend Roy Tan had an idea last year to hold a lesbian and gay rally in the only place in Singapore where demonstrations are allowed: Hong Lim Park. Over the past months the idea morphed into gathering people together in Hong Lim while wearing pink or carrying pink parasols or paper hats. They would gather together in a circle and form the Pink Dot. This happened yesterday, and here is the video of the event. Please watch it.

To my Singaporean friends: I'm immensely proud of you. The flavour of the day reminded me of my first few Pride parades in New York City in the mid-1980's, where civil rights for lesbian, gay, and trans folk were few and far between. See how far we've come since then! I wish I could have been there.

If you do it again next year, and non-Singaporeans can participate, I'll try to visit. Until then, keep on plugging: this was just the first step on a long road toward the freedom to love.