Fair Play

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Last Friday, Taiwan's parliament voted to legalize same-sex marriage, a first for Asia. In doing so, it met the deadline imposed by the constitutional court, which struck down the Civil Code's definition of marriage as exclusively between a man and woman in 2017. Singapore Unbound salutes all the Taiwanese LGBTQ activists and allies, and rejoices with all Taiwanese, both LGBTQ and not. The change is not just for a sexual minority but for everyone, because it enhances democratic ideas, freedoms, and rights for all.

Over in Singapore, the annual LGBTQ rally called Pink Dot announced its campaign theme for this year, its eleventh. It urges all Singaporeans to take a stand #AgainstDiscrimination. To inform the general public of the real harm inflicted on LGBTQ people in school, at home, and at the workplace, members of the LGBTQ community are asked to take to social media to share their experiences of being discriminated against.

Singapore Unbound welcomes this change of focus from love and marriage to overall equality. Although love and marriage provides a strong emotive force to build enthusiasm in supporters and induce cognitive dissonance in opponents, it cannot be the overarching goal of the LGBTQ movement. It leaves out too many segments of the LGBTQ community and too many spheres of life.

To take a stand against discrimination, instead, is the more valuable and radical posture for three reasons. First, it serves the whole LGBTQ community, including the young, the old, the single, and the sick, and not just those who wish and are able to get married. Second, it has to look intersectionally into other forms of discrimination, based on class, race, gender, HIV status, and ability. If the LGBTQ community wants Singaporeans to take a stand against discrimination, it must first take a stand against the discrimination inside and outside of the community. Finally, it is a powerful appeal to the sense of fair play in Singaporeans. The LGBTQ movement needs more than love on its side; it also needs justice. 

Jee Leong Koh
May 23, 2019

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