The homophobic violence in Russia (including two murders) which followed the enactment of laws prohibiting the promotion of ‘non traditional sexuality’ among minors resulted in outrage among LGBT groups all over the world.
International protests have been organised to show solidarity with the Russian LGBT community which is being persecuted by anti-gay groups with the collusion of the government.
The LGBT community in Singapore came together at Hong Lim Park last Saturday (24 August), in a show of support for our Russian brothers and sisters. Our petition collected a total of 200 signatures which we intended to deliver to the Russian Embassy.
Last week, we contacted the Embassy to inform them of this and this was their reply:
“The Embassy has received and considered your request for a meeting with an Embassy official with the purpose of submitting a petition from Singapore’s LGBT community.
We believe that your protest is prompted by gross misconception and is ill-advised. You have misconstrued developments in Russia.
First of all, we want to remind that discrimination of any minority is legally prohibited in Russia by the Constitution. Unlike the former Soviet Union homosexual behaviour is not punishable by the Criminal Code. The recently adopted law has one well-defied purpose – to ban promotion of homosexuality among minors, but not “promotion of homosexuality”, as you claim. The law prohibits promotion in aggressive forms of non-traditional sexual practices among minors.
Law enforcement officers now have the right to detain persons who violate the law intentionally (for example, by conducting public actions near schools and other children institutions). And last, but not least: violation of this law is an administrative, not criminal, offence.”
The embassy’s position has been previously refuted online.
This morning (30 August), a small group of 3 LGBT social workers and one straight ally visited the Russian Embassy to deliver the petition. Waiting for half an hour under the hot sun, the Embassy responded with Siberian frostiness, refusing to send a representative out. We dropped the petition into the Embassy compound and posed with a rainbow flag outside the gates.
We eventually decided to leave. While driving off , we spotted two police cars with lights blazing, headed in the opposite direction. We thought they might have been summoned by Embassy officials, and decided to turn back (in the hope that there might be some cute policemen to look at.)
We were greeted by quite a number of police officers! While four of them went into the Embassy, we described the morning’s events to several other senior officers. They wanted to know what the rainbow flag represented. We said “Peace, freedom, solidarity… and fabulousness!” The officer dutifully took this description down, word for word.
During the course of the discussion, an officer asked for our Identity Cards (ICs). We refused to do so until they could cite the relevant provisions of the law which empowered them to. None of the officers was able to. But half an hour later, a senior officer returned and cited Section 16(b) of the National Registration Act. He had clearly telephoned HQ to find out! But since the Act only allowed them to ask for “name and address”, we did not show them our ICs and merely provided our details which were written down in a little spiral-bound notebook.
During our discussion 
with another senior officer, one of his staff began filming our conversation. Again we asked them to cite the relevant law. Again they could not. We politely requested for them to stop and they obligingly did. Shortly thereafter, the four officers emerged from the Embassy, almost perfectly timed with the end of our conversation.
In total, we counted 8 vehicles (including 2 civilian cars with non-uniformed senior police officers) and at least 14 police officers (in uniform and civilian clothing, mostly men with at least 1 female uniformed officer).
Peacefully, we adjourned to a classy cafe in town for tea and crumpets.
I Will Survive 
You guys are infantile idiots who are desperate to attract attention to yourself, serve your own selfish interest and justify your own sexuality and causes. In so doing, you resorted to ridiculing the policemen and women doing their jobs.
You guys are pathetic.
Calm down, Bryan. Don’t be mad. Be fabulous! You should have joined us for afternoon tea. A cup of tea and some crumpets would restore your sanity. WIth love and gaiety, Jolovan
Dear Mr Bryan Ti,
I am sorry we did not invite you to join us for a walk down Nassim Road & then tea afterwards.
It would have been a pleasure to meet you so that we can compare notes about how best to throw hissy fits & trade insults in public.
regards,
Yangfa
“…. compare notes about how best to throw hissy fits & trade insults in public.”
Yangfa, nah, no thanks and no need to – you infantiles are already quite adept at falling into hissy fits wherever you see fit, throwing insults in public, including to policemen on duty, and doing your best to make the rest of society realize why they are right to find your public behavior abhorrent and unbecoming of grow-ups.
I suppose you guys are just acting your part diligent. 😉
PS. No wonder VW preemptively left SDP’, so that it would not need to eject him rather unceremoniously for having such an immature and rabid party treasurer.
Bryan, Bryan, Bryan darling, you do realise that we pathetic, infantile faggots have come to the absolute and uncompromising position that your curmudgeonliness is actually a symptom of your own deep-seated homosexuality which, speaking as a social worker, I can attribute to the likely supposition that your mother was extremely ugly and whose own sporadic forays into sadomasochistic lesbianism you have yet to process. I recommend a minimum two-year programme of Gestalt therapy which will likely cure you of your inveterate crankiness but may still leave you will a deep oedipal hankering for various forms of sexual transgressions with the above-mentioned mother.
Dear anonymous,
Let’s be civil and not insult Mr Ti’s mother. She has already gone through enough, having to put up with a son like him, We do not need to add further to her suffering. Consider yourself issued with a warning.
Dear Mr Ti,
Our apologies to your mother.
Indeed, we have so much to learn from you about behaving appropriately in public. Would you care to send me a private email with your phone number, so that I may arrange a private consultation with you?
Yangfa