Contradiction approacheth!

And this time we've got a proper poster, too!

ContraDiction 8: Our Very Own Literature
Sat 25 Aug, 7.30pm, 
The Reading Room (21 Tanjong Pagar Road, #04-01 – former Mox Bar)
Our annual queer literary evening is back, with a new focus! Listen to some of Singapore's oldest works of queer literature from the 1980s, as well as works by our youngest writers from the 2010s. Featuring Ovidia Yu, Joel Tan, NUS Poet-in-Residence Jay Bernard and many more.

By the way, we have some video clips from last week's Gaily Ever After event, uploaded to YouTube!

Part 1 (Cyril Wong)
Part 2 (Ng Yi-Sheng)
Part 3 (Tania de Rozario)
... and Part 4 (Anila Angin) is below:

Gaily Ever After: Our Very Own Fairy Tales, Fri 17 Aug

I should of course mention that I've done a rather fun interview on Fridae with the awesome HIV epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani, whom I met at the Makassar International Writers Festival. It's been getting quite a number of comments (much more so than my usual humdrum articles about the arts in Singapore), and the even haters are terribly amusing to read.

But, on to literary matters! My first IndigNation event's coming up this Friday!

Gaily Ever After: Our Very Own Fairy Tales

Fri 17 Aug, 8pm, BooksActually (9 Yong Siak Street)

Sit down for an evening of storytelling with four Singaporean writers, each bearing a fairy tale with a gay twist. Featuring Ng Yi-Sheng, Cyril Wong, Tania de Rozario and Anila Angin.

I'm pretty happy about this event, since it's really my brainchild: just happened that I knew quite a few queer fairy tales had been written, so we're binding them together. I think it'll be fun.

If you want to know about the IndigNation Festival in general, here's the full calendar (text version here):

Landing Places: Our Very Own Art Thu 16 Aug, 7pm, Objectifs (56A Arab Street); exhibition runs till 6 Sep Landing Places is a Singapore-based, multidisciplinary exhibition happening in conjunction with IndigNation 2012. It features work by 10 queer artists and seeks to document experiences of how our sexualities affect the ways in which we define, create, articulate, question, reject and/or relate to notions of home. The exhibition will comprise drawing, painting, photography, collage, and animation. Are You GAYme Enough? 2: Our Very Own Gameshow Fri 17 Aug, 9.30pm, Play (21 Tanjong Pagar Road) Oogachaga brings back the popular 'Are You GAYme Enough?', and this year’s edition promises to be bigger, better and raunchier! Watch the contestants battle it out on stage as they get quizzed on topics ranging from sexuality and sexual health to local LGBT history and culture. Join in the fun by assisting (or sabotaging) the contestants when they use the 'audience card' or the 'helpline card'. We’re not sure if it’ll be the survival of the smartest or the cutest – what we do know is that one very GAYme champion will walk away with grand prize worth $3000! First 100 audience members get free entry and a standard housepour! To join as a contestant, simply register at http://tinyurl.com/OCGayme Register before 12pm, 10 August 2012. Like us on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/OCGayme and stand to win a pair of tickets to Toy Factory Productions' Purple! Hurry, contest ends on 27 July, at 12 noon. Our Very Own Stories Fri 24 Aug, 8pm, The Factory (22 Lim Tua Tow Road); exhibition runs till 7 Sep Our Very Own Stories showcases real Singaporean LGBT people who have struggled and triumphed against the challenges of self-worth and discrimination. Curated by Nicholas Deroose, this collaboration between five community photographers seeks to give hope to a future generation and show them a possible future beyond the adversities that they face today. ContraDiction 8: Our Very Own Literature Sat 25 Aug, 7.30pm, The Reading Room (21 Tanjong Pagar Road, #04-01 – former Mox Bar) Our annual queer literary evening is back, with a new focus! Listen to some of Singapore's oldest works of queer literature from the 1980s, as well as works by our youngest writers from the 2010s. Featuring Ovidia Yu, Joel Tan, NUS Poet-in-Residence Jay Bernard and many more.

IndigNation 2012!

Our monthly LGBT Pride Festival is back! And this year, we have a logo!

We also have a theme: looking back at our heritage. It's not reflected in all our events, but it is in some. Click on the link to see the calendar properly:

Specific timings for each of our events is listed here. I've curated two events this time. Come come come.
 Gaily Ever After: Our Very Own Fairy Tales
Date: Fri 17 August
Time: 8pm
Venue: BooksActually, 9 Yong Siak Street
Sit down for an evening of storytelling with four queer Singaporean writers, each bearing a fairy tale with a gay twist. Featuring Ng Yi-Sheng, Cyril Wong, Tania de Rozario and Anila Angin.

ContraDiction 8: Our Very Own Literature
Date: Sat 25 August
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: The Reading Room, 21 Tanjong Pagar Road #04-01 (old MOX bar)
Our annual queer literary evening is back, with a new focus! Listen to some of Singapore's oldest works of queer literature from the 1980s, as well as works by our youngest writers from the 2010s. Featuring Ovidia Yu, Joel Tan, NUS Poet-in-Residence Jay Bernard and many more.

An open letter on "Same-sex union can't be labelled 'marriage' ", Straits Times, Saturday May 19, 2012, A38.

I sent off an e-mail to journalist Andy Ho yesterday in response to his editorial piece against gay marriage. I also put it on Facebook, where it's gone viral - 900 likes and 350 shares in 14 hours! I've cleaned up the typos, added some links, and scanned in Mr Ho's original article. (It's actually a fairly complex viewpoint, not vitriolically homophobic at all - well worth reading. Click the text version or the scanned version to read it.)

Dear Mr Andy Ho,

As a gay man, I'd like to thank you for sharing your views in your article "Same-sex union can't be labelled 'marriage'" printed in the Straits Times on Saturday May 19, p.A38. I truly appreciate the fact that you're standing up for civil unions, which is more than any other senior writer is doing so far.

However, I would not like to thank whichever editor was responsible for commissioning Adam Lee to print that huge anti-gay logo beside your editorial. It is offensively homophobic, almost inflammatorily so, just as a star and crescent crossed out would be anti-Muslim or a female symbol crossed out would be anti-woman. I think you'll agree that it misrepresents the fact that your article is a good deal more balanced than that.

I myself am in favour of same-sex marriage, and I'd like to two points in your article which I believe are problematic.

First, you draw on the idea of marriage being akin to a trademarked symbol, not unlike McDonald's or Yale University. It's not. It's a concept that's evolved over the years and is interpreted differently by different cultures. In the same way that "porridge" and "carrot cake" mean different things to people in Singapore and New York, "marriage" means different things to an 18th century Chinese merchant with ten stay-at-home wives and a 21st century Filipino household where husband and wife work in different countries for years on end.

Currently, our standard definition of marriage is a union two people make because they are in love and want to support each other. Children have little to do with it. And of course, sterile opposite-sex couples are allowed - almost encouraged - to adopt. Same-sex couples should also have that right, given that studies have shown they are equally good parents as their opposite-sex counterparts, if not better.

Also, remember that "gay marriage" is not an abstract concept: there are already ten countries in the world which allow same-sex marriage. Some people with these marriage certificates are living in Singapore. If you're attempting to limit the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples, you're pretty much trying to close the stable door after the horses have bolted.

Second, you claim that extending marriage rights to same-sex couples would "tarnish [the] symbolic value" of marriage. Though this statement is too abstract to be proven right or wrong, I'd like to point out that contemporary societies which have legalised same-sex marriage have seen no harm come to opposite-sex marriage in terms of climbing divorce rates. The concept may have changed, but actual people aren't suffering.

[N.B. My original post claimed there were no greater instances of abuse and no steep declines on childbirth. I can't find stats on domestic abuse, and it seems childbirth is declining in the world anyway. Still, if these were grave problems, same-sex marriage opponents would be using them in all their diatribes.]

Once again, I'd like to thank you for your support of same-sex civil unions. As you know, this year's PinkDot is on Saturday, 30 June at Hong Lim Park. I hope you'll come. I'm going to make a large sign saying "I support civil unions" so that you can hold it for everyone to see. That is the message that Singaporeans need to hear.

Yours sincerely,

Ng Yi-Sheng
Writer, reporter and educator


Mr Ho has replied graciously and says he'll be out of the country on 30 June. Several people have pointed out that arguing for same-sex marriage or civil unions is redundant until we get rid of our sodomy laws. Good point, but when you think about it, which one wins over heterosexual hearts more - two men who want to wear tuxedos or two men who want to get naked?

CONTRADICTION 7, Sat 13 Aug, 7:30pm!

Hi guys,

Some of you might know about IndigNation, Singapore's annual queer pride festival. It's on now, and the calendar's up here:

http://indignationsg.wordpress.com/

I'd just like to plug my own little event, which is part of the festival: CONTRADICTION 7!!!


https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=197068853683688

Our annual queer literary reading is back! Prepare for a sumptuous salon with Singapore’s most talented new GLBT writers, curated by Ng Yi-Sheng, Jasmine Seah and Amanda Lee.



Featured artists include singer/songwriters Iris Judotter and Roy Lim, poets Teng Qian Xi and Mika Yamaji, playwrights Joel Tan and Drayton Hiers, author/artist Tania de Rozario, slammers Stephanie Chan, Atiqah Lukman and Deborah Emmanuel, Golden Point Award winner Jeremy Tiang, and heterosexual guest star, accordionist Faizal Bochtiar. Hosted by drag queen Becca D'Bus.

Date: Sat 13 August (this weekend!)
Time: 7:30 onwards
Venue: 72-13, Mohamed Sultan Road (TheatreWorks office)

Free entry! Refreshments provided!

Rated R-18 by MDA - we just got the licence. :D

IndigNation's opening!

The full calendar's here!



Our organiser, Jun Zubillaga-Pow, has asked me to advertise the Gala Concert he's organised as part of the opening at 7pm on Sunday 7 August:

Pride and Prejudice

http://www.bytes.sg/EventDetails.aspx?EventID=243

How often do you hear a trumpet, a tenor and a recorder in a single recital? Come and experience the triple-bill of Romantic pieces presented by Edric Liew, Adrian Poon and Jun Zubillaga-Pow. The young musicians will revive luscious music from the 19th- and 20th-centuries by famous and less-known composers. As the opening line of Jane Austen is beloved novel goes, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Be smitten by these suave bachelors of the musical world as they weave spellbound tales of affectionate love. The reverberant setting of the Chamber makes it such an auricular rarity that nobody should give this a miss!

Venue: Arts House Living Room
Price: $28
Time: 7pm
Duration: 1 hr
Date: Sun 7 August 2011

Motherfuckers.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your recommendation.

Recommended Title Details:-
----------------------------------------
Title: It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living
Author: Dan Savage and Terry Miller
Publisher: Dutton Adult
ISBN/ISSN: 978-0525952336

We are sorry to let you know that we will not be buying the title you have recommended as we find it unsuitable for our library collections.

We welcome any other recommendations that you might have.

Thank you and have a nice day!

Librarian (Collection Development)
Library and Professional Services
National Library Board

Please do not reply to this auto-generated mail. If you have any queries about your request, please email to helpdesk@nlb.gov.sg 

Are you Singaporean? Are you gay/bi/allied? And are you voting PAP?

Before you do, you should take a look at what some PAP MPs think about the possibility of repealing our sodomy law - and mind you, this is one of the younger ones:



Granted, most opposition parties have chosen not to take a pro-gay rights stance. But two parties are doing so this year: Singapore Democratic Party and Reform Party. SDP is contesting my ward, too! W00t.

So right... and yet so wrong...

And definitely so American. How did I get so squeamish? Kids shouldn't be recorded dropping the F-bomb until they're like, thirteen.

FCKH8.com Straight Talk About Gay Marriage from FCKH8.com on Vimeo.

GASPP: A Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry and Prose

You may remember me calling for entries for this collection a while back. It's an anthology of writing by queer Singapore citizens and residents that I've edited together with Dominic Chua, Jasmine Seah and Irene Oh. And it's coming out this month!!!

Oh, and of course I've set up a blog about it: http://gaspp.wordpress.com. This is what our cover looks like:



It's a photo by Lin Weidong, augmented by designer David Lee.

I should list our contributors, too: Johann S. Lee, X’Ho, Ovidia Yu, Alfian Sa’at, Cyril Wong, Jason Wee, Lee Yew Leong, Ng How Wee (黄浩威), Adrianna Tan, Koh Jee Leong, Wang Zi Si (王子思), Jasmine Seah, O Thiam Chin, Zhuang Yusa, Ng Yi-Sheng, Michael Lee, Selwyn Lee, Irfan Kasban, Andrew Cheah, Michael Corbidge, Desmond Kon, Johann Loh, Chrystal Wang, Ash Lim, Geraldine Toh, Jabir Yusoff, Mint Hong (思敏), Grace Chua, Nicholas Deroose, Tata So, Dominic Chua, Tania de Rozario and a little someone called Anonymous.

Our launch dates are:

Sun 17 Oct, 2pm, Annexe Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
QUEER AS BOOKS (part of the Seksualiti Merdeka Festival)
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135470589834336
This is a pre-launch release. Two other books will be launched at the event: the Malay-language Malaysian queer anthology Orang Macam Kita and Singaporean playwright Alfian Sa'at's Collected Plays Two. There'll also be a panel discussion at 3pm on Queer Writing in Singapore and Malaysia.

Fri 29 Oct, 8-9:30pm, Play Club, Singapore
OFFICIAL LAUNCH
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158729217489754
This is the big one! We're planning a festive evening of readings (plus a Q&A) at one of most popular gay clubs in the city, showcasing the voices of queer Singapore writers from different generations. Free entry, of course. :)

More details as the dates draw closer!

Not a good day for the Singapore gay community

1. Stuart Koe, founder of Fridae, has been arrested for meth possession. Possible jail time of 13 years.

http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100910-0000070/Fridae,com-founder-charged-with-drug-possession

2. Tan Eng Hong, a 47 year-old man, has been charged under 377A for public sex.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/man-charged-over-gay-sex-act-in-toilet/story-e6frf7jx-1225916791886

Major downer this Hari Raya.

Fuck. The Singapore Police Force is using entrapment against gay sex again.

From the Electric New Paper, via Roy Tan on Facebook.

Man gropes cop in cemetery
By Elysa Chen
June 11, 2010 Print Ready Email Article

On May 4, the police conducted an anti-vice operation at the old cemetery along Jalan Kubor, an area known for vice.

The police declined to to give details of the vice activities.

A plainclothes policeman was standing alone in a poorly lit spot when he was approached by Jagadiswaran Krisnan, 32, a coffee house supervisor, at about 10.40pm.

Jagadiswaran struck up a conversation with the undercover cop.

Two other police officers were stationed a short distance away, ready to provide help.

While talking to the officer, Jagadiswaran, a Malaysian, moved closer to him. He told the officer that he was there "to have fun".

Then, he suddenly raised his hand and stroked the officer's chest and private parts.

That was when the undercover cop identified himself and, with the help of his colleagues, arrested the man.

Jagadiswaran was charged with behaving in an indecent manner in a public place. He was fined $1,000 on Tuesday.

**

YS: Indecent manner? I'll give you an indecent manner. Fucking pigs. How do we complain?

Pink Dot is this Saturday, 15 May at Hong Lim Park, 5pm

I missed the first one, and I'm damned if I'll miss the second.



The theme for this year is Focus on Our Families, and the day is the International Day of Families. Ooh, there's short films by Boo Junfeng about GLBTQ people and their families. This one's really touching:



See you there!

Pinkdot's Fundraising Tea Party

For a bigger Pink Dot, come have some tea!



What: Pink Dot 2010 Tea Party
When: 28 March 2010, Sunday 3:30pm to 6:30pm
Where: House / Barracks Café
8D Dempsey Road, Singapore 249672
Wear: Pink
Who: You, Hossan Leong, Emma Yong and Voguelicious.
How: Tickets are at S$50.00, but please feel free to give more if you can.

Buy tickets at the original page here.

Last year, an unexpected 2,500-strong crowd came together at Hong Lim Park to celebrate the Freedom to Love by forming a giant Pink Dot.

This year, let’s aim to create an even bigger Pink Dot to keep the message of love and mutual respect alive and strong! But in order for Pink Dot to muscle up for her uber-dramatic climactic comeback, Pink Dot needs your help!


Help us make Pink Dot GROW!
We believe that campaigns such as ours serve to foster greater understanding in the hopes of eventually dispelling social stigma. As such, we seek to build up on our efforts with each year.


If you like what we've done so far and would like to see Pink Dot grow, we invite you to donate generously. Come join us and a host of our famously fabulous friends for an afternoon of merry-making and delicious gastronomical treats, while doing your part for a cause!

We want to do a lot more to further reach out to Singaporeans, and your kind donations will go a long way to helping us spread Pink Dot’s message of Love for All, to make Singapore a better place to work, live and play.


Each ticket entitles you to one cocktail and a buffet spread of food and drinks [generously sponsored by House]

All proceeds will go towards Pink Dot 2010-2011

Ticket purchase is available via PayPal.

Are you a gay man in Asia?

Then do this survey. It's for science! And it allows you to realise how slutty you've been over the last six months! (My judgment: not very, since I've been a monogamous relationship since August.)



After that, reward yourself by watching this very amusing and NSFW video. (Do NOT click on the link if you're under 18 or a straight man. Lesbian, bisexual and straight women should be okay.)

I've printed the programme for ContraDiction!

Innit pretty?



Pfah, wait till you see my costume.

CONTRADICTION V this Sunday

Just to let all you guys know again, I'll be hosting our annual queer literary reading this coming Sunday:

ContraDiction V
Sunday, 30 August,
from 7-10pm
72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road, 2nd floor
(Here's how to get there.)
Part of the IndigNation Pride Festival

I've curated and emceed this edition, and I'm very happy with the standard of writing that's being represented, as well as the established and emerging faces who'll be present. It'll be very casual, so even if you're just curious and feel like sticking your head in a while for sh*ts and giggles, feel free. Be warned, though: seats fill up fast. Fortunately, there will be beanbags.

This year, our guests include Robin Loon, Jasmine Seah, Leona Lo, Michael Corbidge, Lee Yew Leong, Irfan Kasban and Iris Judotter, to name just a few!

Hope to see you there!

If you haven't read Loo Zihan's NTU valedictorian speech...

... well, you should. Click here.


The poster for his short film "Threshold" got censored just before his speech, which makes it a little more than the usual sappy go-forth-and-prosper-fest.

Yeah, so I'm feeling productive.

So productive that I decided to add an "Upcoming Appearances" section to my sidebar and completely change my blog template!

Also, advance notification: I'm curating and emceeing this year's ContraDiction V, our annual queer literary reading, on Sunday 30 October at 7pm. It's part of this year's IndigNation Festival, as always. Full calendar here.

And in other news, the Onion lampoon news team has sold itself to the Chinese.


Police Still Searching For Missing Productive, Obedient Woman


China’s Andy Rooney Has Some Funny Opinions About How Great The Chinese Government Is

Oh Onion. You're so delightfully offensive. And too frickin' big for my blogger. What's up with that?

I've reached my quota on Picasa picture storage.

So to tide you over till my next pic-heavy post, here's some Thomas the Tank Engine yaoi.