SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century
  • by Ng Yi-Sheng, published by Oogachaga, available from all major bookstores in Singapore and Fridae.com
  • Monday, September 10, 2007

    Otto Fong, RI science teacher, comes out

    Wow. Let's hear it for Otto!

    http://ottofong.blogspot.com/2007/09/open-letter.html

    Also check out the comments - his students have written back in support.

    UPDATE: The letter has been taken down under orders of MOE, but it's been copied elsewhere on the Internet - check out Fridae and The Online Citizen. Also, RI is not going to fire this teacher - do send an e-mail of thanks to Bob Koh, the Principal of RI, at headmaster@ri.sch.edu.sg.

    Friday, August 03, 2007

    INDIGNATION 2007!!! (already three things kena banned!)


    Can you believe it's been a year already? See the calendar here.

    Wednesday, April 25, 2007

    Singapore may have to legalise homosexuality, April 24, 2007

    http://news.asiaone.com.sg/a1news/20070424_story24_1.html

    SINGAPORE, April 24 (Reuters) - Singapore may eventually have to legalise homosexuality, particularly if it wants to foster creativity and become more cosmopolitan, Minister Mentor Le Kuan Yew said on Tuesday.

    "Let's not pretend it doesn't exist," he said in an interview with Reuters, adding that he saw "no option" for Singapore but to decriminalise homosexual sex.

    "They tell me that homosexuals are creative writers, dancers. If we want creative people, then we have to put up with their idiosyncrasies," Lee said.

    Mr Lee, who this week publicly questioned the city-state's ban on sex between men, said the country would still need to respect the views of its more conservative citizens.

    "We are not promoters of it and we are not going to allow Singapore to become the vanguard of Southeast Asia," Mr Lee said.

    Under Singapore law, a man who is found to have committed an act of "gross indecency" with another man can be jailed for up to two years, though prosecutions are rare.

    In November, the Ministry of Home Affairs said it was considering decriminalising oral and anal sex between consenting heterosexual adults, but not between homosexuals.

    The authorities have banned gay festivals and censored gay films, saying homosexuality should not be advocated as a lifestyle. But, despite the official ban on gay sex, Singapore has a thriving gay scene.

    MM Lee's comments come at a time when many groups, such as Singapore's Law Society, are clamouring for a review of the laws against homosexual sex, which they view as outdated and archaic.

    Sunday, April 01, 2007

    Seen in Popular bookstore:


    Singapore section. We are the mainstream. Hell, we're next to Lim Boon Keng!!!
    Posted by Picasa

    Sunday, March 04, 2007

    SQ21 in Europe?

    Just got an e-mail from Louis aka Irwan!

    Hi, Greetings From Switzerland.. I was in Amsterdam With my Hubby and
    suddently......

    I SAW SQ21! i didnt know you guys published it in Europe too. Wow.. Not
    bad!! and Nice Displays right at the entrance! hahaha! for 1 second i felt
    like i am at kinokuniya singapore :P

    Its a great feeling and just wanna shae it with u guys.. next time i will
    bring a chair and sit right nest to the books and wait for people to ask for
    my autograph, hahaha! anyway, My hubby and me will be in Singapore this
    coming Saturday! for 1 month. kiss, Louis.

    Monday, February 26, 2007

    Asia Magazine

    Hey! Bryan Choong of Oogachaga just sent me scans of the coverage we got in Asia Magazine.

    The magazine can be found in all Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlets, ComicMarts, as well as at the Images of Singapore Bookshop on Sentosa, the National Library, the Gallery Hotel, the Pan Pacific Hotel, The Ascott Apartments, SPCA, HiltonHotel KL, Shangri-la Beijing, The Kerry Centre Hotel Beijing, ThePortman Ritz Carlton Shanghai, The Pines Shanghai, The American ClubTaiwan and onboard airlines SIA, SilkAir, Sri Lankan Airlines.

    Woot! Pan-Asian outreach! Rock never die, babe.



    In other news, I saw a copy of the book selling in the branch of Popular bookstore near my home. How Heartland!

    UPDATE: Hold on a gosh-darned minute! My dad did NOT stand up with tears in his eyes at a launch at Borders! It was at the launch at Mox, and he didn't cry either - all he did was wave clownishly to say "yeah, yeah, I'm the one who sired this crazy brat". But I do still appreciate the gesture. :)

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    Saturday, February 17, 2007

    What’s plu.edu.sg?

    It's a group for GLBT teachers and educators set up by SQ21's Dominic Chua... read on!..Set up in Oct 2006, plu.edu.sg is a group of queer teachers and educators from a whole range of institutions and backgrounds. We offer support to our members through regular meetings and social events; the group’s primary focus is on professional and social networking. We’ve had more than 10 gatherings so far, and we’re going strong!

    Our long-term mission is to achieve a situation in Singapore schools in which each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

    For more details (venue, etc), please get in touch with me via email at plu.edu.sg@gmail.com.

    Best wishes,

    Dom.

    Friday, February 16, 2007

    Regardless of Race, Language, Religion and Sexual Orientation

    That's the immensely long title given to the short film that Quak Ren Yin, Zhong Yizhuang, Chu Jialin and Tan Kaili made for their project at NTU mass comm! It's on experiences of homophobia and the gay (male) experience in Singapore. They've interviewed me, Dr Khoo Hoon Eng and Alex Au for the video.

    If you want to see the project yourself, I can lend you the DVD... or perhaps we should encourage the girls to Youtube it? (They're all straight girls, btw - just very cool).

    B).

    Friday, February 09, 2007

    Today newspaper, Thursday Feb 8 2007, pp42-43

    SQ21's been featured in Today again - this time as a self-publishing success story. Yay pink capitalism - now go buy a membership from Fridae.com, a wifebeater from New Urban Male, and a baggy T-shirt from Instant Karma.


    Quote:
    And if you happen to be a writer with a niche audience, such as a poet, or one writing on taboo topics, as was the case with SQ21’s authors, your chances of being taken on by a publisher are slimmer. “The publishers we approached thought it was a sensitive subject and that the book wouldn’t sell, that people would avoid it,” said Jason Wee, a poet who had a hand in the book. “They wanted to take a high-percentage commission and charge us quite a bit just to print the book to cover that risk. So we decided to just publish it ourselves and it turned out quite well.” The book sold out its first 2,000-copy print run and its second run of some 3,000 copies has been selling steadily.

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    Saturday, February 03, 2007

    Maia!

    How come no-one told me that ex-Singapore Idol constestant and celebrity blogger Maia Lee had come out as pansexual? It's on her STOMP blog, here. Kudos to the gal. We need more out celebrities.

    Sunday, January 28, 2007

    Human Relations

    A couple of days ago, I got this e-mail from Prof Khoo Hoon Eng (the mother of two gay sons and co-founder of SAFE Singapore) :

    Hi all,

    I just discovered that my story in SQ21 is supplementary reading for
    this NUS course called Human Relations:
    http://www.usp.nus.edu.sg/behaviour/uhb2201/index.html

    I think this is great as I hope that the students would then read all
    your other stories (and maybe we can sell more copies) too since they
    are so interesting! I certainly hope that they are not photocopying
    just the few pages of my story!

    Also, I hope someone in NUS will one day be able to make SQ21 required
    reading for a course :)

    Hugs,

    Hoon Eng

    Hoon Eng's story is also up on the SAFE Singapore website. They're looking for more stories from parents of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender parents. Feel free to write to them.

    Monday, January 22, 2007

    SQ251?

    I'm rather puzzled, you know, that people keep on visiting this blog. I've been horribly tardy about getting a scanner to scan in the whole of the New Year's article. But since you're reading already, I might as well be mercenary and advertise the new play I'm doing for Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble about a scandalous bisexual Singaporean woman who wasn't afraid to talk about it over ten years ago... Annabel Chong.

    I've started a blog for my upcoming play, 251 at http://251play.blogspot.com. And the press has been reporting it - but sigh, they didn't talk about my queer identity reasons for doing the play.



    Sorry, I just hate to see a blog of mine go inactive.