queer singaporean

I've been gone for awhile, took a lil break from blogging and had a pretty good vacation. All's good and now I'm back, half tempted to switch from blogspot to blogsome, we'll see how it goes.

I've gotten my tickets to the charity premiere for Brokeback Mountain with my girl, can't wait for that. Pretty excited about the show and there's been so much hype about this Ang Lee film. Just last week my girl and I finally got down to watching "Wedding Banquet", where this gay dude got married outta convinience (something I'm planning to follow) but got intimately involved with the bride outta mistake (something I don't plan to follow). A lil cliche here and there, but it must have made an impact in the GLBT scene during that time(the film is pretty old, 1993 film). In contrast, the Brokeback Mountain seemed to have pushed boundaries like never before and I sincerely do hope that there will be more people will catch the film and get the "message" about love knows no boundaries, yada yada.

Speaking of Gay Love, there's been an issue lately about Liberty League and I say fuck'em. The guy heading the organization is as confused as a lost soul and probably has a hidden agenda about a certain religion anyway. Also, if people choose to believe that dumb ass "doctor" on the show awhile ago that homosexuality is a psychological disorder then it's time to pick up Psychology 101. Homosexuality has been taken outta the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders since the 1970s if my memory doesn't fail me. The so called self proclaimed "doctor" on that show must have gotten his degree yonks ago or hasn't updated himself since then. Another point is, since Singapore still thinks that we're a buncha loony and mentally impaired people with a bloody disorder, Singapore's probably 40 years behind time anyway.

It's simply a different sexual preference and people still don't get it. What we do behind closed doors could be as disgusting as any heterosexual couple out there, and it's your own perspective. If the government thinks that by giving 100k to an organization with a hidden agenda could alter OUR sexuality, sexual identity and sexual preference, they're so damn wrong. Who choose who we love, how we wanna love them. It's really not up to the government to dictate how we live our lives.

I can't wait to get outta this country. Sigh.

My girl, claims that she anyhow draw with Corel Painter one.


Me


Her

You BELIEVE HER?!?! I'm pleased to say that the tablet I've got for her is well spent on =)

Popagandhi's post on how tiring a life as a lesbian just struck a chord in me. Tiring? Hell yeah! To all those people out there who keeps insisting that a girl in love with another girl is just a "girl's school thing" or a phase, here's a big FUCK YOU thank you very much.(I'm not from a girl's school mind you)

Most of us have been brought up in Singapore to think that gays and lesbians are gross people who are gonna die of AIDS sooner or later. Parents tells us not to mix with them coz mixing with them will result in us catching Aids(for the extreme cases) or we will contract the "disease" of becoming gay when we grow up and the list goes on. In other words, it's just terribly to be gay lah, coz no hope already get it? Sometimes closets themselves jokes and pokes fun about gay people to make sure that people won't suspect that they are gay. Some of us might even be guilty of joining the "fun" to make sure that fingers don't point our way too. I'm sure this experience isn't unique to just a few of us. Others seek solace in religion, believing that by praying everyday their sinful thoughts of liking the same sex would go away while some just kill themselves over the guilt of letting their parents down.

At times, I feel real fortunate that in Australia, I get to hold my girl's hands whenever and wherever I want to. Occasionally we get wolf whistles when those rednecks are driving past but that's about it. In clubs, there might be assholes who comes up to us and request to get some action but most of them learn when to back off when you give them the finger too. In Singapore, the social stigma attached to gays and lesbians makes it way too difficult for anyone who is still financially dependent on their parents to come out to their parents, friends and family. In clubs, it almost becomes an invisible package that many Singaporean straight guys assume that they have when it comes to socializing in clubs. As long as the chick is feminine, she probably isn't a lesbian and that gives them the right to pick'em up. If a masculine girl comes along and tell the guy off for coming onto her girlfriend, she's seen as a public nuisance (Read the other entry on Beer Bingeing Butches I wrote awhile ago). Isn't this a lovely Singapore we live in? We're not homophobic.. uh huh yeah right..

Guess who's the gay one? =P
Enough of my rants, I apologize. Anyway, I've just finished watching the program 30 days. Thought it'll be interesting to share with you guys. It's about this really macho, christ-loving, farm boy who loves hunting, loves God and very homophobic guy who had to live with a Gay guy in San Francisco, Castro. Castro's probably the gay-est place you can every find on earth, the population of Gays and Lesbians who settle there is bloody high. Point is, the homophobic farm boy had to live and hang out with the gay dude. The farm boy had pretty bad impressions of Gay people right from the start and believed that Gays are sinful people alongside with prostitute and yada yada (thanks to the bible, or rather the people who interpret it).

Farm boy couldn't stop saying how he miss being around chicks instead of gay guys and things got really heated up when they headed to a gay bar. Farm boy attended a gay church service as well and argued with the gay minister with regards to what the bible said about gay people. Farm boy argued that even thought the bible said that killing people is wrong, he believed that defending his country by killing people is well justified but homosexuals are sinful people coz God said so in the bible *yawn. Farm boy also worked in a cheese and wine place that allowed him to interact with gay people and also his gay boss teaching him about finer things in life like wine tasting and stuff. Towards the end of the show, farm boy was still pretty adamant that gay people have sinned and do not deserve equal rights until he went for a gathering at a support group for parents and friends of gay people, only to understand that that the only difference that gay people have with their heterosexual counterparts is their sexual preference. Gay people still play sports, eat, sleep, hang out with friends like what most straight people do as well. On the final day when farm boy headed home, he realized how much he had learnt during the journey of staying with the gay guy for 30 days. He also realized that his family haven't been out much and haven't seen enough to understand that there really isn't much difference between the 2 kinda people.

Lovely show I say, perhaps we should make the lovely government of ours go live with gay people for a month too. PLU might be registered immediately the next day. LOL. Another chance of gay people living in Singapore having equal rights would be if someone in the famiLEE turns out to be gay. *winks.

I'm not a big fan of porn, but I don't equate gay websites and porn unless the website's intention is to let its viewers view gay porn and all yada yada. We all know how easy it is to surf porn in Singapore, practically every heterosexual male or gay male does so. Note that most of these sites are still very much accessible to our young Singaporeans too.

Now what I found really interesting was this.. For those who haven't heard, sgboys got fined, and another gay site (I ain't too sure what site is that) got banned in Singapore.

THE authorities here have taken action against two websites popular with gay men here following complaints that the sites contained offensive content.

One of the websites, which promoted promiscuous homosexual behaviour and recruited underage boys for sex and nude photography, was put on the Media Development Authority's (MDA) list of 100 banned websites in July, after it received 'several' complaints about it in March.

The MDA ban means that Singapore surfers will no longer be able to access the site - which is hosted overseas - from their home computers.

The other website, titled 'Meet Gay Singapore Friends', was warned by the MDA to remove 'offensive' content found on it and fined $5,000 last month for its transgressions. It has heeded the warning.

The MDA declined to say whether it had taken action against other websites, homosexual or otherwise, in the past. It also did not disclose the list of 100 banned websites, but noted that 98 of them contained pornographic materials, and two were religious extremist websites.

MDA spokesman Kwan Sui Fen said it took action after 'several complaints this year' about the two sites.

Investigations showed that they had breached its Internet Code of Practice, which governs the content of websites here.

The two sites violated 'Part 4' of the Code, which includes depictions of 'nudity or genitalia in a manner calculated to titillate', and material advocating homosexuality or paedophilia.

One of the complainants, Mr Ricky Lee, a 33-year-old freelance software programmer, told The Straits Times that the local site that was fined used to have nude pictures and videos of gay men having sex, but these have been removed.

Besides pornographic pictures and videos, the banned overseas site also provided listings of public swimming pools without shower doors and pickup places for casual sex, information about mass orgies here, and even explicit personal advertisements recruiting underage boys for sex or nude photography.

Said Mr Lee: 'People have the right to their choice of lifestyle - and I don't have a problem with that. But the way the sites glamorise a promiscuous gay lifestyle and try to entice young boys to join this lifestyle...is very wrong.'

His worries grew when the sites' tactics appeared to work - the number of people registering for the sites has been growing.

For example, the banned site's registered members grew from 60,000 last year - when Mr Lee first stumbled upon it - to more than 330,000 this year. Mr Lee believes most of the members are local, as the content focuses on Singapore.

Although happy that the MDA has banned the more extreme, overseas-hosted website, Mr Lee believes more can be done - he wants the authorities to make the site's operator take the website down.

This could be tough, said lawyer Bryan Tan of Keystone Law Corporation.

'The MDA's jurisdiction is limited to sites hosted from Singapore, or operated by a Singaporean - and this might be hard to prove in this case, or the site could genuinely be run by a foreigner.'

The MDA has referred the case to the police.

Wow, that Mr Lee must have been a really hardcore Gay Site fan for him to go around surfing and updating himself on the number of member these gay sites have got and also gone in to check out what kinda porn is available for downloading only to realize that they are not exactly the cock and pussy porn he was waiting for. I applaud to him really. Of course, to him these gay websites are "advocating homosexuality" coz surfing gay porn will definitely make you gay. Uh huh yes.. My guess? He felt his gay tendencies evolving and maybe even getting outta control to the point that he decided to call MDA to shut down the site so that his gay tendencies will be kept away in his closet. Lol. Good on ya mate! Now you're gonna remain straight! Woohoo!

Remember that People Like Us were warned that the more they ask for the lesser they would be getting eventually? In this scenerio.. Perhaps I would associate it a lil with Warwick deciding against setting up their University in Singapore as they fear that there won't be much political freedom and what is undergrads wanna set up a "Queer Student Union or Society".

According to Fridae.com

In fact, one complaint that the Warwick feasibility study team had was that the civil servants gave them such "by the book" answers when asked about political and academic freedoms, the team was left feeling more uneasy than reassured. All the more, they valued second opinions.

In contrast, PLU could explain clearly how the Singapore system works, and could cite examples of opaque decisions and government clampdowns. Warwick consulted PLU even on matters that went beyond gay-related concerns.

Warwick Uni actually consulted PLU and what I guess is, PLU gave the frank and honest description of the current situation in Singapore with regards to freedom and the answers are obviously not what the government would have wanted Warwick to hear. As a result? Perhaps this is what they call the "gay backlash".

Makes me feel like it's a conservative Daddy telling Rebellious Son "I TOLD YOU NOT TO TELL ANYONE BUT YOU DON'T LISTEN! NOW I'M JUST GONNA TAKE AWAY SOME OF YOUR ACTIVITIES AND ENTERTAINMENT. THIS IS A LESSON FOR YOU. JUST WAIT AND SEE, COZ WHO'S YOUR DADDY?? ME!"

Daddy - Gahmen.
Rebellious Son - PLU.
Activities - Nation Party.
Entertainment - Gay sites.

I am not saying that all gay people do is surf porn all day long or the only party we go to is Nation Party. I think you get the idea what I'm driving at with regards to that analogy.

This are my own personal views that may be entirely flawed, so now now.. you've got your own eyes to balance it all out so don't fault me =)

Found these "not found in Australia or Singapore" Pride Silicon bands. Sweet!


Got a couple for myself and my partner, still waiting for my other friends to make up their minds so that I could help them mass order and send it back to Singapore.

If interested, drop me an email or just leave a comment here. =)

I've been dead, DEAD busy. Loads of assignments plagueing me down, driving me crazy. CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY! No time for a detailed update but here's a lil one anyway.


Oh yes... Have you gotten your copy of TIME magazine yet? =P I'm a lil curious though whether this issue is allowed to be circulated around Singapore? MDA might just claim that it is "promoting" an alternative lifestyle once again. Zzz... *snore.

I came out to my brother when he dropped by. He guessed it all along and I guessed that we're not siblings for nothing. I'm glad to say that it's like a load of my shoulder coz I always knew that he'll be the first family member I'll come out to. I feel... lighter now. =) All along I felt so tied down by this guilt and all that shit that I have to keep lying and lying to my family members letting them think that my boyfriend (my pseudo boyfriend who's gay) and I are in a relationship and blah blah blah. I guess my brother is smart enough to guess my sexual orientation even though we've never been really close. For me to come out to him ain't easy, and I've never felt better. It's not about encouraging me to be even more "gay", but I just feel that I have 1 less family member to lie to and it certainly feels awesome.

Life is good.

I believe most of you have read the stopgays blog. (It's this blog that contains a hell lotta hateful words that you can find towards lesbian and gays and some to other races. I would say it is made up of illogical content and a rather immature author). It's impossible to miss his blog, I mean, he goes around spamming so many blogs with his blog add to gain more hits?

Now that there've been 3 bloggers who kenna lawsuit due to racism.. I reckon that the author from "stopgays" got scared. He actually took out ALL his older entries which are mostly full of insulting comments to other race as well as homophobic content. I was actually planning to take action when I head back to Singapore in December as I took down his IP address. It's a Singtel Zapsurf one... =) He took down his archives though.. Anyone who's got his archives please send the content to me and I'll be eternally greatful.