This year's Pink Dot created some food for thought. I know I was harping on and on about it in previous posts, and I was excited to go still, but somehow there was this damper somewhere.
Yes, Pink Dot celebrates the freedom to love, the fact that the dot grows bigger every year is very encouraging, and at the same time, unsettling. At Pink Dot this year, 21,000 people turned up in their brightest pink clothes, rainbow flags worn as capes, dyed their dogs' fur pink, brought pink picnic mats, enjoyed a pop concert with pink cheerleaders, squeezed really tightly to form a pink shape (it's too big it's not a dot anymore), waved their pink torches in the air for a photo, and then left for dinner leaving behind lots of pink rubbish on the grass.
It is still a beautiful concept. If you look at the couple of activist events happening around the world the last few weeks, ours was the brightest, sparkliest and prettiest. However, what got to me, was that the meaning seemed to be lost on the growing number of participants, and even on the ambassadors. Seriously, I did not appreciate being addressed as "my fellow LGBT friends", why can't we just be addressed as "my fellow human beings". Strange as it sounds, the event only made me feel more segregated from mainstream. "Today is a day when we can come together and feel normal.." and I shouted, I feel normal everyday!!
Because it is so pretty, they forget the cause behind it, which is anything but. People go there to drink champagne, meet their friends, bring their dogs out, take lots of photos to put on their Facebook (I'm guilty of that), and after that complain their guts out on Facebook about how hot and crowded it was. At the end of the day, we still don't have equal rights, we are still discriminated against, gay men in Singapore can still be arrested and charged under the law. The morning after, nothing changes.
Since the dot has outgrown Hong Lim Park, perhaps the organisers could think of some fresh and new ways to jazz the event up and to really utilize the event to impact society and government. I dunno, a pink night walk down crowded Orchard Road? Using the participants to sign a peaceful partition to present to government? Having something that really integrates us into society, rather than a day to set us apart from them. As you present more daring ideas, and the crowd still grows, then I would say we are truly making steps to a better tomorrow.
Well, enough talk, I do have some pretty pictures to present. After all, I did mention the event was pretty right?
Even have a short video to share, so enjoy!!
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