This is a complaint over the ridiculous treatment me and my boyfriend Walter endured during our visit to Singapore. I am an American tourist who holiday-ed in Singapore last month together with my boyfriend of 5 years. We planned for this holiday for ages and finally booked our tickets to this world renown Garden City. After arrival, we took in the beautiful sights and was pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness, diverse cultures and food until something happened.
All that initial positivity went out of the window when me and my boyfriend were taking a leisurely stroll at the botanic gardens. Out of the blue, a young local boy accompanied by his mother pointed at us and shouted, “mummy… why are the two boys holding hands?” What came next shocked us beyond words. The lady knelt beside her son, hurriedly covered his eyes and exclaimed at the top of her voice “don’t look at them, they are abnormal”. After which she dragged the puzzled boy away as though we had the plague!
We were both dumbfounded at this shockingly bigoted behavior. Apart from the Christian belt in the South, we would never be subject to such blatant discrimination in the USA. Even President Obama , the most influential man in the world has repeatedly called for universal love and equality. It is thus disappointing that despite being a democracy, Singaporeans are still backward in their mindsets and deny minorities the freedom to love.
I write in now because our brush with Singaporean’s narrow mindedness happened not only once but twice. Shortly after that episode, while Walter and I were cuddling by the riverside at Clarke Quay enjoying the river breeze, a group of rowdy brown skinned goons ran up to us and screamed “fucking faggots” and ran off laughing like hyenas.
What’s with this trashy behavior Singapore? Why are we being bullied and insulted for our sexuality? We are paying tourists in your country and this is how you treat your guests? For all your beautiful buildings and wonderful infrastructure, the people of Singapore are sorely lacking in common decency and woefully antagonistic towards us. Where is the love Singapore? How can you proclaim yourself a first world nation when such blatant discrimination against sexual minorities still exists?
Bill B.
Source: Bill B., Shaul Hamid, TRS
