Pink Dot 2011: Growing LGBT Pride in Singapore

“Pink Dot has grown significantly since 2009, when about 2,500 people attended; in 2010, attendance grew to 4,000 with more families participating.” By the time you read this, Pink Dot, Singapore’s third annual public gathering and celebration of sexual freedom and acceptance, will be over. According to the attendance numbers reported in Singapore’s Straits Times (see the link below), attendance at this LGBT gathering topped 10,000, more than double last year’s number. By American, Australian or European standards, this is not the biggest gay pride event around. But it is significant because it happened in Singapore, a delightful island-nation known for amazing food and true multi-culturalism, but not for its wide acceptance of gay culture and lifestyles. In fact, Singapore still has a law in its penal code, Section 377A, that makes consensual sex between men a crime. But if the growing popularity and support the Pink Dot event has gotten for three years running is any indication, Singapore is softening its conservative attitudes towards its gay sons and daughters. And it seems about time a nation this advanced in finance and technology updates its attitudes towards boys holding hands. (CNNGo – Singapore’s Pink Dot) The brief Straights Times report on the even is here: 10,000 at 2011 Pink Dot.