Pink Dot SG is a non-profit movement started by a group of disparate individuals. Dr. Roy Tan, a medical practitioner with an interest in the archiving of LGBT community history, wanted to take advantage of the liberalisation of rules governing activities that could be conducted at Speakers’ Corner, Hong Lim Park.,[1][2][3] and initially planned to stage a traditional gay pride parade in Nov 2008.[4]
Contents |
The official Pink Dot SG event took place at the Speakers’ Corner of Hong Lim Park in Singapore on May 16, 2009. The event date was chosen for its significance, as it falls between the International Day of Families (May 15) and the International Day Against Homophobia (May 17).
An estimated 2,500 people participated in the inaugural Pink Dot event.[5]
Pink Dot SG 2009, held on Saturday, 16 May 2009, was Singapore's first open-air, LGBT-supportive event. It established the record for the greatest number of participants to turn up for any gathering at Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park since the latter's inception. It was given extensive coverage in the international and local media.[6]
Volunteers formed the crucial backbone of the operation, with over 60 taking up a range of tasks from photography to crowd control. The event’s piece de resistance, the formation of the titular Pink Dot, was preceded by 2 smaller formations by several dozen people of the words ‘LOVE’.[7]
Finally, the afternoon’s highlight took place with more than 2,000 people coming together to form the giant Pink Dot,[8] marking a milestone for the LGBT community, and making for a great photo opportunity that would gain the event international awareness.[9]
Media coverage was garnered locally in The Straits Times, and TODAY newspaper, which came as a pleasant surprise given the prevailing media gag on positive portrayals of homosexuality. The event also received significant international coverage from the BBC[10] and the New York Times[11] with reports being syndicated to various publications around the world through wire services Associated Press,[12] Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Pink Dot 2010 was held on Saturday, 15 May at 5 pm. Another record turnout of 4,000 people was achieved. For the first time, it received video coverage from the local media, namely, Channel News Asia. The Sunday Times also carried an article with a large photograph of the event.[13] Again, there was widespread interest in the international media.[14]
For the first time, Pink Dot 2011 was listed as an event in "Time Out Singapore", with a full article devoted to it and was officially supported by Google Singapore.[1]
On 18 June, over 10,000 people thronged Hong Lim Park to form Pink Dot, the largest turnout at Speakers' Corner to date. The event was even more widely reported in the mainstream media than in the previous year, with coverage by The Straits Times,[15] Yahoo! News,[16] Lianhe Zaobao[17] and Channel NewsAsia.
The event was deemed significant enough to be included in the U.S. Department of State's human rights reports for 2009, released on 11 March 2010:[18]
On May 16, a rally in support of "the freedom of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons in Singapore to love" took place at Speakers Corner. Participants held pink umbrellas aloft and arranged themselves to form a large pink dot when seen from nearby high‐rise buildings. The rally took place without disturbance.
