If you think Halloween in Singapore is all about theme park costume parties, special bloody cocktails or a parang-wielding publicity stunt gone wrong, think again.
There’s plenty more scary here in our SIN city.
A woman gets raped by her boyfriend because he wants her to stop being a lesbian. A young man is thrown out of his home and rejected by his faith community, after he tells them he’s gay.
A transgender person is misdiagnosed with depression and schizophrenia, instead of being supported in their appropriate gender identity.
A queer youth is hounded with daily harassment and death threats, from people supposedly acting in the name of their God. A married man kills himself, unable to reconcile his attraction to women and men in a society that judges him a deviant.
A senior public servant who bans children’s library books in the name of protecting families.
A stage magician who spews hate in the name of love, with an anonymous online community that worships him.
An education system that allows students to be taught misogyny. A judiciary that upholds out-dated legislation that criminalises individuals on the basis of their partners’ gender.
A government that turns a blind eye, lacking in moral courage and running the only developed country in the world with anti-sodomy laws.
Your rubber masks and fake blood and $100 rental costumes don’t scare me this Halloween.
Homophobia is scary. And it’s very real here in Singapore.
