05.26.08
This Week in Queer Entertainment (19/5/08 - 25/5/08)
Drama drama drama. That’s what we have for you, this week. What’s new, right?
05.21.08
WOMAN
This article is written by our guest writer, Ho Chi Sam.
Image taken from aboutleap.com
The world is so much easily understood if we saw and believed in everything in binary opposites, and ideally, both ends/poles function in tandem, in contrast, interdependently, symbiotically, and eventually contribute to a whole, a stable system, a status quo.
Where does the woman stand in the world of binary opposites? For millennia, literature, rhetoric and discourses have by default refer to “humanity” as “man”, “humankind” as “mankind”, most random persons as “he” (Freudian slip any one?). This whole, stable system and status quo privileges a dominant kind – the male-oriented. It is gendered and sexed accordingly to toe the line of the androcentric, patriarchal and heterosexist establishment.
05.18.08
This Week in Queer Entertainment (11/5/08 - 18/5/08)
Wedding bells, hot lesbian kisses and frat boys… this is what we have on your screen this week.
Wedding Bells
With the California Supreme Court striking down the ban on same-sex marriages as unconstitutional, our favourite celebrity lesbian couple, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi have announced their intention to get married.
Spoilers after the break! Read at your own risk.
05.12.08
This Week in Queer Entertainment (4/5/08 - 10/5/08)
Image Copyright of Sayoni
This is a new segment on our blog, where we will be covering bits and pieces of visibility of queer community, especially queer women, in the media - books, TV shows, movies, theater, celebrities, you name it.
05.10.08
Broken Promises Part II: HIV positive man prosecuted for s377A (Singapore)
This was reported in the Straits Times on 8th May.
IN THE first case of its kind, a chef infected with HIV was charged in court yesterday with engaging in oral sex with a 16-year-old without first informing him of the risks of contracting the virus that causes Aids.Chan Mun Chiong, 43, pleaded guilty to that charge as well as to another of committing an act of gross indecency with the teen.
The Ministry of Health summons charge said he had oral sex without first telling the teenager about the HIV risk. He also failed to get him to voluntarily agree to accept that risk. The offence carries a fine of up to $10,000 or up to two years in jail, or both.
The sex charge said that the bespectacled, spiky-haired man and the boy performed the sex acts in a cubicle of a men’s toilet at the Northpoint Shopping Centre in Yishun on Sept 15 last year. For the gross indecency charge, he faces a jail term of up to two years.
Chan, who did not have a lawyer, was released on $10,000 bail. He is expected back in court today for his case to be dealt with.
He does not face stiffer penalties that were passed by Parliament last month as they had yet to go into effect.
Under amendments to the Infectious Diseases Act, those found guilty of having unprotected sex even if they do not know but have ‘reason to believe’ that they have or have been exposed to HIV can be jailed for up to 10 years and/or fined up to $50,000.
The Health Ministry has in the past investigated some cases, but no one has been prosecuted until yesterday.
One case was compounded last year. In another case, a foreigner being investigated left the country in 2005 before he could be charged.
‘Tis the season, not for merry and joy, but for news after news of institutionalized homophobia, here in Singapore. Firstly, two media providers were separately fined by the MDA for airing content deemed to be too pro-gay, barely weeks apart. Secondly, a gay sauna was unreasonably and (possibly extra-legally) raided by the police.
05.08.08
A Chat With My Uncle
Image Copyright of Sayoni
One Sunday I had lunch with my uncle. We get along fairly well and I am out to him, but we are not at the stage where we have copious open free conversations about my relationship status or my partner. Anyhow, during lunch, it was just the two of us because my aunt was out of town. We were having a routine, run-of-the-mill conversation as usual (What are you ordering; how was your trip to Bangkok, how much did you pay for a massage; did you know that iceberg lettuce lowers blood sugar; the car is due for servicing etc)
05.05.08
Wilde-Indignation Fund-raising Gala Premiere (Singapore)
Fridae.com, in support of People Like Us’ Indignation gay pride season, is organising the Singapore premiere of the film ‘Wilde’ on Tuesday 13 May 2008, at the Lido theatres.
Directed by Brian Gilbert, this 1997 film tells the story of celebrated poet, novelist and playwright Oscar Wilde, who in 1895 was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ under a UK law that was the precursor of Singapore’s infamous Section 377A. Wilde was a martyr to the moral hypocrisy of his time, and which unfortunately still lives on in Singapore.
The film was banned by the Singapore censors when first released. It has now been re-rated under revised film guidelines (post 2002 censorship review) as R21.
Fridae’s gala premiere is intended as a fund-raiser for Indignation, since Indignation events themselves (scheduled for August 2008) are traditionally free of charge, in order to be accessible to everyone. Tickets are priced at $20 (US$15) and $50 (US$38) - the latter includes a cocktail reception - and are available from Fridae’s movie site, or more directly from their tickets shop.
Crocodile men’s wear and Shaw theatres are the other sponsors and People Like Us would like to express our thanks to them and Fridae for their support.
Sayoni has been, and still is, a proud participant in Indignation over the years, and we would like to express our full support to this Gala Premiere.
05.03.08
I Saw The Fireworks: Part 1
Image Copyright of Sayoni
This is co-written by Yee and Qin, a love story which began in Sayoni through the Personals section… all it takes is an email, ladies.
Another normal day at work, Yee was at her desk sorting the emails in her mailbox.
*Click* *Click* A mail caught her eye from a sender named Qin.
Little did they know that this email would set the clockwork in place to spin a tale of two souls whose paths crossed through the wonders of cyberspace; brought together by a forum which they frequent, Sayoni. They have never met, do not even know each other but somehow they were brought together which I would like to believe as serendipity. It was the beginning of a new chapter in their lives and hopefully, in the following chapters of the book, imprinted by the footprints of these two characters who met by chance.
05.01.08
Gay’s Anatomy
Season 4 of Grey’s Anatomy returned with Episode 12 right before Lost did. I thought they ended the season with episode 11 due to the writer’s strike, but turns out they are just carrying on.
Warning: If you have not watched the first three seasons, there will be major spoilers ahead!
