Pink Dot SG: The Untold Story
As the much-awaited Pride Month marks off another year of celebrations, which are now mostly restricted to online events, a notable annual event that remains in the limelight is Pink Dot. It started in 2009, to support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) community in Singapore. Since Singapore is famously known as The Red Dot, it comes as no surprise that Pink Dot as a name became synonymous with inclusiveness and diversity. This is because pink has long been associated with the LGBTQIA+ community, even dating back to the Holocaust, which is why it serves as a reminder of the painful past.
Before we proceed to unfurling the untold story of Pink Dot SG, let’s take a look at what happens at this annual event and what you can expect as an attendee:
Forming a ‘Pink Dot’
Attendees of Pink Dot events form a ‘pink dot’ by gathering together to support inclusiveness, diversity, and the freedom to love whoever they want. Other highlights include concert performances and the setting up of booths that are sponsored by organisations that support the LGBT community and their cause. Due to the popularity of all these events, other Pink Dot events soon followed in other cities around the world, which is why the Singaporean event came to be known as Pink Dot SG.
Held annually for the past 11 years at Speakers’ Corner, usually on a Saturday of May, June, or July, this event went online for the first time in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Lion City. If you’re an attendee, you can join in the online event this year as well, to show your support for the LGBTQIA+ community.
A fun fact about the Pink Dot mascot is that it was designed by graphic designer Soh Ee Shaun and is called ‘Pinkie’!
The slogan “Support the Freedom to Love” which was created by Ash Lim gained immense popularity nationally as well as internationally for good reason!
Pink Dot SG: The Untold Story
The first man who wanted to make a difference to society, via liberalisation after the relaxation of rules governing activities that could be conducted at Speakers’ Corner, Hong Lim Park, was Dr. Roy Tan. At first, he wanted to stage a traditional pride parade (on Saturday,15 November 2008), for which he registered with the National Parks Board. However, the LGBTQIA+ community didn’t respond very well to his idea, and Dr. Roy’s promotion of this event on SiGNeL (a local LGBT mailing list) wasn’t met with much enthusiasm. Not one to give up easily, Dr. Roy decided to put up a one-man pride parade with himself as the sole marching person. He was focused on setting an example for the future and wanted such events to be normalised.
However, there was immense fear among closeted individuals who didn’t want to expose themselves to the world by participating in a parade and knew the backlash they could face with media coverage in a largely conservative republic. In addition, a pride parade was classified as a type of protest, which wasn’t welcome in Singapore. Thus, community activists were worried about the fact that this event wouldn’t gain public favour. In the upcoming months, Pink Dot SG developed out of brainstorming sessions by the main stakeholders, who were discovered by Tan with his friend Dominic Chua’s assistance.
The first activist-inspired public gathering of people wearing pink was organised by Miak Siew back in 2007 at the ‘Pink Picnic’ held at the Botanic Gardens. Bian Tan was the brainchild behind the idea of everyone wearing pink — as it would be more appealing than a simple gay pride parade. The reasoning behind that was that a mixed crowd of both straight and LGBTQIA+ participants wearing the same colour in support of a cause would help individuals protect their identity and maintain their privacy.
Forming a pink dot was an entirely new concept, and had never been tried before in any similar event internationally. Thanks to Pink Dot organising committee member and Fridae’s editor Choo Lip Sin the idea for this event was born. In fact, Fridae was also Pink Dot’s first corporate sponsor, with the CEO himself providing website information technology, as well as creative, logistics, and marketing support, along with the use of their office for meetings, and funding to kickstart the Pink Dot inauguration.
Love is Love
At Stayr, we support the freedom to love and are ardent supporters of Pink Dot. The late Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Freedom is the breath of life”, which explains in a nutshell how important being truly free is. Hence, it would be an injustice to individuals not allowed to live their lives the way they truly desire. Pink Dot SG is proof that we have come a long way as a nation, and acknowledge the significance of equality regardless of one’s orientation. Love is love, and it’s made for all of us!
