Singapore doesn't have the best gay track record. Just this year the city-state has fined two television stations for depictions of same-sex love.

It should come as no surprise to hear, then, that artist Martin Loh's 24-image collection, "Pain To Pleasure," which illustrate men in S&M situations, has been axed.

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Singapore's media police have been all about the queer crackdown.

Cable company StarHub found itself fined earlier this month after airing a music video featuring a lesbian kiss. The nation-state's Media Authority wagged its finger at StarHub, saying the showing was "in breach of the TV advertising guidelines, which disallows advertisements that condone homosexuality."

Now another channel has been fined $11,000 for broadcasting an episode of fix-it-up show, "Find and Design," which included a gay couple looking to refashion a game room into a nursery for their freshly adopted baby.

Again, officials claim the offending network illegally promoted gay ways.

Singapore's media officials don't appreciate lesbian love. The nation's Media Development Authority fined cable company StarHub about $7,200 for airing a music video featuring girl-on-girl action:

The music video of the song, titled "Silly Child" by Mandarin singer Olivia Yan, shows an intimate kissing scene before one of the women rejects her boyfriend at the end of the clip.

"This is in breach of the TV advertising guidelines, which disallows advertisements that condone homosexuality," the media authority said.

Because apparently depiction automatically qualifies as advertisement. Ridiculous!

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Singapore's government cracked down on a video game with lesbianic tendencies:

Irate gamers criticized Singapore's censors Thursday for banning a highly anticipated space adventure game containing a sex scene between a human woman and a female alien.

The game, called Mass Effect, is the first from Microsoft to be prohibited in the city-state. It was to be launched next week.
…
The scene triggering the ban depicts the human-alien duo in suggestive positions and ends with the alien saying, "By the Gods, that was incredible, Commander."

Now we can look forward to the religious right campaigning against the polytheism. Thanks, Microsoft!

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• Singapore gives oral and anal sex the green light, but not for gays.

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Singapore's Parliament continues to debate Section 377a, the colonial era constitutional provision banning oral and anal sex. While they've yet to reach a verdict on the highly controversial matter, one high-ranking official insists that a pass would tacitly support homosexuality. Says Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Ho Peng Kee:

While homosexuals have a place in society… repealing section 377A will be contentious and may send a wrong signal that the government is encouraging and endorsing the homosexual lifestyle as part of our mainstream way of life.

So, gays have a place in society, just not in each other? That's fair.

Ian McKellen knows how to turn tragedy into comedy.

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As Singapore's gay activists rally and rap against Section 377A, a conservative group's fighting for the law, which bans anal and oral sex. in an open letter on their website, the sinister sounding "Majority" wrote:

Section 377A is a reflection of the sentiments of the majority of society. Most Singaporeans hold conservative family values and do not accept homosexuality as the norm.

Repealing Section 377A is a vehicle to force homosexuality on a conservative population that is not ready for homosexuality.

Would the "Majority" rather everyone have heterosexual missionary sex? If so, they've got no carnal imaginations!

Singaporean activists took to YouTube to push for Section 377A's repeal. That colonial era law forbids same-sex relations.

Long detested, Section 377A raised fresh debate after Parliament proposed a bill legalizing anal and oral sex between heterosexuals, but stayed firm on the gay sex ban. Now activists are gearing up for a legislative fight:

Member of Parliament Siew Kum Hong will present a petition on October 22 to coincide with debate on the most extensive amendments to the city-state's penal code in 22 years.

The petition urges abolishing part of the penal code that makes sexual acts between males a crime punishable by up to two years in jail.

In addition to the petition, a number of straight and gay activists made the above video. They describe it as a "rap," but it's mostly just talking. Regardless, it's pretty impressive considering Singapore isn't known for its protest culture.

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Singapore's government's getting sexual today as a new bill looks to strike down laws banning oral and anal sex. While it may sound like a great development for all people, the gays are getting left out in the cold:

Oral and anal sex in private between consenting heterosexual adults would be legalized under a bill introduced in Singapore's parliament on Monday.

Under the city-state's first major penal code amendments in 22 years, a section criminalizing "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" would be repealed.
…
But while the bill takes a softer line on heterosexual sex, a ban on acts of "gross indecency" between males will remain.

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I think power dressing today is about self-expression rather than uniformity or conformity. It is about having the confidence to express your own identity. So there has been a 180-degree turnaround from the 1980s. I think that is a very positive change.

This from the man who hasn't changed his black t-shirt in 5000 years?

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No holding Singapore's queens back. The government may have banned the gay pride-flavored picnic at the Botanical Gardens, but about a hundred homies gathered there anyway. So, did Singapore sink into the earth? Did the four horsemen come charging from behind a dark cloud? Did women and children's heads explode at the sight of all the gays? No. In fact, things were surprisingly - gasp! - normal!

In between our blankets, other families set up their picnics and played ball; children came up to us and asked to play with our dogs. Grown men and women and little girls from other families would confuse us by wearing pink T-shirts – and not all of us queers were in pink, either; some of us dressed in brown and blue and black and white…

Sure, more than half of us wore pink, but the outsiders didn't bat an eyelid – as a straight friend commented, we just looked like a breast cancer benefit with an unusual number of supportive men.

Those gays, always trying to blend into the rest of society!

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Today’s endorsement of Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for president by Bishop Gene Robinson is just the latest example of candidates misusing religious leaders for political gain.

Holy smokes!

• Picture it: America, 2035 - God has smitten costume-wearing sex fiends. Gays become national treasure.

• Can Singapore's homophobia get any more ridiculous? The Media Development agency has censored a short story reading which included a story by gay author Ng Yi-Sheng:

Ng's text was disallowed as it had gone beyond good taste and decency in taking a disparaging and disrespectful view of public officers.

Ng's got at least one theory as to why the government banned his story: it included a politician called "Lee Low Tar," which sounds somewhat similar to PM Lee Hsien Loong.

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